CampionSaint

Joel Ward was club captain for Palace last season and hardly played and they didn't do too badly 🙂

I agree. Firstly we stand a far better chance of getting promoted and secondly at least the 1st three you mention are the only premier league quality players we have now KWP has gone.

I maybe optimistic but I can't see any of them going apart from Ramsdale. Fernández is on a contract till 2029 and seems happy here. Unless we got a crazy bid (£50m plus) like Lavia then he'll stay. Dibling seems happy according to Still and seemed homesick when he left for Chelsea and came back. THB could go to West Ham though not sure anyone is paying around £20m for him after last season.

Doesn't he have a £25m release clause ?

Agree, though I'm not sure Ramsdale thinks of it that way from what's been reported.

I wouldn't be surprised is Ramsdale went out on loan with a £3m ish loan fee with wages to one of the promoted sides. It would be a perfect solution if he returned and we got promoted, as he appears to love being at Saints apart from the fact next year if he's not in the prem it will hamper his World Cup chances ! Fernandez seems happy at Saints and I think could be persuaded to stay another season. I suspect we'll be after what we got for Lavia (£50m+) and there aren't many teams that will pay that much for someone who's just proven themselves over 1 season. Similarly I don't think Dibling will go as it's too much of a risk for potential buyers. We won't want to sell him cheap and prem teams won't want to pay big money for someone who's yet to prove themselves. I think we can get enough income (£60m plus) from Sulemana, Tall Paul, Amo-Ameyaw, Bednarek, THB, Armstrong, Aribo. What with getting big earners off the wage bill and shrink the size of squad I think thing could be looking postive for the new season !

Arma got 24 goals last season and was in the Championship team of the season. I'd be inclined to get back Romulu from Gotzepe, sell Archer and get a goalscoring Winger to replace Sule / Dibling.

If we keep Dibling, Harwood-Bellis & Ramsdale great. I we do sell we could get near £100m for all 3.

I think Celtic were probably looking for near £30m. Personally I think this is dead now. We will hopefully loan Ramsdale (as Lis has gone) and that will be about it unless we get a lot of money for Alcaraz / Bella Kothchap. They seemed to have a strategy of waiting for someone to leave (or is leaving) then replace unless it's a small amount. BBD for Che, Archer for Mara, Ronnie for Lyanco, Wood for Duleta Car. Sugawara was brought in as it seemed like KWP was leaving and was low risk because of cost and he's likely to be 1st choice RB atm.

No messing with Lesley !

This isn't a bad watch.

Personally I'm confident we'll stay up. Bournemouth minus Solanke & Brentford maybe minus Toney will both struggle imo. Forest, Ipswich & Leicester are likely to be in the mix and I have a feeling Brighton might struggle next year. With a decent keeper which I presume is inbound if Lus is on his way plus a striker and we'll be ok.

Someone who works in the Saints office is claiming we are finalising a deal for O'Reilly from Celtic for £22m plus add-ons. He appeared early on the BBD deal also so who knows 🙂

I guess you've got to add a "loan fee" in the mix so depends what that will be. I'm sure that will be at least £3m.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5657806/2024/07/25/west-ham-mazraoui-transfer-bayern-munich/ It seems like West Ham are closing in on another full back. KWP options maybe closing down and he'll be staying this season.

I thought Russ publicly committed to McCarthy being his No.1 this season.

Why ? He's only just started his pre-season after returning from the euros.

Good post. Players from other countries seem to play better for their countries than their clubs. It's the other way to round with us.

Agree to a point but I think already we're much better than during our relegation season and our recruitment seems so much better. We are losing deadwood and gaining some useful players already and there's still a fair amount if the window to go to finalise the squad. For one I'm really positive.

I agree with Miovski. Brereton Diaz for not much looks good. Callum Wilson is an interesting one and certainly better than Ings.

Jason Steele from Brighton has been one that's just come to light.

His height is quoted on some sites as being 6' 1" though Wikipedia has him 5' 11".

There's lots of mention of getting a proven premiership keeper but the only one quoted is Ramsdale who maybe out of our reach. Who realistically is there ?

I think it's interesting that Brighton wanted him to stay for another year. Clearly they thought he could still do it so surely we (who are not at Brighton's level yet) should take him on a 1 year contract.

I think one indication of how he's succeeded is how he's improved players. Jannie B, Kyle W-P, THB, Flynn, Will S & AA have all had arguably their best seasons. I notice Jo Tessem was talking about how he was using AA so much better than Ralph did and could succeed in the Prem. I think from where we were this time last year he's done a great job. Has he made mistakes. Of course. Overall he's got us playing good football and got some pride back in the team and they genuinely seem to be gelling well as a team which must be a credit to the management.