Dusic

19 days to go. Still no strong links incoming wise and few for outgoings either. Surely has to speed up this week...

Didn't appear to be on the bench again today. Wasn't in Austria and didn't appear in any of the training videos or pictures from Staplewood this week. Has he left the club? Cryptic Dunc mentioned nudge-nudge wink-wink rumours of a fallout with RH.

Check @prestonupdates_ Quite complimentary about us.

All those teams have better CBs than us and more goal threats. No chance of us finishing above all four with the squad we have, one that has almost been relegated the last two seasons whilst some of these breezed top half finishes without even playing that well. Ralph is a great Manager but be realistic or you will end up disappointed. IMO there are 5 tiers in the PL: Top 2 Next 4 Top 6 Challengers Solid Mid Table Relegation Candidates We need to leave tier 5 behind and look to win tier 4. If we are above the likes of Watford, Bournemouth and Palace it will represent a big improvement.

Hopefully his head has been turned by their interest.

To finish 7th we would likely need to finish ahead of all of Leicester, West Ham, Wolves and Everton. Personally will be very suprised if we managed to get more points than any of those. IMO we are competing with the likes of Palace, Bournemouth, Watford, Brighton etc. Finish above all those and we will be comfortable 11th or 12th.

From the Echo: https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/17779595.southampton-look-sell-striker-charlie-austin/ Quote: In a summer where moving players on is as important as making new signings, the club have so far only managed to sell two squad members, while also recruiting two. They remain committed to bringing in more players for Hasenhuttl but will struggle to make any financially significant transfers unless they can shift players on. ------ Better hope we starting shifting more players pretty damn quick with just 3 weeks left for signings.

I've not been shy to give him some stick but thought he came across well there. Very honest and mostly very sensible comments. Certainly appears they currently have more of a plan than we had in the last couple of years, but there again it wasnt long ago Krueger was saying how Hughes et al 'fit like a glove'. Also...judging from RH comments about a CB signing and only getting one if they improve us either now or soon in the future and the ones we have been linked with earlier this window like Saliba and Vanhuesden I think we will go for a 19-21yo.

Quite a few mentions of top 10 here, I think 10th would be a fantastic season. I think anything above 10th is almost impossible with the current squad and relative spending to others like West Ham, Leicester etc.

23 days of the window left so not a great deal of time and pretty much no strong links of incomings at this stage so expect we will hear of something shortly. Sale wise we still need to get rid of: Austin, Carillo, Clasie, Lemina, Boufal, at least one CB, at least one GK. However I assume we can still sell to the rest of Europe until the end of August? It may come to having to buy before we sell and I wonder if we would be comfortable to do that? Also, if we take the squad that went to Austria, plus Djenepo, how woukd that looks as a 25 man PL squad, factoring in ages etc? May give a clue as to what we are thinking.

This has deadline day subsidised QPR loan written all over it.

Sheff Utd signing Mousset as well so options diminishing for CA. Maybe Newcastle? Hopefully he will take a loan move at the very least just to get rid of his wages.

If we get £10m for him then its a good deal for us. Cut our losses and reinvest the cash where its needed, i.e defence.

No sign of him or Lemina in the Staplewood training pics, ditto Clasie and Carrillo. Thats telling when they arent training with the rest of the squad even at our own training ground.

Yeah, its disappeared or been closed for some reason. Not sure why as clearly a valid topic.

In the Championship he may do ok. £10m is a pipe dream IMO.

Any whispers on new contracts for these two? Both only have two years left, so selling values will diminish significantly after this summer. Would be good to get them tied up and imagine we will be trying hard to persuade them. The carrot of a significant pay rise should in theory be enough. If not, and they make it clear they won't sign an extension at all, then this summer or January would be the optimal time to sell, business wise, not that I hope this is what happens obviously.

He isn't good enough for the PL. He will probably never play another minute in the PL for any club. If he wants to stay he will just be joining Forster in being a non playing PL player, so thats up to him if he wishes to go down that route. I think if he does it will finish him as he will lose any sharpness he still has. Adams has been given Austin's no10 in the friendly today. Sure Saints have been very clear with him that he needs to leave. But of course, he has the final say and is entitled to turn dow any move that doesnt suit him.

4-2-2-2 in the friendly today. Interesting Adams has been given Austin's number!

A direct consequence of not being able to get rid of enough crap. Less than 30 days left and still a lot of business to do to be able to call it a successful TW.

Nixon saying Burnley in for Maehle.

This is poor, Duncan. Put up or shut up.

There is more chance of Carillo being PL top scorer than us signing Upamecano.

Seems Spurs want him and if thats the case, they will get him.

Wouldnt be a disaster to keep Cedric IMO if he is committed. He is a decent PL quality player, rarely injured and happy to cover LB as well as RB. Keep for a year, lose on a free next summer which isnt much of a loss as we only paid £4m for him and he wouldnt generate much this summer anyway.