Dusic

Out of interest would you rather have: Defoe, King, Wilson, Afobe or Gabbi, Austin, Long, Gallagher? Think probably Bournemouth edge in terms of striker options which is interesting.

Targett still has a lot to prove IMO. Probably played 20+ times for the first team and rarely been above 6/10.

So Yoshida or Stephens will be a first choice next season then with everyone fit. Will be interesting to see which of them.

Anyone thinking we will challenge for a top four finish is mental.

Not without a couple of signing to improve the first XI in central midfield and centre back. Simple question is who of last seasons top 7 can we finish ahead of realistically. Everton are the only ones really, but they have made some clever signings since January and have a good Manager.

IMO this summer we only need about 2/3 signings (plus replacements for any key players). We need a summer like the one where we signed Lovren, Wanyama, Osvaldo and little else. Yes Osvaldo was a massive failure but all three were signings made to start as key players and Lovren/Wanyama massively improved the quality of our first XI. Quality over quantity this summer, certainly.

Worth remembering our whole business model is based on buying, developing and selling, a stepping stone club. If you stop players leaving when they have outgrown the club or have a far superior offer on the table then Agents will be wary of sending those type of high profile players our way over other offers.

Everton now in talks to sign Onyekuru and loan him to Anderlecht next season to help with his work permit. Looks a cracking player and a bargain at the fee Eupen want.

Long is ****e.

If the price for Ake is £20m then getting £25m for Bertrand would be horrendous business.

He will probably be behind Stephens, who has the potential to be excellent.

Targett is dross going forward and also too slow one v one defensively. Bertrand would have to be replaced otherwise you could argue they are more bothered about the number of Academy players in the team than the number of points we win. Neither McQueen nor Targett are good enough to be first choices in a PL team at this stage.

Add to list of players we have sold too cheaply. Puncheon, Cork, Clyne, Wanyama, Mane.

Never really got the Lee infatuation. Hardly whiter than white...

Hope we allow him to bring in his own team. To an extend Puel was hampered by that. Interesting that when Koeman left, Alek Gross our head of sports science took on the fitness coach role from Jan Kluitenberg. Be interesting to see if Gabriel Macaya is part of the new team or if Gross retains that role. Assume Watson will stay again. This is a great article: https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2017/jun/24/mauricio-pellegrino-complete-coach-southampton-manager?CMP=share_btn_tw

Centre mid options are totally flawed with no cover for Romeu and JWP to be shoehorned in somewhere but not a natural fit. Likely replacements for VVD and Fonte needed, possibly Bertrand too. A bit of deadwood to shift: Gardos, Long, Clasie, Jay, Gazzaniga, possibly Austin. Quite a bit to do in a short time.

Good appointment. Now lets refresh our squad where it is badly needed.

Quite. He is only 5'11 too. The weakness of both Stephens and Yoshida is against the more physical strikers so whoever replaces VVD needs to be a physical presence in our increasingly small team.

Good appointment IMO. Seems a good fit for Saints for various reasons. Now lets improve our flawed squad in time for August...

Interesting re De Boer as most of the reports yesterday said he is on our shortlist but we hadn't spoken to him. I wonder if we ever intended to? Or if Pellegrino was our first choice for a while?

Its a position we badly need someone and overall we could do with a bit more experience in the squad.

Pellegrino sounds ideal for us, tactically flexible, good man-manager, able to get teams playing better than the sum of its parts and recent excellent results against much better teams. Prem experience too.

Will lose a lot of respect for Reed if he caves in on this one. Not like he won't have other options to go elsewhere. But we look like mugs if we lose him to Liverpool, regardless of the fee.

Is Pellegrino being labelled a defensive coach purely based on the Alaves goals scored stats last season? If so, surely a bit knee jerk without having actually watched any of the games? On the face of it he would seem a very interesting choice.

A bit spineless from us if he does IMO.