Dusic

My cousin is a Blues fan and thinks he is decent but not brilliant. Best attribute is strength backing into defenders and turning them with his pace. Thinks he would be a decent signing for a lower PL side, which is what we are I guess.

We did invest quite a lot, mostly because we were able to make huge profit on a special group of academy talents. And we were certainly in the pack just beneath the top six and definitely aren't anymore. We have slipped back and the level of finance needed to get to 7th/8th is much greater than when we were in that position as the others have increased their spending to the point that teams like Wolves and WHam are spending £30+ on players.

I was meaning success to the fans - but take your point. Whilst Gao clearly isn't going to splash the cash, playing the minimum level to sustain PL football is a very dangerous ploy as we have seen. Surely for him (and therefore us) relegation would be absolutely disasterous. For him both financially and in terms of taking away the core reasons he wished to invest in the first place. I think the PL is splitting into 5 segments: 1. The Powerhouse teams, currently Man City and Liverpool 2. The rest of the top 6. 3. The ambitious mid table clubs whonare willing to invest heavily with the (unlikely/impossible) aim to break into the top 6. 4. The lower midtable sides looking to avoid trouble each year and milk the cash 5. The newly promoted teams, whose sole aim is to stay up. We used to be in segment 3 and now are firmly in segment 4. Personally don't think we can go higher without ownership that will invest mote than just transfer profits.

Given some of Gao first comments since investing in Saints, and our recent seasons of struggle, it got me thinking - what is success for a team like ours in the modern PL? Clear to me (and it was at the time) that Europe and finishes of 6th and 7th were likely to be the heyday of supporting Saints as a fan in my 30s. It was a perfect storm of exceptional Academy graduates that raised what were then huge amounts of cash, very clever Scouting and successive Managers in Poch and Koeman who did unbelievable jobs. Now, with no additional ownership investment forthcoming then really success would be to remain a PL club and aim to have little involvement in the relegation scrap each year, whilst hoping for the odd Cup run. I don't think its realistic to expect any more. Again this summer it looks like we will stick to signing players in the £12-20m range and that dictates that you sign potential (which is our model) but with a fair amount of risk. Given the recent amounts invested by ownership of clubs like Everton, West Ham, Leicester, Wolves etc, often on proven players, I don't think we will have much chance of matching their achievements over a five year period so we are probably competing with the likes of Watford, Palace, Bournemouth, Brighton, Burnley etc who are also looking to punch above their weight each year and stay out of trouble. Is that fair, or do others expect more despite a general lack of spending?

Nothing overly negative here, just a confirmation of what we knew i.e he isn't investing anything further. The LD Sports deal does appear shady, will be interesting to see how that develops. The real question is, why did KL make out like Gao could take us forward when he obviously can't? Gao makes out like self sustainability is new, but its what KL put in place. What does he add?

Most likely scenario: a subsidised loan for a year til his contract runs out. IMO one of our worst signings in recent years vs the expectation when he arrived. He has been a waste of time.

The Sun (I know) says we have agreed a 13.5m deal for David Okereke, a 21 yo forward from Spezia in Serie B. From YT he looks a powerful, quick player with good finishing ability with both feet. Take with a pinch of salt, but the article said agreed rather than at offer stage. He has been linked to Frankfurt, Palace and West Ham.

Hopefully materialises but surely any PL team would be mad to take Austin?

Djenepo seems an exciting player. Imagine he will miss the start of the PL season due to ACON involvment but important to get him signed before the tournament.

This is probably accurate, we will almost certainly know whats needed to get him. Whether we actually get him is another question of course.

Think Tadanari Lee was the last one. It can go alongside double signings, swap deals and 'unveiling' signings at a kit launch as things that people mention which never happen.

Pathetic offer if true.

Whats Brian Howard up to?

Fulham want Targett again according to SSN. Personally I think somehwere around £12m would represent a fair deal. Just don't think he is quite up to PL level as he lacks that yard of pace, especially in a back four and that is unlikely to change. Ultimately every time Bertrand returns after injury it massively improves us and Targett needs regular football which we can't give him.

Re Dragowski (and lots of deals for all clubs), always intrigued as to whether not being interested comes before or after knowing a player is going elsewhere. Man Utd masters of not being interested in players that they used to be interested in up until they knew he was moving elsewhere!

Seems the wee lad has a promotion and is now the most senior member of staff on the football side of the club. He is likely to be the man handling all our transfer negotiations this window which gives me very little confidence that we will get good deals done. If you judge Heads of Recruitment by their recruitment then he deserved firing rather than promoting...we haven't had a good window since he joined the club. Pressure is on son.

Agree to an extent but at some stage if you have identified the players you want and who you think can make the team better than you have to go and actually get them. Most of the PL clubs outside the top 6 are looking at the same pool of players so the ones you really want you may need to pay slightly over the odds (within reason) to get them. Pointless missimg out on top targets for the sake of one or two million given how much cash is around. I don't doubt that Saints identify good players to bring in. But I do doubt the ability of the club to actually get good deals over the line and now we have little idea who is actually performing that role at the club.

https://app.football-italia.net/?referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.football-italia.net%2F138842%2Fbournemouth-spark-dragowski-bidding-war#article/footballitalia-138842 Bournemouth have offered more for Dragowski according to Alfredo Pedulla, who reported our bid yesterday. Dragowski sounds like a great prospect - would be a shame to lose out to them.

Pleased for Mane especially. Great player and has really kicked on since leaving Saints. Fantastic scouting to get him in the first place. I think he is better than Salah.

Is Sims that good?

First GK for a while that hasnt been picked/approved by Watson?

FAO the few unrealistics amongst us that think Upamecano is an option for us this summer: https://www.bild.de/bild-plus/sport/fussball/fussball/rb-leipzig-bild-enthuellt-geheim-klausel-von-abwehrstar-dayot-upamecano-62329990.bild.html

https://www.getfootballnewsfrance.com/2019/lille-in-pole-position-to-land-victor-osimhen-from-charleroi/

Still quiet...

So he is worth 80k a week because he scored a handful of goals at the end of a season? Despite being dross for the 18months prior. Right.