Dusic

Everyone knows Boufal has talent. But he doesn't use it to tangibly help the team enough, and isn't available enough. He will have the odd good cameo as a sub but over a season he doesn't have enough influence. Better for all that he leaves.

Ralph doesn't tend to make those type of subs anyway as he knows we are better going forward than sitting back. Two of his three subs are usually to take off Ings' partner and Armstrong to get fresh legs in the press. Romeu does tend to need subbing sometimes with 20mins to go as he occassionally struggles to keep up with the pace and just resorts to fouling. We will have an extra option there when the window shuts.

Yep - good first 13 or 14 and then they would struggle if they got injuries in certain positions. I wouldn't say Saints have a lot of competition for places and I think the same is true of Liverpool, certainly in defence and attack.

Team picks itself unless there are any injuries. In itself that is telling: we have a good starting XI with hopefully some momentum, but not a huge amount beyond that. Bench will be quite interesting.

Yeah, in the context of the interview he clearly meant cover as in the number of players rather than cover as in signing someone who is only good enough to be cover. He specifically mentioned that we would struggle in central midfield if we had a couple of injuries, which is corrext and obvious. I have total faith that they know what they are doing, even more so from that interview.

Great interview with Semmens. Good questions on a range of topics, and good answers. Kudos to him and Saints for allowing you that much time. Genuinely sounds like we have a plan and good people executing it.

If anyone hasn't listened to the excellent Martin Semmens interview on TSP then its quite clear we will sign a midfielder. Also stated RH would prefer to work with a smaller squad that he believes in and that suit the style, rather than have cover for the sake of it. I thought that married up nicely with the Boufal exit talk - he doesn't suit the style and nor does RH believe in him. From reading between the lines of a couple of things Semmens said I think Saints feel that the other European leagues are/will feel the pinch of the pandemic (yes MLT, there is one) and there might be some bargains to be had as the window draws to a close.

If we get £3.5m for Boufal then I would take it. We are obviously not going to offer him a new contract, he won't be a starter and we have cover in Djenepo and Smallbone. We will likely lose Carillo, Hoedt, Lemina for free so saving the wages and getting a little bit extra seems sensible, especially as he won't be going to a PL rival.

Will end up the same. All these players are on too much money for teams who would want them to be able to buy and pay the wages so loan til end of contract is the only option. At least with British players there is usually a market. For example even if Adams hadnt found form at the end of the season we could probably have got most of our money back from a top Champ team or promoted side.

Another loan, so will end up having Cedric, Clasie, Carillo, Hoedt, Lemina and Forster all likely leaving or having left on free transfers after being big money signings. All after being loaned out for multiple seasons with Saints still paying a solid chunk of their wages. Best part of £100m wasted and thats without mentioning Vestergaard. Wee Ross taken by Rangers and Les Reed working in a position of power at The FA. Madness.

Considering Covid and the sponsorship fiasco it seems a sensible summer from Saints. At the end of the season if you had asked which positions we need to strengthen pretty much everyone would have said RB (KWP or other) and CB. We have done that. All that has changed is the sale of PEH. If we dont sign another CM then its silly and asking for trouble. If we do, and don't lose anyone key, then its been a good window in the context of being a club without mega bucks.

I think he is a good, no nonsense defender who does the basics well, isn't really rash and is always available. Our first choice CB so Saints will certainly be keen to keep him longer term - which is why I think the lack of a new contract is more likely down to him than the club.

That we signed him as a relative rookie who was 4th choice, has become a regular starter for Poland and Saints no1 CB and is still on the same contract. Not a leap to suggest that with less than two years to go Saints are trying to extend it, and seemingly would be a no brainer pay rise for JB but yet it hasn't happened...yet. Having seen what PEH (and Cedric) did running theirs down and the moves they got then perhaps his plan is similar. Who knows for now, but if it gets to Christmas without an extension then I think that above scenario is most likely to be the case.

Vestergaard keen to stay at Saints and thinks he will get a good amount of game time: https://mobil.bold.dk/fodbold/nyheder/ombejlet-vestergaard-vil-fortsaette-i-saints/ I think a lot will hinge on how long it takes for Salisu to be available and also what the plan is with Bednarek, whose contract situation is very intriguing.

All considered, its quite amazing that we received £7.5m from them last year (which has been confirmed). Surely someone will carry the can for this at Saints? Given we are a small club trying to compete in a league of high finance, these kind of mistakes are really costly. Hopefully going forwards we can tie up with a company for a longer term period, similar to what Brighton have with Amex, where there is actually a relationship between the club, organisation and city that is built on solid, long term foundations.

https://www.footmercato.net/a9020033982485964370-toulouse-a-fixe-le-prix-dibrahim-sangare No hint of Saints interest but affordable and right profile so wonder if we might be.

This is...errr....not true. It is nearly always reported by multiple sources. Salisu, KWP, Adams and Djenepo all were.

All the good posters no longer post here and you can (actually) see why.

Anyone know if we have a good talent pool in the U16 and below ages? For a while now we seem to have very few players in the England setup between U17 and U21 so hoping there are some talents emerging. Goran (Babic) is a midfielder who has been at England and Serbia training camps previously.

Some interesting players. Diamond Edwards I remember us being linked to last year, so it must have happened: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.footballinsider247.com/exclusive-southampton-agree-to-sign-attacker-for-significant-fee/amp/ Fedel Ross Lang has been part of the England age group teams. Goran Babic very highly rated, Serbian midfielder who has been in the Academy for a while. Lets hope we have the coaching talent to get the best from them. Leon Pambou was reported earlier this summer: https://www.getfootballnewsfrance.com/2020/exclusive-southampton-sign-16-year-old-defender-leon-pambou/ Good write up on Carson, the LB from NI: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.belfastlive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/former-glentoran-youngster-can-big-18765328.amp

This has never actually been announced despite strong reports. Obviously was lined up for the U23s but presume it didn't happen for some reason in the end?

With revenues generated from the sales of Hojbjerg and Reed, plus loan fee and wages saved from Cedric (hyped at the time by the club as a great deal) and Yoshida in January, plus Lemina just now, we must surely be able to make one more good addition in central midfield.

Salisu clearly injured, but we must have known that when we signed him so no idea why the club didnt just say so to set expectations. If it were a long term one then 100% we wouldnt have signed him. Hopefully he is getting there. ------------------------------------- Celtic thread on Ntcham here: https://www.talkceltic.net/forums/threads/olivier-ntcham.145210/page-284 The overiding consensus is that he is talented but inconsistent and still not nailed on as a starter now. Some chat that he hasnt been used well and is better in their European games where its a slower pace and a bit more open rather than teams that camp behind the ball. Sounds like his off the ball game is pretty poor which doesn't strike me as a Hasenhuttl player, certainly if looking to replicate PEH's attributes. If he isnt a star man in the SPL then is he really going to make an impact at PL level? Certainly a lesser player than Hojbjerg, who became ridiculously downgraded here once it was clear he didn't want to stay.

Wonder if J-Rod2 will be in that list?! Also, seeing as the likes of Sims, Hesketh, O'Connor, Jones etc are clearly not in first team contention, I hope we can sell them, even if cheap and with sell on clause, rather than loaning. Most are OOC next summer anyway so we would get hardly anything then (probs just a training fee).