Chez

If I had a choice of selling Sulemena or Onuachu for €10m this summer, then I'd be removing the front seats from the Honda Civic right now.

I think it would be fair to say that most Saints fans would be amazed if we didn't sign Fraser.

Obviously we haven't given up, but I get what you mean. I guess we do have some financial restraints and also there are limitations on who we can attract. Do you feel the same about the potential new deal for Adams?

Has the Pedro Lopez retired yet? I think he plays right back when not committing horrific crimes.

Can you possibly share them? Always like to read these gossip type transfer stories, whether they are accurate or not.

Can someone remind me what happened with Wolves last summer? Did we pull the plug on the deal? I got the feeling they (Wolves) didn't really push the boat out to get him, but I might be mistaken. I saw a story the other day that they big about £15m, but I thought they only ever tried to loan him.

I don't see McCarthy signing a contract to be backup. I think he may want to be first choice next season and some guarantee that if he performs well, he won't be automatically ousted by Baz when he is fit. Perhaps the club will go that route. I appreciate that won't be what fans want to hear, but it seems more realistic to me.

we might not have to sell, but that doesn't mean we have any leeway ourselves to buy prior to June 30th. I wonder if the THB signing will go through next Friday when the window opens, so it's in this years FFP or will it go through on July 1st so it's in next years.

You might not count it, but everyone connected to the finances at the club, the bank manager and FFP certainly will.

and from a numbers point of view, Rothwell needs replacing too. That would be a massive upgrade. I don't fully agree he slowed play down. I am mindful of the Grimsby cup game where he was on the bench. Our play through midfield was glacier-like slow until he came on from the last half an hour, completely took control of the game and increased out tempo tremendously. Obviously we didn't secure a result, but it just showed the difference in quality he brought to the table. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying he is a world beater, and a lot of passes are square (that's pretty normal for a deep lying CM), but when we step up a division. the Downes, Smallbone, Aribo trio - that seems to be our current best three - will be under much more pressure...and lets see how they cope, and how easily they find it to pass the ball forward through the lines. JWP ain't coming back this summer, but it's interesting to see that some fans have higher expectations of calibre of players we might bring in.

We need players that are technically great and he is certainly that. His wages would probably be a problem. I thought he played a lot for West Ham, so it seems strange the new manager would not consider him an option. That web story may be a load of bollocks.

Is James Ward Prowse really going to be available?

I still get a kick out knowing we sold them David McGoldrick for a £1m and then spent that million on Sir Ricky. I remind my Forrest supporting brother law about it on a regular basis. He also thanks me for Saints sending them not one, but two limited (in his words "shit") left backs in Harding and Fox. I am not sure of Forrest's financial issues. Sky is suggesting they are up against it FFP wise, which would explain their interest in Che. Part of the problem they had last summer was that they didn't sell Johnson until after the June 30th deadline - which meant his income didn't go towards that years' finances. They argued that if they had sold early (before June 30th) they would get about £20m less, which would not be good financial sense. They lost that argument, hence the points loss, so you would imagine that £40m sale will be in the 2023/24 figures, making them fine for FFP.

As the story mentions, they need to sell players to balance their books by end if June to avoid point penalties, but we will also need to balance our books, so might not be able to spend until July 1st ourselves. I don't think anyone outside the club truly knows where we stand financially at this moment, but spending £100m in that January 2023 window, then recouping a shit load last summer and hopefully lowering the wage bill, but also missing out on about £80m or so of Prem income over the last year probably won't see us flush this month.

Nice one. Enjoy it.

I really liked Brereton when he was at Forrest. He was only about 18 then, didn't score too many goals, but had decent touch, held the ball up well and looked a threat. I had seen him him play quite a few times and suggested him on the HCDAJFU thread about five years ago. It took him quite a while before he turned his promise into goals, but in the 2021-22 season at Blackburn he scored 22 in 37 league games, 22-23 season it was 14 in 43. At Villareal last season he failed to score in 14 league games (and another 6 cup games), hence them being happy to loan hm out to Sheffield United. If he is selected for Chile (he played both games in March 2024 - coming on off the bench both times, and 10 games in 2023), they have Copa America qualifying fixtures in September, October, November and March, which might not be ideal. If Che resigns, I'm not sure we'll be looking for another striker.

Is he any good though? He had a nightmare at Liverpool. Not seen him since. Adrian at Liverpool out of contract. He's 37 though.

Evans is being offered a new deal by Man U. Dier is joining Bayern on a permanent deal, I think. Somehow, I can't see Matip or Alacantara joining Saints. They are so well known and as a result probably will get a gig at a bigger club than us on the continent. The same with Martia and Varane. Saints just doesn't have the kudos. Perisic is 35, but I suspect is still fit as a fiddle. I suspect we will go with Fraser in that position, but he could do a job for a year. Sessegnon was good when played in a winger role. The injuries have been a problem. Sort of player we might have looked a on loan last season. Would be a gamble. Tanganga has been at Millwall on loan, so if it went well they will try to sign him. Newcastle releasing Dummett, Matt Riche, Loruis Karius and Jeff Hendrick. Not exactly an inspiring list.

Not sure I really appreciated how good he was until we went down. I don't know which game it was, but he came on and injected some much needed pace into the game, having the ability to control and pass at a level (and speed) far exceeding whoever he replaced. Not sure of the outcome of that game, but it showed me the difference between a Prem player and a championship player. I am not sure he had a great season, but our midfield was pretty strong all season thanks to having players like him bolstering the squad. During the Prem years he was an enigma. His work rate and lung busting runs were a tremendous asset, however his direct dribbling and attempts to break through the lines often led to the ball being lost and our defence being left exposed. His efforts meant he also tended to run out of steam and we never seemed to get better when he went off. In the right system he was great, although he certainly had his limitations. Wish him all the best in has next endeavour. Hope we can get someone in better than him. Not sure that will be straight forward.

McCarthy can't get a game for pretty much two years and then becomes our first choice keeper in the Prem. Madness. Did we sack all the scouts and one of them wiped the black box on the way out?

West Ham linked heavily with Luis Guiherme, a midfielder from Brazil. Not sure it impacts the Downes situation a great deal though as Guiherme appears to a more attacking midfielder from the snippets I have read.

yes, according to the last set of account there is a reasonable amount of debt (the covid loan makes up a large amount of that), although it's hard for fans to know exactly where the business stands as the accounts came out in March 2024 and they show the previous year 2022-2023 up to the end of June, so they don't show the transfers that happened last summer. We won't find out until March 2025 how we look at this exact moment (June 2024) in time.

One year left of his contract at West Ham. His current wages are going to be out of our league, so not sure we are ever going to be in for him on a permanent move (as we'd have to match his current wage, at least for a year). A loan might be an option, but West Ham are perhaps more likely to keep him as a squad player than loan him out paying `half' his wages.

Good point. I think it's safe to assume that, at best, we will be just outside the bottom three come January, so it won't be a surprise and signings made in absolute desperation.

I don't think we will get more than about £8m for Onuachu. We are going to need two Turkish sides to want him, otherwise clubs know he is very much surplus to requirements and might just offer another loan. We will get buttons for Perraud. He couldn't get a game all season at Nice and is out of contract in a year. We will be lucky to get a loan that pays all his wages. We will get nothing for Lyanco, also out of contract in a year's time. I can see clubs only being interested in loaning ABK, Alcaraz and Sulemena, as per last year. Their stock may well have gone down over the last 12 months. So, if the DCC move is actually £3m, my low is £11m in, plus maybe a loan fee here and there.