CSA96

Puts an end to the Leeds rumours - presumably was never going to drop to the Championship.

Is he young and hungry?

This year is 100 years since Hummel’s foundation I believe (?) so I think they’re giving a load of old favourites a reboot for their clients as part of that.

Was wondering the same. But perhaps if the speculation about Sportsbet no longer being the sponsor after relegation are true, there’s a chance JD Sports move to front of shirt? We’re not allowed sleeve sponsors in the Championship (due to EFL and SkyBet sleeve patches) so I wonder if JD would go with a red circle logo with their letters in white to shift to the front of the shirt?

Well, if he's going to Ligue 1 at least it's a club like Nice. They're owned by Jim Ratcliffe, so could/should be able to spend on a reasonable fee.

Sport Republic now completing the purchase of Valenciennes: Sport Republic, owner of Southampton, now finalize the acquisition of Valenciennes after months and months of negotiation. One of the conditions was maintaining in Ligue 2.

I'm pretty sure David Sullivan said on talksport that they will be going for more than one player to replace Rice in midfield, given the size of the fee. Telegraph reporting that they're targeting JWP and Edson Alvarez as the replacements, with JWP as #1 summer target. Also mentioned Harvey Barnes as a target.

Rule changes announced.

Confirmation that the league AGM was today.

Sorry, I have to put it

Playing against Benfica on July 12 at St George’s Park, while they’re training up there. On their official website already.

They know what a habit is though, so they're halfway there.

He’ll fit well with the new Spurs boss.

Leicester's released and retained list is out: https://www.lcfc.com/news/3529945 Youri Tielemans, Çağlar Söyüncü, Daniel Amartey, Nampalys Mendy, Ryan Bertrand, Ayoze Pérez and Tetê will all bring their spells at King Power Stadium to an end. The Club remains in discussions with captain Jonny Evans with regard to his future beyond the expiration of his current deal this month, while an option has been exercised to extend the contract of midfielder Hamza Choudhury to June 2024.

I'm more encouraged by that than not, tbh. Especially after Ankersen's comment that we've brought in some talented players who we intend to keep. I'm assuming that Alcaraz is one of those, given he singled him out as having been a success.

Potter to Celtic make some sense? Keeps his stock relatively up and in a good position for a middle to upper PL job (Rodgers to Leicester, Ange to Spurs) in time?

Latest: https://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/russell-martins-move-southampton-taking-27055920

Good luck to him now his info is out there publicly...

That’s got Nathan Jones rescue job before Christmas written all over it. https://twitter.com/cardiffcityfc/status/1664987895260672002

Nice to hear him stressing the importance of dressing room standards and making sure people respect the culture that the group wants to build. Also his bit on being transparent and honest with staff and making sure people are bought in to what's going on so that they're happier and more invested at work. Sounds like we could do with a bit of that after the past year.

The EFL Highlights show. Presented by Hugh Woozencroft (not the best, but not irritating) with a standard range of EFL pundits. Dean Ashton, Jobi McAnuff, Jamie Mackie, Matt Jarvis, Clinton Morrison etc. Airs earlier than MOTD at 9pm on ITV4, then shows again just after 11pm on ITV1. Then it's on again on ITV1 about 9am on a Sunday. They also upload it to ITV on demand once the Sat 9pm showing has completed. (Slightly ashamed that I know this because I started watching it with five or six weeks of our season to go, to prepare myself)

Part 3 - which focuses on transfer strategy - is now live: https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/23560359.southampton-owners-reflect-january-recruitment-outline-plans/ Key quotes... Dragan Solak: “We also changed the game model [after the January window shut] unfortunately, we did the January window and then changed the manager. “Suddenly the new manager came in with new ideas and those players were basically brought in like a week ago. Hopefully, we will not have this situation again.” Rasmus Ankersen: “January is always very tough, it is tough from a financial perspective. Nobody wants to lose their best players in January, players need to hit the ground running – it’s tough when there is no pre-season, so there is always a risk on recruitment. “I think a couple of the players like (Charly) Alcaraz and to an extent Sulemana have done well, but there have clearly been some mis-hits where the players haven’t had an impact for one reason or another. "There will be some turnover because the squad is too big but there are some very talented football players in that group which we will be intending to keep. I think it’s more an exciting job for the manager and director of football, if I was the manager that looked into the dressing room, I wouldn’t be too worried.” “We are not going to go back in (the Premier League) and compete on money, we will invest, but that is why we are building the club network we are – to try and get the players into our system before they cost £30million. Time will tell whether that will be successful or not but I think there is some good evidence from other clubs that it is possible to do. “There is also a lot of talent there in our squad that can improve, hopefully we can get a good pre-season, play some exciting football, entertain fans and win football matches.” Henrik Kraft: “First of all, what we have said is that we are fully committed to the club and it is a long-term project. "There are other things that we are building with Sport Republic. This is to be able to create an infrastructure that actually gives us what we want long-term, bringing players through in a different way so we’re not fighting on the last day of the transfer window. “We believe that over two or three years we will move towards a much more sustainable business model. Obviously, we believe in the investments we have made and continue to make.”