CSA96

I don't really understand how they plan to play Broja and Delap within the same team, given they've committed to £50m spend on them both - unless they plan to change formation or force one out wide / use one as a sub routinely

Just listened to his Estoril manager Vasco Seabra talking about him to the BBC: Talking about him is easy for me, he's a humble, hard working boy with a lot of talent. It's never difficult to speak about a player with as much talent as he has and I think the characteristics of this player are so well-suited to English football. He's a very aggressive player with great ability to cover a lot of space, he can run a lot of kilometres without tiring and he is happy to play closer to the defence to help create the first phase of constructing an attacking move. We used him a lot to come back and help us to begin the attacking phase of play. He can also play closer to the goal. He always listened and asked his teammates how he can help them. I believe that the Premier League is the right step and the ideal championship for him to continue his growth now. His target needs to be to reach the Portugal national team now and have the high-level career that we think he can have. He's really strong, the way the competition goes in England is better for him because he always take a step forward, a step forward, a step forward. He's really aggressive and strong in his body and he plays with a lot of intensity. In Portugal, he fought against Benfica, Porto, some of the most famous and best teams here in Portugal and he wants to take a step forward against them. Here in Portugal, everyone compares him a lot to Matheus Nunes [Manchester City]. Fernandes has characteristics that are similar, you will see that. He is capable to play in more spaces than Nunes though, he can play in the first phase or close to the goal, but at the same time, if you want to play with inside wingers who come between the lines, he can help you with that.

Sounds good to me! Russell Martin said: “Mateus is a player we have been monitoring for a while and someone we are really excited about. He brings great energy, retains possession well and always looks for the forward pass. “He is young and full of enthusiasm to come and play for Southampton. With the ability he has to drive forward from midfield, we think he has some key attributes to really help us – not just in the future, given his age, but here and now in the Premier League.”

Yeah, that's right - was in the video they released yesterday

Might have already been mentioned, but just in case, if anyone needs some troubleshooting: https://www.southamptonfc.com/en/news/article/download-your-nottingham-forest-tickets-on-the-saints-tickets-app Having Trouble? If you or your friend or family are having issues accessing your tickets, please get in touch. Phone: 02381 780 780 in our opening hours. We will also have a drop-in session to assist supporters at St Mary's: Wednesday 21st August: 3-7pm. Thursday 22nd August: 2-5pm.

Yep, almost definitely but that doesn't fit into the thirst for hysteria in some sections of the fanbase I guess

I would genuinely be quite happy with Jason Steele, if he becomes available in the remaining 11 days or so Spoke to a mate who is a Brighton STH this morning because I wasn't that enamoured with the idea and he sold it to me and was very complimentary about him. But did suggest, from Brighton's perspective, he'd probably rather we loan Rushworth

I don't know if Arsenal would agree to an option, you'd assume they'll be pushing quite hard on an obligation to buy if they allow him out on loan

£30m and £100k pw? No chance

So... Leicester start with a point against Tottenham despite their fan base being by far the most restless

Pinder Airlines, I reckon

Just seen that it's been spotted online that the same private aircraft which flew from Lisbon to Southampton last night is now flying from Southampton to Strasbourg

Strasbourg expecting Mara to travel to begin his medical tomorrow and hoping to conclude the deal by the end of Wednesday

Leicester 0-1 Spurs - Pedro Porro, 29 mins

I was taking it from 'no final agreement after the medical'. Since this has clearly been briefed from the other end of the deal, if they'd simply pulled the plug due to the medical, I think they would've said so, rather than that they were unable to reach an agreement after finishing the medical tests

Glass half empty: The deal has fallen through and that's demoralising for ABK and for Saints Glass half full: The outcome of all the medical tests can't have been that bad if they were still willing to sign him but just wanted to renegotiate the terms* *depending on what exact the suggested renegotiation was, to make Saints decline

Edit: wrong thread

Gianluca Di Marzio, who reported that Atalanta had given up the other day, now reporting that Brighton are planning to sell Billy Gilmour and buy Matt O'Riley

I remember seeing him drop a comment on the main transfer window thread... quoting it below to save others digging Rare there is a player I can actually comment on but Mateus was a real stand out for Estoril last year. I can’t say I have seen anything of MOR other than the highlights stuff so impossible to compare but Mateus is good. As with anyone from a league at a different level it may be hard to adjust but he is physical, technically good, hard working and great vision. Pretty pleased he will be a saint.