Chez

decent shout. He's got that modern `baller' style to him, with a willingness to take the football even with player up his arse, offering nice flicks and drag backs, and lots of dribbling, but sometimes he tries things that are just beyond him, the ball isn't quite under his control and then he looks more like Djenepo. I'm nervous. I bigged him up when in league 1, when expectation would have been low. I just don't think he has excelled in the Scottish Prem and it will be a damn sight harder in the Prem. I am excited though. Maybe he can do it. We really need some players that want to dribble, get on the ball and stay on the ball to allow others time to move into space. For far too long we have not had any flair, just pass pass pass. We need someone other than Redmond willing and able to beat a man with skills.

Hope you are right. Come out the blocks strong and then don't look back.

Is it though? JWP and Romeu aren't some world-beating centre midfield partnership. I like them both, but Romeu was terrible in the run in, and because JWP scores some amazing free kicks, his all round game is not overly scrutinised. Diallo was woeful last season - and that's from someone that bigged him up and thought we had signed a gem. Perhaps our limitations in every other position just make it look strong. Don't get me wrong, I love that fact we are signing young talent. And in truth be told, what choice does a club like ours have? But unless we radically improve on what we saw in the last dozen games, we are relegation fodder. Will Lavia change things?

https://www.footballkitarchive.com/southampton-kits/#2000s 1999-2008, plus the 2014/15 season

does their forum go back to he McCant days? I'd be interested to know how much they rated him. My memory ain't great, but I seem to recall them thinking he was great too...and he was, well, shite.

my post copied from the Transfer thread: Aribo is not pacey, he's a ball player, nice touch, good feet, lots of tricks and dribbles. I really liked him at Charlton and suggested we take him on a free three year ago on the annual summer transfer thread. As Turkish keeps reminding me, someone at SFC was listening, as we apparently made an offer to him at the time. If I'm honest, I'm not sure his game has progressed all that much since then. The first year at Rangers he was pretty poor, but since then he has played a lot more and started to do things he did at Charlton. I guess it's a higher level, so that perhaps does show progress. He's good to watch, will help us retain the ball, but I'm not sure there is the pace, power and end product you might be after. He is more than willing to try things, but he can be a little loose and the ball often is running away from him/not quite under control. I am not totally convinced he is the answer or will blossom into something more. Maybe I'm just having a case of buyers nerves. I hope he is the guy we need. Our flair players lack flair.

Long term, he could be a fantastic signing, but in the short term, is he really going to get into our centre midfield? I don't see it based on the youtube videos, but I might be wrong. If we don't strengthen our starting eleven, how do we hope to turn last year end of season nightmare form around? Going down before these young starlets come good would be a disaster

the path still went through Everton. 😉

Not sure players often take a drop in wages to move clubs while under contract. Why would you? Unless Villa pay the difference, he wont move. Three year deal, £15m fee, plus £15m wages and £0 resale value. Not sure that fits the SFC model. It was fine offering him £100k a week when he was on a free. Not sure we will fancy doing it now. We need a striker though, so its not a daft idea.

Everton have provided a decent pathway to the big clubs (maybe even more than us in the last five or six years). Lukaku to United Gueye to PSG Barkely to Chelsea Stones to City Delefue to Barca Back a little further, then we obviously win that one hands down with Nivea boy, Shaw, Clyne, Morgan, Mane etc.

Broja aint coming here. Not sure Ings will be either. Out of interest, how much would you pay for Ings, knowing he's probably on £120k a week or whatever now.

WBA took Lukaka on loan, then Everton followed up the year after and bought him. Impressing there got him his mega move to United. That path seems quite a good one. Everton might have been shit last season but they still have a lot more pulling power than we do.

Brojas goal against Brentford perhaps.

yeah, or LA Gear.

how about Travel Fox?

I agree, if anyone is worth us spending big, then he might be it. However, I don't think Broja would want to come back here. I'd of thought he'd be looking at the likes of West Ham or Everton has his next step. I cant actually see us spending £30m on one player this summer. I don't think SR will be investing (loaning/gifting) those kind of sums, and I think overall we `relatively' hard up. The money spent so far is the cash in the bank left over from the loan. If we spend another £30m on top of that, then IMO it will have to be offset with a player sale, maybe Salisu... we shall see though. Maybe we spend £60m this summer and then sell Salisu for £40m next summer, although not sure who will pay that unless he (and we) has an amazing season

Similar colours, but completely different designs IMO. What was the blurb for them both?

Aribo is not pacey, he's a ball player, nice touch, good feet, tricks and dribbles. I really liked him at Charlton and suggested we take him on a free. I'm not sure his game has progressed much. He's good to watch, will help us retain the ball, but I'm not sure there is the pace, power and end product you might be after.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/62024199 BBC report the same. Shame. He looks a talented player. It will be interesting to compare him and, if we sign him, Lavia, over the next couple of seasons.

and landed at the right club.

Its not quite the Great Wave off Kanagawa, but Hokusai might still like it. Me? Yeah, I think it's pretty cool actually. It's great to have something that feels like it has been designed specifically for us. It has the hallmarks of a single designers work and not put together by committee. I am willing to bet the home shirt design was `wound back' by a non designer, perhaps at Saints, which contributed to it looking so poor. It's a lot better than the home kit. Kind of a shame the pattern wasn't used in white of the home kit (instead of the geometric shape) to tie then together a bit. The goal keeping shirts, which I think look great, don't tie in at all, which is a shame. A subtle link between GK and outfield shirts might have been nice.

you could argue that they go hand in hand. With the contract in place, you don't have to sell as urgently to secure some transfer value - and thus you get an extra year or more (see Zaha) of them at your club if your valuation is not met.

Apologies, I'll pull my socks up and word my questions better in future.

https://www.90min.com/posts/mohammed-salisu-why-his-january-move-newcastle-fell-through

What's the largest transfer fee paid for a player without a senior game under his belt?