Dusic

Must be injured.

Interesting one this. No doubt Josh Sims has made an impact from the bench on a handful of occassions, notably against Spurs last season. But he never particularly seems to kick on from those cameos and doesnt seem to have been overly impressive so far in pre season. With competition from Redmond, JWP, Armstrong, Djenepo and possibly Obafemi, Elyounoussi and Boufal, does anyone really see him getting many minutes or starts this season? He is 22, has made probably 15-20 appearances for Saints and about the same at Reading. In another two years would I see him being a regular starter for Saints? If we are in the PL, I would say no. If we keep Boufal, then I wonder if we would consider another loan for Sims?

14 days to go. Needed outs: Austin, Lemina, Carrillo, Stephens or Hoedt, Forster or McCarthy, Elyounoussi, maybe Cedric Ins: CB, poss CM, poss RB

https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/17795712.boca-juniors-expected-make-offer-southampton-striker-guido-carrillo/ Tomorrow: Boca Juniors offer £800k for Guido Carrillo, which is significantly under Saints £15m valuation.

Our bargaining position is pretty poor on this one as we have made clear we don't want him and he has somewhat severed any relationship with Saints fans. Wonder though, if nobody makes a suitable offer to buy him whether we would prefer to get him out on loan, or would try to re-integrate him? Also, with neither JWP nor Romeu training this week, presume injured, would this make any difference to the above?

JWP and Romeu seem to have picked up injuries.

If you thought one thing it should have been: thats true.

Hasenhuttl about 2 days ago: I can guarentee we will not be spending £30-£40m on on one player. Saints fans: Seriously talking about signing Upamecano. Heads gone.

Spotted Vestergaard in pics today but no sign of the other three. Stephens played vs Preston but not seen since. JWP and Romeu didnt play that game but may have played versus Brentford perhaps. Doesnt seem like they are training in Ireland and no official squad released. Possible injuries there?

He is obviously still being lined up to be sold...

Couldn't see JWP, Stephens, Vestergaard or Romeu in the Dublin pics but assume they are there, unless injured. Interesting no squad list announced for that group...

It wasn't his height that was the problem, it was his lack of stamina that meant he was done after 60mins.

Original said we have paid up a portion of his remaining year: https://www.telegraaf.nl/sport/1198724778/az-haalt-clasie-binnen?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=seeding-televoetbal Costly mistake this. How our Scouts couldnt see within minutes that he was physically miles off PL level is a mystery. Worse that we didnt learn and brought in Elyounoussi who has the same problem.

https://www.footballinsider247.com/exclusive-bournemouth-in-advanced-talks-to-sign-huddersfield-midfielder/ Bmth going for Billing from Huddersfield. He was one of the few bright spots for them last year. Do like the business Bournemouth do, and they use the Championship well. Getting £35m for Mings and Mousset is great business as well.

I think if we get any offers for Cedric we will obviously consider them, but if not and if his attitude is good, which it appears to be then he is a good member of the squad for this season, an experienced PL player and suits the style we play well. I think Valery will be first choice, but Cedric would represent far, fsr better cover than the likes of Pied or Martina.

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.