Chez

Absolutely this. Watch Salisu walk for a fee much smaller than the £40m Newcastle offered. And of course we ought to be buying players towards the end of their contracts elsewhere too. Everyone is starting to do this.

I thought that. Perhaps was seeing out his contract, so Ajax didn't have a strong hand. Player power was strong, but it feels like it is getting stronger, with many seeing out contracts and not putting themselves in situations were the current club can demand a fee so big they can't get a move. This could well happen with Salisu and others, and without that big transfer fee maybe every two or three years, it becomes impossible to balance the books. The only other option is to cut the wage bill significantly, so as to not overspend in the first place.

A lot of Burnley fans think he is the real gem at the club and are thankful that he hasn't had quite enough time to build a huge reputation, so they may be able to keep him as no one will bid enough for him yet for them to consider selling. Maybe our version of KWP, although perhaps even he's forged a bigger reputation.

Crook is stealing a living.

Family settled in London. Spurs or Brentford seems likely.

No he wasn't.

Remain keen? What does this even mean? If we want to sign him, won't we just put in a bid? If we don't, we won't? This kind of story feels agent placed. If it was during the season and we continually sent scouts to watch him, it would make sense. It ain't, so it doesn't.

Saints had a pretty short list of errors while Dave Merrington was the youth team manager. Wise wasn't really one of them, as Merrington recommended he get a pro contract, but McMenemy wouldn't give Wise the money he wanted in 1985. Kevin Phillips wasn't released as a schoolboy. He did his apprenticeship (well, it was a YTS back then) but wasn't offered a professional contract in 1991. He was a good player, but he was moved to right back during those two years, which didn't suit him. He'd been a centre midfielder as an associate schoolboy, a bloody talented player and he was one of those you thought would just become a pro. Under the current system, I think Philips would have got a pro deal.

if we are talking Mr 50p heads, then I raise you a Darren Powell aka Mr Shit Footballer.

oh dear god I had forgotten about that game. Horrible, but not sure who to pick out for special treatment. Utter utter shite.

Like you plan. This is the way to treat fellow Prem sides. Don't ever give any of them an easy `out'. If they don't rate one of their own players, then drive the hardest of bargains not offer a nice big fee and pay all the wages. Who else is paying him £120k a week. Offer buttons and let them eat a large chunk of his wages.

isn't that what was said about allowing Ings to leave? "We'd go down". They weren't far off the mark mind you, but you can sell your best player and improve.

The PR team seem to have a feel for how signing relatively unpopular players to new extended deals will go down with the fans. So Ralph gives a player a new deal, the PR team is not impressed, or know any announcement will draw a negative response, so they don't bother announcing it.

We apparently turned down the £40m move to Newcastle in January. No noises since, Burn obviously signed and Botman seems to be their target now. Lets hope he has a stormer of a season, but he'll be down to one year on his contract next summer, so might not be the big sale we will need at some point.

Good point, but have we got a young player's path to be blocked? If we sign one, like we loaned Broja, Long ain't getting in the way.

If we don't sell, we'll probably need to sell someone else (that we'd prefer to keep) this or next summer to balance the books. Salisu or KWP for example.

If they could attract the quality of player to sign that is `deserving' of a £200k a week contract, I'm sure they will. Right now, they just can't attract that guy, so don't need to offer that wage. At some point they are going to have to sign a Robino and overpay to break that seal. At the moment (f they follow the City model) they are in the Lescott et al signing phase, which would make JWP a good option.

if we get Delap in on loan from City, his Dad will no doubt pop down to watch him play, so we can use the opportunity to pick his brains.

The club state Stephens signed his contract during the 21/22 season, yet the Athletic reported he agreed a four year deal back in the summer of 2020. Seeing as the Athletic were spot on with McCarthy, and the Long statement has been questioned by his wife, maybe they are the more reliable source: https://theathletic.com/news/exclusive-jack-stephens-agrees-new-long-term-southampton-contract/bo8LfBeiblPj/

if it means no more god damn terrible green shirts, then that's great.

I think there might be a slight backlog. We've only just announced the Stephens contract signed back in 2020...

We signed two strikers last summer, so we can do that again this summer. I think we will all be a nervous if we just go with Che, Long and Armstrong.

I guess you could argue Che and Armstrong were both Championship talents, but not sure either was in the class of Lallana, Sessegnon, Carvelho, Spance or Brennan Johnson. We shall see. I guess Armstrong could come good and Spence may not be the real deal...

This is the annoying thing. These big clubs are not just buying £60m talent from Europe, they are also cleaning up the genuine talent from the championship. Fabio Carvelho was the guy to get, but we had no chance.

the only way it works is if we pay the difference in wages, say £1m a year for three years, which you could just knock off the asking price and then Boro can pay him the same wage. Not sure its as simple as all that though. Whatever happens, we ain't getting the £15m back.