Dusic

When you see what some players move for I would say anyone signing Lavia for under £50m if getting a pretty good deal. Obviously big profit for us too even accouting for the sell on % Talent ID last summer pretty good considering we also wanted Colwill, Ramos, Gakpo, Hojlund etc. Shame not to be able to get any of the others!

Just an opinion but I think Aribo could still have a big role for us. He started last season quite well before the whole team became awful and he was always playing in different positions and clearly lost confidence. He built his reputation in the EFL, is more suited to a style with more of the ball and from the Coaches Voice video I could see him suiting Martin's attacking shape quite well. He clearly has ability and has a record that suggests in the right team he can add goals from midfield.

It would have been pictured ages ago. I would say it has little to no impact on a move. I am certain he will leave if an acceptable offer is made and that could go all the way to the deadline in reality.

Martin must be one of relatively few Managers to have moved job twice over 3/4 seasons but never been sacked.

Can add Ings and Clyne from the past (same applied to Vestergaard too even though he obviously flopped at Leicester) and this summer Salisu and Adams will both go for less than their true value and probably less or equal to what we paid for them despite now being far more experienced. Its been a problem, especially if the model is to buy, develop and sell because the sell bit relies on being able to sell for substantially more than we paid and that never happens when players get to a year left.

If we ended up losing Ballard and JJM without either doing anything for the first team and without generating a big fee then its such a poor look for our academy and its actual benefit.

One thing we have been so bad at for ages is contracts and letting players get to one year left. Hopefully Wilcox can work out a better strategy, even if its just to get fee protection like with MacAllister and Caicedo. On Ballard specifically it depends who the offers are from but surely if he has a fairly major role for us next season it should persuade him to extend. Ditto Kami Doyle.

I'm pretty sure Martin is being involved in the key discussions regardless of whether he has been officially announced. Just like Wilcox was before he officially started.

He doesn't do the basics of defending. In the Championship you need CBs who can turn in reliable performances three times a week and can hold a particular level. He can't do that.

Would be good if something comes of that, especially if its a permanent move but won't hold my breath as they won't be able to afford him. Remember at the time under Gao we were also linked with Tosin Adarabioyo and didn't want to pay £12m for him so instead bought Lyanco for £7m, beating Watford to his signing (which is enough to signal alarm bells). Couldn't speak English and had struggled in Italy. Unreliable, rash defender who tries to mask it by being overly emotional. Two years later one is being linked with a move to Inter Milan and the other with a move back to Brazil. Re Alcaraz - just like the whole squad, if he gets a sniff of a PL offer he will want to take it.

The rules should be upheld by the bodies who set them, rather than in this way. If Everton have broken the rules they should be punished accordingly. Regardless of what Everton did, Saints and the other clubs deserved to be relegated.

I don't think JWP would be seen as good enough for what Villa are trying to do and now they have Tielemans, Luiz and McGinn I don't see why they would go for him. Aside from West Ham, I wonder if someone like Brighton might come in for him if the price reduces slightly. They value good senior pros/leaders and will likely lose Caicedo. Good opportunity to play in Europe too.

Darren Mowbray is in charge of recruitment, reporting into Wilcox.

Pretty sure a lot of our fans were saying things like "no plan B" and "will be gone by christmas" about Poch when he left us for Spurs. Partly as some kind of defence mechanism as ultimately your club has been ditched in favour of another. A good number of fans are fairly clueless. There are plenty on this thread that think we have played possession football for the last few seasons, to select one example. Best thing about this appointment, in addition to Wilcox, is that it shows some joined up thinking, which has been lacking for a while.

They very well might because almost everything is stacked against them but no doubt that their data lead scouting approach has been very successful. Like with anything a strategy can be good or bad but it can also be implemented well or poorly. For people to just reduce it to data = bad is a bit ridiculous.

There is good data and bad data, and people who are good at interpreting data and people who are bad at interpreting data. If you use good data and have people who are good at interpreting that data then you can get the people who have good eyeballs to look at the range of players that the good data has suggested are worth looking at and have a better chance of spotting the ones that might be good signings quicker. These are quotes from Paul Barber, Brighton CEO from The Athletic today... Chief executive Paul Barber says: “What we don’t do, in the way that other clubs do, is charge around the world, constantly watching matches looking at players, which is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. What we try and do is focus on the areas for improvement, focus on the players that we feel can fill that gap and then send our eyes, our scouts, to look specifically at those players. “We don’t tend to do what some scouts do around the world, which is constantly circle the world looking.”

If Burnley, or any other PL side were to have an offer accepted then he would move, almost certainly. But imagine the price we are rightly quoting will make Burnley wonder if they can find better value elsewhere.

Darren Mowbray will be in charge of recruitment having been brought in as Head of Recruitment. He will report into Wilcox who has overall responsibility for the football operation.

We will need to sign at least 2 and probably 3 CMs so fairly plausible.

Judging by The Athletic article it sounds like it will be hard to keep Alcaraz, who has offers from (at least) Benfica and another CL team. Seems he may not push for a move at this stage but not overly sure he will be happy to play in the Championship if there is something firm which will give him a better stage, and expect plenty of voices will tell him the same. Feels like if he did stay he could be a massive differential at Champ level.

Yeah definitely a smokescreen and genius to get Swansea in on the plot by pretending to look for a new manager. All to help out Saints who relegated them a few years ago. As smokescreen's go its one of the smokiest I can remember.

It never does because the player will decide where he wants to go first before any official bids are made.

Never change Davie, never change. 😆