Chez

not sure I agree with you here. Romeu was outstanding last season before the injury and certainly is a starter. Diallo (who looks a really good player to me) now provides some much needed competition and cover.

I wonder what those `unrealistic' clauses are. Norwich to get into Europe or win the league maybe?

feels incredibly similar to our Elyounoussi announcement. Basically, don't ask about a loan as we want to sell, but to ensure we get the best price, we will spout bollocks about giving them a chance to fight for a shirt. The fact is, we've made our mind up and don't want him, but while we find someone to fill Wijnaldum's shoes, we'll give him some pre-season games to show we are not desperate to shift him or sign another, so as not to get shortchanged/fleeced.

might have been Yasser Larouci. Leeds enquired about him in January, as did a couple of others.

both on £70k a week or is it even more?

Big decision to cut him loose. I didn't think he was any good, but that doesn't mean he wont be. Good that we've generated some funds and haven't been forced to loan him out to reduce the wage bill. who's our third keeper?

Not quite sure what a congested middle has to do with getting the ball to flair players and asking them to take people on rather than probe defences with passing. We are talking about wide players here, usually faced by full backs and when games open up, full backs without cover. Tactical fouls ain't some new thing by the way. Jimmy Case was the master at it. You get yellow cards for it now, when you didn't in Matt's day. In fact you can't get away with much these days, so its easier than ever for skill players. The long and short of it, is that there is no point signing flair players if you don't get them to demonstrate that flair. And if you aren't getting them to try it, a lot, then they end up like Redmond, going into his shell a bit too much. Saint Maximin scored three goals and five assists in 18 starts (according to transfer markt) for one of the worst sides in the league. Stats aren't everything. Beat ten players, lay it off to someone who misses from a yard and you don't get a `1' added to your assists. Doesn't mean you aren't effective. My eyes tell me he is . He took us to pieces for starters, setting up two goals and completely turning Newcastles fortunes around after they had looked relegation certainties while he was injured. Would you not swap him for Djenepo, Theo or Redmond?

OK. Beating a man is obviously not as simple as passing it to a man in space. But is it easier to create an actual chance through passing it than creating a chance by beating a man? There is merit in both methods, but if you have skilful players like Djenepo, whose best facet is dribbling, then you have to exploit that or don't bother buying them in the first place. IMO the best chances, those where you really ought to score, not simply get a shot away, are those when a player has been beaten, forcing another to leave his position and leave a gap for others. This is when you get stats like `one chance one goal' rather than lots of shots from range or under pressure. Saint-Maximin's attacking output is pretty mediocre? I'd take him here every single day of the week.

this will sound daft, but maybe we need to follow the Alan Ball method of "just get it and give it to Matt" a bit more with our flair players. We don't feed them enough and then when they do get the ball there doesn't seem to be enough encouragement for them to be greedy and just run at players. We work the ball into the final third, a winger has a full back in front of him, but instead of just trying to beat the player and risk losing it, we chose the `keep the ball and work the chance' method. Passing teams to death to create the space/opening is absolutely fine, but you have to be very good at it. If you have a flair player that can beat a man, then all that work is negated as once a man is beat, then the opponent is in real trouble. Beating the man in the first place isn't easy. It's probably the hardest skill, but we've had players that can do it like Sane, Boufal, Redmond and Djenepo, but we don't seem to exploit their strength. Confidence is obviously key, but the manager has to give them that confidence - keep playing them, make them the focal point, keep demanding them to run at players... I appreciate they could lose the ball (and fans will be on their backs quickly) and that can create problems defensively, but look at the difference Maxim makes to Newcastle's attack and he certainly appears to be encouraged to try to dribble and beat men.

Leeds now linked with Javi Galan for just €3.5m. Nicolas Tagliafico also suggested as an option, but have to say that Leeds appear to be linked with hundreds of players so difficult to know whats what. I did see a report dated back in March saying both Leeds and Saints were watching Romain Perraud. Not sure f that strengthens the rumour or not.

Not sure if this backs that up or not, but Ralph seems to be constantly instructing players rather than just allow them to get on and play their own game. Reminded me a little of Tony Pulis. Not sure his teams offered a great deal of spontaneity either. Returning to Lemina. No mater what he did at Fulham, Ralph won't want him back. Whether that is the right decision, I don't know. We could do with a little more athleticism in the middle of the park for me. I think the semi final performance has left and indelible mark on Saints fans opinions of him. He also got crucified for losing the ball at West Ham (that led directly to them scoring) when holding on to it for too long, but IMO it was the players around him offering him nothing that forced his hand. In the right system he'd be an asset, but Ralph won't change our system for Lemina. No chance.

Wonder who fancies him from abroad and has the kind of funds needed for us to recoup our spend on him?

Grabbed from the web, so accuracy can't be relied upon, but I wondered how the clubs you mentioned differed in terms of owner net worth. How much spare cash they have (and want) to throw around is a different matter. Villa owner Nassef Sawiris net worth $9.2bn Leicester owner Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha net worth $3.7bn Everton owner Farhad Moshiri net worth $2.9bn West Ham owners David Sullivan/Gold net worth worth £1.7bn (and 10% shareholder Albert Trip is a billionaire) Southampton owners Gao Jisheng net worth £3.1bn, Katharina Liebherr £3bn

That concerns me too, but did we concede many from corners this season? If Vestegaard leaves, we will be more vulnerable. Bertie wasn't any good in the air, but he leaned into players just enough to put them off. Separately, I moaned all season about the way we defended free kicks, with the high line and playing offside, but in the end by luck of design we didn't conceded from any of them. Horrible to watch, but maybe someone just did some maths.

If you are interested, he was discussed a few pages back. Not sure anyone had any real insight, but there is some opinion based on the various youtube videos available. Some websites suggested Leeds pulled out as they felt the fee was too high.

I have no idea about the sale of the club, so if a buyer is imminent, that would make sense. I worry though that next buyer will be equally `poor'. Also, you are still kicking the replacing Ings can down the road though. If we need to spend £30m, then £20m is a bloody good start. Or do you think the new owner might tempt him to stay? I cant see that, but you never know. I'm not convinced JWP kept us up. He's played very well though. I'm a big Diallo fan. I think he can become a quality player at this level.

again, what happens next summer when Ings departs? The `do not sell our best players' line is fine, and I don't want to see either player leave, but how do we buy a striker next summer and how do we pay the interest on this £70m loan? If you don't think we will replace Ings adequately with £20m, how do you expect that same management to replace him adequately with nothing to spend. I don't think you should keep players no matter what. We had our chance to build a side that could challenge for CL but didn't do (pay) enough to keep Luke Shaw and it all unravelled. i struggle to see us doing that again unless three top class youth players come through at the same time. At this moment though, our players have a price, whereby their sale can ensure our long term prosperity. Not exactly sure what JWP's is though.

Good question. I think he will sit tight and wait for Spurs or whoever to sign him this summer and then yes, allow his contract to run down. I really don't see him signing another contract with us, but I've been wrong before.

Understood. I was playing devils advocate, but I am interested in the plan for next summer when Ings walks for free. Not selling your best players and them going for nothing might also be seen as a one way to ticket to relegation.

the alternative to a revolution is a slow evolution. As one or two leave, fill those gaps with players that are as good or better than those leaving (and those at the club hopefully improving). Every signing needs to come off. That rarely happens. The Ings situation is a nightmare really. We need his goals to stay up, but what do we do this time next year when he leaves and we still need his goals to stay up, but have £0 to spend on his replacement?

Not sure fans want to sell them, but maybe they are being pragmatic knowing as to where we are in the food chain and what makes good business sense when the club is run self sufficiently (gets no hand outs from the owner). If you can only spend what you bring in, knowing when to sell to critical otherwise player see their contracts out, offering no money to spend on their replacement. As a fan, its keep you best players, as someone considering the long term finances (not sure why we do that, but we do) its sell high, buy low.

when you say investment, do you mean owner gifts or loans?

I've posted before, that a more accurate table would be wages + transfer fees/loan fees. I guess a column showing annual income too would be nice. Not easy to make comparison's with different financial years for clubs.

You have to look at clubs like us that are attempting to be self sufficient. We have take a £70m loan out to cover the shortfall. Whether some of that is to give us some cash to play with the summer, I'm not sure, but it would be very surprising if clubs without rich owners who give regular `gifts' spend much this summer. It could be a very split market in he prem this summer. Rich owners that spend, the rest. Maybe its always been that way, but you could have an even wider gap. I wonder if even the likes of Manure will have a lower cap that normal, all be it they will probably still spend £100m plus.

Good question. Assessing his ability is one thing, but our current financial situation and the Ings potential transfer will obviously have a major bearing on the price he goes for - which can be two very different things. With Covid, its a difficult market to assess. Who actually has any money in the Prem except those with sugar daddies. I'd of thought £35m and we'd be very tempted indeed. He's a very decent footballer and with his first touch would look at home in any side. He's not irreplaceable, but equally its not easy finding players that can shine at CM straight away. We know we have to sell players every now and then. If Ings goes on a free then where is the next incoming transfer fee coming from?