Chez

If you get injured playing international football, can you make a claim for lost wages? I think the club can, but as a free agent, could the player do so? Obviously he wouldn't have a contract beyond the end of June, but could he seek an amount similar to his wages to the level he is getting now for as long as he is out?

Ipswich and Hull can offer PL football and will have the parachute payments, enabling them to offer him high wages for three years. We have one year left of our parachute payments so probably can't outbid those two.

There simply is no loyalty in football from either side these days, so it will simply be down to the fact we have not offered him what he wants and thinks he can get elsewhere, be that more money, more years or a higher standard of football. You can't expect him to accept a fiver when someone else is offering a tenner just because he has been injured in the past. It's not his fault he is has been injured. At a stretch we can be blamed. Us overplaying him after a long time out was part of the reason he got injured. I think he is a better player than most Saints fans think he is.

Hearts total wage bill is about £16m, maybe a fraction more. Ours was about £80m in the 23/34 championship season. It might have been lower this time around, but still a different world. I doubt Hearts pay anyone more than about £5k a week. Two years at Saints on £20k a week would equal 8 years there.

Yeah, Downs, BBD and Archer in fact. We are well stocked with strikers who offer less than the one-game-in-two-Stewart.

yeah, Downs was fit all season. Availability is the best form of ability. At last we get to speculate on striker signings all summer assuming the club don't think Archer's career is back on track after his slight uptick in form and Swansea goal?

Really? Wouldn't their budget for wages be pretty small compared to ours?

He had a bad run of injuries, but that doesn't mean he is injury prone for the rest of his career. That said, the club certainly had to be very careful about overplaying him and that does hamstring you somewhat. If we sign the right guy, then we could be in a much better position, but from what I saw of him last season, there aren't too many that can do what he can and are willing to play in the championship. Downs was obviously a big failure, but I guess Larin worked out well.

I'd of thought being seen as second choice behind Larin, not seen as good enough for a PL contract and perhaps most impotrantly, the opportunity to earn more elsewhere would be the main reasons...but who knows?

maybe, but he had pace, height and finishing ability which is a rare combination. Also, we may have to pay a transfer fee for his replacement, which restricts spending elsewhere. A new signing will itself be a gamble (they all are). At least with Ross we knew he could actually play. Big hole left in our strike force. We looked like we were well set there...

Very annoying to have finally have seen what we paid for on transfer deadline day three years ago, only for him to depart so soon after. Is there no way the parties agree a deal in the coming weeks or is this a definitive "all potential deals are off"?

We all knew he was a top player and if we have survived would perhaps be able to ask for similar money. I guess two seasons in the PL shows that he is not a flash in the pan, not to mention he can do it at a different club. Plus he scored a couple of blinders, which really helps you get noticed. Just shows that he made the right move leaving us. Would United be calling if he had had a decent season with us in the championship? I doubt it.

Plays like he's 5 foot 6.

agreed. He's poor. Not sure of his actual height but he makes the goal look massive. No thanks.

far too lightweight. Really poor piece of scouting whoever brought him here.