Dusic

Whats a "proper striker" or "top striker" these days? A lot of the players who score goals regularly in the PL play from wide areas. Orsic for example was the 4th top scorer in the Croatian league last season and is essentially a scoring player who operates from the left side, a bit like Rashford does for Man Utd. The type of players who have a proven record of scoring loads of goals in a top league are either too expensive fee wise, too expensive wages wise, or are over the hill. Leeds just spent €35m on Georginio Rutter, a striker from Hoffenheim and he has 2 goals this season. Presumably they feel aged 20 that his output will improve and he has attributes they value. Perhaps we see similar in Jackson? He is fast, strong and direct - unlike most of our other options. He is regularly getting minutes (mostly as a sub) for one of the better clubs in La Liga and is 21. That is what you get for £20m these days. In addition, we are currently bottom of the league and fairly likely to be relegated, so clearly some targets won't fancy the move. Everyone would love us to go and get a striker who will bang in 15 league goals a season, but so would fans of Chelsea, Brighton, Villa, Palace, Forest, Leeds, Leicester, Wolves, Bournemouth, West Ham and Everton. I don't think there is a huge and obvious pool of quality PL level strikers with proven records in top leagues that are affordable and happy to move to a team bottom of the league.

Antonio is 33 in March and is on the decline hence West Ham replacing him. We are seemingly signing a striker, Nicolas Jackson, who has played as a striker in most of his apps this season for Villareal. We also have signed Orsic who will add a significant goal threat based on his recent record. Not quite sure what some expect...we will end this window having spent upwards of £30m without any major sales, just like in the summer. That would have been unheard of in the Gao era.

Aside from probably unaffordable wages, the other thing about Ings is that he really needs to play in a front two to get the best out of him. That isn't how we are playing. Looks like we will be signing Jackson, and with Orsic too have added different attributes to our frontline this window.

https://www.pianetalecce.it/news/528087420422/il-southampton-ci-prova-saverio-sticchi-damiani-dice-di-no-i-motivi-del-rifiuto Sounds like it would cost a lot more to get Hjulmand as Lecce don't want to lose him mid season. Seems fairly certain we made an offer though, which is interesting. Alcaraz is obviously seen as an attacking midfielder and we know we are so short of cover/replacement for Lavia who will likely go in the summer anyway so good to see us target someone in this position. Re Gallagher, I don't see it happening. We already spent big to get Alcaraz who is a similar player and if Gallagher is available I'm sure he would go back to Palace anyway.

Check the sources of these "several reports", use some of your own judgement and revisit this post. FFS.

Ever since it became obvious that Moffi was a no-go and Jacob Tanswell started mentioning Jackson I've thought we would get him. No issue with it. Promising young player, recently linked to better clubs than ours, who adds new attributes to our attack in terms of height, pace and power. Even if he plays more in wide areas I don't think that is an issue. Adams largely plays well for us and he will be a key player, the problem is that we don't get enough players around him who are a goal threat. With JWP in his new role, Orsic and potentially Jackson, that definitely adds some threat. People get fixated on strikers but loads of the top scorers in the PL the last few seasons are not traditional central strikers and most teams only play with one anyway. No point signing a central striker who isn't better than Adams so if we can't do that then signing a good player who can play all actoss the front seems sensible. We won't be doing this and then dropping another £20m on someone else as well. Hopefully we close the deal as supposed intetest elsewhere and the Danjuma situation which could impact.

Hopefully under SR we can become a bit better with contracts. The amount of players who have signed 4 year contracts and then we get long running sagas with is quite extensive: Clyne, Wanyama, Hojbjerg, Ings, Vestergaard, and now Salisu. Aside from Ings, we pretty much got our money back or a small profit when we sold as we lost all leverage once they have a year to go. With Salisu, he took a year to adapt where he barely played, so he effectively had a two year contract. I know its not always possible, but other clubs seem to manage to extend contracts much earlier, often after a year or so once its clear the player is decent. Recent example being Alexis MacAllister signing a 4 year deal with Brighton just before the WC. I'm sure Saints would just have been comfortable with the two years he had left. Brighton now know they will get £50m+ for him whereas without that it would be £25m. Doesn't mean they will stay longer but does mean their value is protected, and Saints are supposedly all about value.

Having watched the Semenyo video Chez posted: - Would be amazed if he is actually 5'8, seems a but taller and is quite strong. Actually quite similar to Adams in some of his strength on the ball. - Nice finishes with both feet - Good weight of pass on both fit with many assists - Telling actions from both right and left side of the pitch Not saying we should sign him, but he looks like a good player and one that could combine well with other players. More of an Adams competition/cover rather than replacement.

It certainly shows that they didn't have anything lined up specifically for Jnauary which is disappointing but equally our league position, form and managerial uncertainty and sunsequent change probably aided that. Ings is quality and proven here, wouldnt have a concern with taking him. However....under Jones we have mostly played with one central striker and that is certainly not Ings best role, he is much better in a pair. Seeing as we see to have settled on a midfield 3 with JWP in the advanced role I am not sure how Ings would fit that. Jackson is a wide forward who can play up front but isn't going to suddenly come in and take Adams place and bang in 7 or 8 goals. Semenyo I don't know much about but he has often been a sub for Bristol City. Might be a player of potential but again he wouldn't come in and threaten Adams' place. Overall it doesn't scream well organised recruitment to me, these 3 are all very different players. Personally I think we will end up with a wide forward type, preferably someone who can play from the right.

Would be a shame if our top striker target ends up at a relegation rival rather than staying in France. But appears West Ham going big for him. As said yesterday, I think we will get a wide forward rather than no9.

Why? On huge wages and in massive decline. Sounds like pretty much the opposite of a Saints transfer to me. Nicolas Jackson has been pushed by Jacob Tanswell since the start of the window, he is the most likely attacking addition IMO.

Wonder if we might not get a central striker now and instead maybe a wide right attacker. Not saying its the right thing but logic is that we are playing with one central striker and there is no point signing a no9 type if they are not better than Adams (allround game not just goals) and that will cost a lot, for example Moffi seemingly was our no1 choice and is out of our price range. We need to add goal threat certainly, but that can come in different forms and is why the Orsic signing is potentially so useful as we totally lack goals from the wide attackers we have. There really isn't any point in signing a striker for the sake of it who isn't going to be a key player if we could sign a different type of attacker who might be. Again, not saying this is what I would do but it might be what happens and there is some logic, even more so after Jones' recent comments.

Players obviously like him and are playing for him. I like that he has a bit of fight and character. He has just won 3 games in 7 days against PL teams. Defensively more solid. Scored twice in 3 games in a row. Excellent work from NJ who looks a great fit for what we need.

Moffi and Maeda both scoring today.

Is Maeda the Japanese Shane Long? Not meant in a derogatory way but seems like his best attributes are physical rather than technical? Anyone seen much of James Bree? Has good stats for chance creation (think he is on set pieces) and would possibly be a good cover player for a cheap fee given we possibly hadnt anticipated spending on a RB before Tino's setback. Will be interesting to see if he plays for Luton today or not. Tanswell has been pretty on the money this window so if he says he is a target then I'm sure he is.

Elyounoussi is a tactically aware player who can play multiple positions, has high availability and seems like a good pro. Managers like these kind of players. Squads need these kind of players.

https://www.getfootballnewsfrance.com/2023/nice-submit-e18m-offer-for-lorients-terem-moffi/ Says Moffi wants to stay in France and Nice have made an offer. Hopefully we have moved on to other targets if its not going to happen.

Moffi now being linked with Newcastle. Think it will be hard to get him and if we somehow do it will be right near the end of the window. Interesting comments from Jones that its not necessarily a no9 that we want. Ankersen was away yesterday so potentially was at the Lorient game the other day.

Nearly every question he gets asked is negative so the reason he comes across as defensive is because he is defending himself. I don't mind it, shows he has some balls and belief in himself. He has been hugely and disrespectfully slagged off by lots of Saints fans and the media. He has a right of reply and is using it. End of story and hopefully everyone can move on as he just managed our best performance for a long time.

Speaking to the club media after the game yesterday he was very clear that more will happen, and it didnt sound like only one. He said he had asked the owners for support (on transfers) and they were providing the requested support and that the rest of January will be very important.

I like the spikiness of the interviews. He is a human, who after presumably being very excited at having earned the best opportunity of his career was being given some brutal and personal stick. If he wasnt affected by that it would be odd. The key for me is that the players seemed to have a genuine connection with him at the end. I think that is hard to fake. We may lose on Saturday, but its clear he will be here to stay so hopefully this win kicks us on, and I'm pleased for him.

On RB, we only have one available RB at the moment, plus AMN. There is surely a big question mark over whether Livramento will play more than a minor part this season and I'm not sure NJ is sold on Perraud either so might be looking to move KWP over to the left perhaps? Also pretty sure Karsdorp was linked in the last window. Equally, the clubs priority I am sure is a striker, its not a linear process where they can only enquire about one player or position at a time. I am sure they want Moffi, but also don't want to pay €25m as they don't think that he is currently worth that and/or paying that would mean not being able to sign another player in a different position. Negotiations are not just one sided, and equally our targets may wish to wait and see which clubs come in for them as the window progresses, we are bottom of the league and likely to get relegated of course. I'm sure we will get a striker, and also if we use Orsic in a good way he should add a significant goal threat too. Based on our other activity so far I think its fair to say they are really trying to make this a good window for us, and obviously it has to be.

This is incorrect. The comment about balance was in the context of transfers and whether our policy has changed or not. NJ was saying that it hasnt overall but that a balance between youth and experience is needed, and that over the next two/three weeks and the signings we make people will see that. I get people don't like the bloke but please be accurate!

Excellent appointment. SR obviously not flavour of the month at the moment but a good sign to be able to make quality off field appointments. Shields was a good move hence he was stolen by Chelsea so soon. Wilcox by all accounts has done a great job with the City academy, albeit well funded. Knows the workings of a successful multi club structure too.

Yes, sensible approach given the model. Jason Wilcox would be a great appointment, he is very highly regarded and well versed in this from the CFG.