Ivan Katalinic's 'tache

Bloody hell. On holiday and WTF? Man Utd after Mane, still no new CB on board, Pelle possibly surplus to requirements and Gaston actually fit. With Pelle so central to our forward play, why would we move him on?

A nicely timed leak from Saints to hurry along the deal for VVD maybe? A 'wel'll go elsewhere manoeuvre' to push Celtic along (although in reality they don't want him to leave)? I wonder whether he could actually be a better option than VVD anyway.

http://gianlucadimarzio.com/en/eng/maksimovic-potential-arrival-at-napoli-could-send-koulibaly-to-southampton/ Koulibaly back as a target? Would add the physical strength lacked at the back on Saturday, if nothing else.

If Fonte goes to Villa maybe we are after both Koulibaly & Van Dijk?

Virgil too much Dijk?

"He wants to be in that Lycra, when Le Tiss goes waltzing in..."

Romeu, Romeu, wherefore art thou Romeu?

Weren't we linked with Jedinak couple of days ago? Edit: Beaten for pace by S-Clarke...

How dare you, Sir! What about the legend that is Guly do Prado???

Sounds a cracking player. Hope there's some truth in it. The spine of the defensive side of our team would look immense with him and Fonte at the back & Big Vic sat in front of them! Sounds like he's been watched for a while too if you believe this tweet from journalist Gary Niblock back on 7th Dec 2012...

Thought Barry was our record signing for a while at £700k taking the title from Dave Armstrong at £600k, a few years before. Has anyone mentioned Alan McLoughlin was our first million pound signing though?

Hull are trying to do to us what we do to Liverpool. Having said that, if that's the price and Koeman wants him, so be it.

Alan Nixon speculating Wolves are after Sam Gallagher on loan. Might explain his absence from the Holland trip.

So no news on Gaston then? Is he actually injured or have him and Gardos gone AWOL on the continent??

Delia must have been on the sauce again when she picked that. F**k me.

Maybe she's been asked to remove the post until details have officially been announced? I seem to recall Clyne pre-empting his move to us, by changing his Twitter status to Southampton FC or Saints, before it was officially confirmed which caused a bit of a stir.

This was K,Billy's cryptic comment before Clasie signed, on the main HCDAJFU thread. I wonder if he was alluding to Elia amongst the potential signings? I assumed he meant Vlaar, as his potential signing would be negatively received by most, but maybe it's Elia? FWIW, I think he'd be a good addition particular if he gets (the rest of) a good pre season with us as it must be hard to join midway through a season on a temporary deal and hit the ground running. There will be plenty of games if we make it to the Europa League group stage and he could be a good one to have around, with the ability to do something a little bit different.

Down: Bournemouth, Villa and Norwich Up: Boro, Derby and Sheff Weds

What this thread needs is k,billy to pop along with a 'done deal' or smiley...

Stuart Mathieson, also a Manchester Evening News reporter.

Rob Dawson, Manchester Evening News reporter...

Who do you prefer to work with Cortese or Rogers?

Er, thought I did say if the price is right? Obviously if it ain't, he has to put up & shut up until we get an acceptable bid. But once one us received, a quick move is best so replacements get the maximum time to gel with the group & have a proper pre season with us.

He's not going to be staying so if the price is right, get him out. Been a brilliant player for us but the time has come for both parties to move on.

Good. I was looking forward to seeing what Koeman could do with Gaston over the course of last season and I still think he could've been a better option than either Elia or Djuricic who we brought in loan ourselves. Hopefully we will benefit from a fully rested player and Ronald can find a way of consistently getting the best out of him. Could provide good competition for Dusan and lessen the burden to create on him too.