Chez

I reckon an article entitled "This is made up transfer news about Saints" would probably still see me reading it. I am a football mug.

What a horrific waste of two minutes of my life.

Sure. As always books need to be balanced, but if we want to win the league, then having a GK of his quality is very much needed IMO.

Burnley offered him a new contract. Dropping down a division seems unlikely.

They weren't getting Trafford for buttons, so they have the money. I doubt there are any senior players at Newcastle willing to drop down a division. I don't think many will want to leave full stop as they will be on serious wages. I can see Lewis Miley (who I thought looked terrific when he burst onto the scene) potentially wanting a move, but not to a championship side.

Maybe no one wanted to pay it last week, but this week things could be different. Newcastle obviously want Ramsdale. How "badly"? How about we try to find out? Villa are probably looking at this news and wondering how they get Martinez sold and avoid missing out. Many at Newcastle do not rate Pope and Howe is perhaps one of them, which is why they tried to sign Trafford. Oh, it's two minutes since they were willing to spend £27m on Trafford. PSR doesn't seem to be an issue for Newcastle.

Why are they not happy? He's better than they have. I've no idea why we are allowing him to leave on loan unless we can't afford his wages.

That's the kind of description I want to hear when we are linked to a player.

why not force Newcastle do so? If they want hm, make them pay in full.

I struggle to see Ramsdale wanting to return to us next summer should we get promoted - unless Pope somehow kept him out out if the side, which is very doubtful. Obviously I knew he would depart (some of the posts on here suggesting he wasn't all that are laughable), but I will still be disappointed as it seems like a very long time ago that Forster was any good or McCarthy had a decent season for us. We'd finally sorted out the position and it lasted one season.

I have never rated him, but in truth he's the best defender at the club currently and amazing as it sounds, we looked worse last season when he didn't play. The time has come for change though, so fingers crossed Quarshie can be a better player.

agreed and if the AMs they have identified have all turned out to be out of reach at this point, then perhaps they need to wait until the window is closing and the players they want have no better offers.

Watching the first half highlights it was noticeable how good the first touch Wellington was, which was needed as Espanyol didn't give us much room. From what I have seen of Sugawara, his touch has been poor, so he might well be someone we want to offload. Bree is a sold enough player, but he doesn't excel. Edwards isn't a right back. We have bodies, but improvement in that position is very much possible should players depart. Not sure we have a queue of teams after Sugawar and Bree.

Player was tapped up and they didn't like it, just as we weren't with VVD. I am not sure why any clubs get annoyed. Everyone does it - speaks to the players agent, finds out if he'd like a move, what kind of wages he would want and possibly how much the selling club might let hi go for. Seems pretty standard.

I'll rephrase. Wood didn't impress me.

Not sure. Wood hasn't impressed. I'm not a big fan of THB. Edwards being played at right back seems strange, but perhaps it's to get his fitness up. I don't understand why Bednarek move hasn't happened by now.

Just watched first half. He looked good. Much more comfortable on the ball than when I watched him for Koln.

Worth noting that all their signing that summer we're done by end of July.

Good to hear. We need about three quarters of our signings to hit, and that's never easy to do.

I didn't see yesterday's game, but in the previous game Quarshie looked ropey. He seems to have the physical attributes, which we have needed for some time, but there's more to playing there than being tall. If Bednarek is leaving, Quarshie is going to have to shine.

Once Spurs failed to get him, there was no suitor, so he took the massive pay rise.

he played 39 games but only started 13. He was a very good impact sub. The late goal at Millwall sticks in my mind. He's only 31, so no reason why he can't be just as sharp, but having not played last season, his motivation will have taken a hit. Still could turn that around...that's his job after all.

no matter the quality of players in the squad, they need to become a functional hard working unit again that is tight at the back, dominant in midfield and creates and takes chances. Like or loathe Martin, he handled considerable unrest and turnover of player and then turned a bunch of losers into a side that won a lot of games. The side had a pattern of play that by and large worked. Hopefully Still can do that, he's got his work cut out if you ask me, but let's see.

I can not imagine Moyes signing him full stop never mind persuading his board to spend what they will need to get him.

HSV officials have now had to cross a name that had recently been hotly tipped off their list. They would have liked to lure Armel Bella-Kotchap from Southampton FC to the Volksparkstadion. However, after a direct exchange with the English club, it's clear: The relegated Premier League team will not loan out its defender as HSV had intended. Instead, Southampton is considering a sale, and according to information obtained by MOPO, HSV has been given a price tag of ten million euros. Clearly too much for Hamburg, who would have only been able to meet Bella-Kotchap's lavish salary expectations if it had been a loan.