Chez

Yeah, if we sell to Chelsea/Liverpool/Arsenal/Newcastle today for £40m, we'll get £32m (£8m will go to City). If we sell to City today for £40m, we'll get £40m. If we sell to City next summer for £40m, well get £40m. I'm all for keeping him by the way, and I do wonder if others see him as £50m player. That is a very big price. Teams like Dortmund haven't spent that kind of money before, so the pool of big money buyers is small. I have no doubt teams will be very interested - he's a very good player, but realistically, who is spending £50m on him? I think Chelsea were the ones, but they have possibly moved on with the Enzo signing. There is no guarantee that City want him next year either. It will be hard for them to assess his progression/value if he spend a season with us in the Championship. Maybe he stays. If that happens, there may be greater pressure to sell others, like Sulemana.

It's been widely reported that the buyback is £40m. Not sure why you are saying it's £35m. It has also been widely reported that City have a 20% sell on clause. In other words, in terms of income to Saints, a £50m sale to Chelsea today is the same as a £40m sale to City next summer. However, City may not want him next year, so you'd take the bird in the hand. What if neither want him? There are not many teams with the funds to spend £40m on a player.

Does it? Southampton FC 2022 accounts: "wages are 75% of turnover (which was £150m) - that's £112.5m not £50-60m.

We ain't selling Lavia because we have too many players.

Good point. Tielemans, Tete, Amarty, Soyuncu, Mendy, Evans, Bertrand and Perez are all out of contract, which will help them cut the wage bill a lot. Not sure they lose a lot of quality there either, Tielemans apart. They are similar to us in that they have two players, Barnes and Maddison that possibly will bring in £70-80m. After that, I would say they have a load of mediocre players, like us, that won't be in huge demand and will be earning more than is affordable in the Championship, even with wage cuts. I wonder if they will have to pay Vardy the full £150k a week in the Championship?

£30-40m of talent walks for nothing. What a nightmare for them, neither getting the big money or retaining their Premiership place.

I think you are kidding yourself that we are in a different position to Leicester and do not need to sell. We absolutely do need to sell. If the JWP and Lavia moves don't happen, the finances will be under real pressure. That doesn't mean we will/need to sell Sulemana and Alcaraz, but it will be reliant on getting the prices we want for JWP and Lavia and Salisu and/or ABK and KWP. Sheffield United's wage bill was small compared to ours and they weren't carrying the debt we are when they went down. Not sure about Watford, but I'd guess it was the same.

Our total wage bill is around £112 - as per the 2022 company accounts.

With so few `out of contract' players this summer to help us trim the wage bill (which is very much required), it's inevitable that they all depart. With Forster, McCarthy and Cabellero, we had a very old/experienced set of keepers, but if that becomes Baz, Lis and Wright, it will be a very different group.

Hard to say. We have Baz, McCarthy, Cabellero, Lis and one or two young keepers I'd of thought Cabellero will be allowed to leave - we can't justify a large wage for a third string keeper. I have no idea what the situation is with Lis. The McCarthy situation is also unclear. The club obviously wanted to get his wage down, if he was to continue to be a second choice keeper, which they have, both by not playing him (activating the clause that cuts his wage) and with the relegation (seemingly wage cuts to all contracts). You have to wonder if that ploy (making him second choice and not playing him to cut his wage) will have left him disillusioned and wanting to seek pastures new. Whether another Prem club will come knocking, perhaps taking him on a free and making him second choice, we will have to see. Unless McCarthy goes, we won't sign a new keeper.

I don't see that happening. We have Perraud, Small, Larios and Djenepo that can all play left back. Until some of them depart, we ain't adding £50k+ a week to our wage bill, when we need to cut it by about £60m a year.

He's on £100k a week and has three more years on his contract. Not sure how it would be financially feasible, even if he was willing to drop out of the Prem, which he won't be.

Zagreb made about £20m in transfer fees and spent about £6m last season. They have made a profit in recent years, but we ain't getting our money back from them or anyone else.

First I have heard of Mara wanting out. There was rumoured (loan) interest in him in the January window from Marseilles, but obviously there was not much benefit to us in a loan.

We might not get a penny back, never mind half the transfer fee. I guess the 40% cut in wages, assuming he has one, might bring his wages back into the realms of `workable' for Belgium clubs, but we'll still probably have to subsidise a bit.

we badly need a striker with their mindset - which has been to have the utmost confidence in their own ability top score goals, any time, any place, no matter what the level.

Someones making him disappear every week.

How many away tickets do they give. Only ground I've not been to, so will fancy that trip.

That will only work if Newcastle pay him a big sum on departure, as we won't match his Prem wages for the last year of his current deal. I have to say, he's never impressed me at Prem level...but we ain't playing there now are we!

Interesting. They were obviously interested before and £15m is a good deal for them. I don't think many of us expect to get top dollar for him now. We had our chance to make top money, but fucked it up

Has he? Strange that Newcastle supposedly bid £40m for him then.

Moura's could have sneaked in too perhaps.

I read that he had a pretty decent season for them and was one of their better players. Not sure that means much. I've been underwhelmed by him in a Saints shirt. We've got Alcaraz, SArmstrong, Aribo and Amo-Ameyaw who can play in the hole. He'll have to fight for his place.

They are not letting youg players on long contracts such as Lavia, ABK, Alcaraz and Sulemana go on the cheap.

Had a good season. He made the team of the year, I think.