CSA96

I thought this might be an unusual transfer window but a Sekou Mara bidding war takes the biscuit

Wait until Liverpool find out that Adam Lallana got relegated to League 1 at the same age

Cameron Archer's contract runs to the summer of 2028

Russell Martin says everything was completed in time for him to be available for selection immediately

Official:

Contract is until 2028.

Strange. A lot of what I saw was saying he worked really hard, pressed a lot, didn't have the best all-round game but was a quick and twitchy finisher who gets a lot of power in tight spaces

Think this will get clamped down on now. With digital tickets, the club will be able to work out who has purchased for them and is getting them into the ground and it'll be faster/easier to issue warnings and potentially block purchases moving forward for people who are found to not be using their season ticket / match ticket and giving it to oppo fans. They have also said that for certain big games they even have the possibility of disabling ticket transfers to emails that aren't already in the system or just disabling ticket transfers and the ticket exchange altogether for those types of fixtures

Che and Archer are both just under 6ft

I'm possibly over-analysing but I was interested that he keeps saying 'we're not in the running right now' and 'we can't afford the price a club wants right now' - given we already know from Alfie House that personal terms are broadly agreed

Usually flips around December. Can't quite remember if it was start of December or end of January last year

Maybe that's why Sekou tweeted the eyes emoji today then

Saints in advanced talks with Strasbourg over Sekou Mara, deal expected to be a loan

I suppose it also suggests to Charles (who is presumably about to go out on loan) that he isn't being entirely replaced and he can work his way back in here when Ugochukwu's loan and his own loan (wherever he may end up) ends

Played for the French national team at every youth level up to U23s so far. Was at the Olympic Games so guess that's why it couldn't progress sooner

Can't claim to be an expert but he's meant to be pretty good. Chelsea obviously getting desperate to shift players now

Exclusive with Russell Martin in the Daily Telegraph - paywall removed: https://www.removepaywall.com/search?url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2024/08/15/russell-martin-interview-southampton-manager-premier-league/

Can you shed any light on Armel Bella-Kotchap. We know he's been over in Hoffenheim but there's some slightly scary stories about him... RM: Yes, he is in Hoffenheim and it's progressing. With Armel, I think because it mention the heart it probably seems like a scarier story than it actually is. He's had a really standard procedure on it so Hoffenheim want to investigate and do more tests, of course. It's never caused him a problem, we've all been aware of it for quite some time and I expect and I hope, for Armel, that it will all still happen. As I said, it's progressing. Armel is fine, completely fine and I think this is a really good deal for all parties. So hopefully for him and for us and for Hoffenheim it all goes through. And if it doesn't, then we'll get him back here and reassess.

talkSPORT interviewed Russell Martin today: - 'nowhere near' bringing Ryan Fraser back as it stands - 'not in the race right now' re: making an acceptable bid to Celtic Matt O'Riley - Kyle Walker-Peters has received a new contract offer "We have to do it [the transfer market] in our own means and make sure we're sustainable. I knew that when I signed a new contract, so it's not like I'm sitting here frustrated. I'm relaxed about it because I think we will end up doing business that we're quite happy with."