Chez

if you are Delap and every day you are training (with Pep running things) and playing against Dias and Laporte, does that test you and help you improve more than if you were at Saints, with Ralph and Bednarek? You are right that the general consensus is that first team loans is the better way to improve players, but not doing so doesn't seem to have harmed Foden, hence I wonder if its accurate.

Agree with your comments, but I got the feeling Pep felt that him staying and training (which includes a lot of actual football games) with the quality players at City was more beneficial than going out on loan and playing/training with lessor players. The fact he's now bloody brilliant possibly justifies that decision, but we will never know. On a similar subject, does, say 20 games out on loan at a lower league really develop you as a player? OK, so you need some first team games with big crowds and high intensity matches, but these guys train every day at high intensity and that plays a huge part in their development. Perhaps getting young guys into mans football is essential, but putting that aspect to one side, is first team games the be all and end all in terms of player development?

One footed players don't become two footed in their 27 year. I am not sure why Saints fans in general like Adams so much. The best performance I've seen was when he played for Scotland against England and he basically held the ball up really well that night, and gave Scotland an out ball. I don't recall too many games when he was in the picture for man of the match (unless you are one of those that gives MOTM out to the guy that scored). He's scored a few goals, a couple of blinders in fact, but he's very `middling'. And before we get into a discussion of whether `middling' is exactly what a small club like us wants, I mean, he ain't woeful, but he ain't all that either. He does a job, but is that job as good as Ings or other Saints strikers? I'd say no, so there is no reason not to want or indeed expect better. If we sold him, I wouldn't be all that fussed, but of course it would be down to the success of the replacement.

It was like he had just eaten a massive Sunday roast and needed an hour and a half to `walk it off'

Was chatting to a United fan over the weekend and discussing the signing of young talent. He mentioned Rooney being the obvious success at their place and that it was a no brainer decision to sign him as he was a rare talent, but pointed out that he had played well over 50 games for them showing that talent off. The flip side of the coin was Amad Diallo, who had only played three or four games for Atalanta before United spent £25m (and a huge amount of add ons) and he obviously has yet to shine. I think both were 19?, so both young, but with very different amount of senior experience. I find it hard to get my head around United spending that much on a player with s few games...and not being immediately brilliant after making the move.

also attended. Big Saints following, big expectation, woeful display. Mane was rubbish and you wondered what the hell we had bought, but the likes of Fonte and Gardos were equally poor. We played Bertrand in midfield and he was crap too. I think Mayuka and Isgrove came on and were even worse than the starters. It was a complete and utter shit show both from players and management. I think criticism was right. They were outworked and outplayed by a league 1 side. There was absolutely no quality shown by any player. The skill/forward players were just a waste of space. They looked like the league 1 players...at best. I don't dare look at what I posted about Mane. He didnt look like a Prem footballer that night, thats for sure. I was seething afterwards too. I suspect I gave plenty of players stick on here though. It wasn't just Mane. Gardos...jesus, fucking useless.

Austin certainly got some abuse in the away end, and rightly so, for his pitiful display at Craven Cottage. a few drinks, attending the game and seeing a complete lack of effort are not a good mix for `balanced and measured' comments from fans.

I am loving the sound of that...not the headphones bit, obviously.

while the `i' newspaper reported that West Ham were not longer interested. It's hard to keep up with all these stories. It feels like a lot of rehashing of old news takes place rather than them all being in the know.

very good post. I guess we do have Adams (obviously not in the same ballpark as the City players) as a senior guy to lead the line and enable Delap to be filtered in, however if we play two up front then like Broja, we will want/need Delap (or whoever) to make an immediate impact.

I'd go Broja just because of that pace. He is a real threat all on his own - which we need as we don't create much. However, maybe Delap has attributes that Broja doesn't? Better vision or decision making? More clinical?

We don't know. But other than a few posts on here suggesting he looked unhappy at being subbed (and seeing Shane Long then score) and obviously not doing a lot in the last ten games, what evidence is there? I'd suggest his farewell message felt a little `final' and didn't hint at the possibility of him coming back or even wanting to, but I've probably read far more into that than I should. If I put myself in his shoes, I'd be thinking, I've done my time at Saints, now what is the next step - a bigger club or even first team Chelsea. Wanting that and it happen are two different things of course.

yeah, I've seen that clip a lot and he certainly does well (all be it against another nipper), but when watching his youtube videos I don't see any pace. He can move, but its not a weapon. Smashing it in the top corner is though.

very very good point.

is he not from Finland?

Does the Daily Star have the inside track?

Can you summarise it?

potential, mega, low risk?

Agreed. I guess the more city don't want him to go the more confidence I have that he's mustard.

All fair points, but the long and short of it is that Scamacca actually scored 16 league goals in 36 games in the Italian top flight - and looked bloody good doing it. Delap, well, your guess is as good as mine if he is the next Harry Kane or Freddie Atu. As for Shields providing the 'best and most thorough scouting possible', sure, at youth level, but what insight can he provide as to how he will perform at senior level? Spending £30m on a guy that hasn't really played senior football is as big a risk as you're gonna get, isn't it? Just to point out that I've no qualms about signing him. But £30m though? Blimey. That's a lot of wedge (I struggle to accept it's real). Not even the big boys dont gamble like that.

I'm not bothered about experience too much, it's more about having the proof that he can cut it in Premier League football. How do we know he is good enough? I guess that's not for us to establish, and we should just let those in power get on with it, but this is a saints forum, where we look at things in as much detail as we can and it is pretty normal to highlight concerns. Even if he is the next Harry Kane - he has that same lack of pace, but eye for goal - took a few years to get going.

Agreed. He's never gonna to sign for us. But when you compare the two, the reported £30m fee seems high for Delap. I guess our head of recruiting has the inside track and can see he could be the next Harry Kane.

West ham get Scamacca for £30m. 23 year old Italian international, who just scored 16 league goals. Perhaps we had no chance of getting him, but if we are considering paying that kind of money for a striker, isnt that the kind of CV we would want?

Not if you have an agreement in place where he can't be sold elsewhere unless SFC decide they don't want to buy.

he looks pretty slow. That doesn't mean he won't be effective. He certainly hits a decent ball. But Broja's combined pace and power brought something very different to the party, and something that opposing defenders struggled with. A big slow centre forward can be brilliant - we know that better than most - but the likes of Sir Ricky developed their technique over a number of years. Playing with your back to goal doesn't seem to be what he does best. Is he really a target man? Scoring 32 goals in that City youth team (that no doubt completely dominates other teams) is not the same as scoring goals for Saints in the Prem.