Dan Johnson

Its Alex Butner all over again...

Going off topic slightly, i'd agree with that. Don't think we'd have seen Alex Ferguson criticising a player in public like that, especially a young player who they've only recently signed. If they are after Rojo, I cant see him coming here. Although I think we'll only sign 1 CB & then a right back and a striker.

---------------FF------------------- Clyne--Fonte--Yoshida--Bertrand --------------Wanyama------------- ---------Tadir-----------Davis--------- ---------------Tadic----------------- ---------------Ramirez--------------- --------------------Pelle-------------

I'd sell him, I wouldn't have any problem with the club or RK if we did that. Clearly doesn't want to be here and I don't see anyway back for him. How do you motivate someone to play in one of the best leagues in the world when he can't even be motivated to train!! There's two ways of thinking here. Keep him like we said we would, as the message it sends out if we go back on our word and sell him is poor, it shows we don't keep promises. However keeping him and playing him over players like JWP also sends out a bad message. That hard work and commitment isn't rewarded with a starting place, you can stamp your feet and treat the club with contempt but you'll still start on a Saturday over players who've kept their head down and worked hard. Morgan has put the club in a **** position, as have the previous 3 players (chambers, Lovern, Lallana) who demanded a move and stamped their feet because they weren't going to get their way. I was just as ****ed off with the club when the selling started but I don't see the alternative? Let these players act this way and hope they change their mind? What example does that set for the rest of the squad? What would that do for morale? Arguably allot worse than it has by selling them. Their professionals, yet Morgan and the others haven't acted that way. Regardless of how he now plays on the pitch. Morgan was right, 6 years destroyed, not by the club but by his petulance!! It's admirable that the club are trying to stick to their word but it's pointless, he'll leave either way. Sell and re-invest

He shouldn't kick off, but he might of. Morgan did, Lovern did, by all accounts so did Lallana. Demanding players stays is futile, every ones mentioning what the sell off has done for squad harmony, what do we think it would be like with 3-4 players in the squad that don't want to play for the club? Do we think we'd get the same level of performance out of chambers if he didn't want to be here? Everyone mentions he's one for the future, he has potential. That would suggest we'd be keeping against his will for a number of seasons, do we feel that a disillusioned player would improve over 2-3 seasons if he didn't want to be here? It's easy to demand players stay, the reality is allot more complex & I think although it does hurt seeing a player of chambers potential at another club performing in a position we're short but the club are pushed into a corner in that respect.

If this ends up being our summer business id be pretty happy overall. Especially if the striker ended up being Hernandez and Morgans replacement was blind or Jordy Clasie Outs Shaw Lallana Lambert Chambers Lovern Schniderlin Ins Pelle Tadic Bertrand Tadier Foster Rojos Gardos Striker Morgan replacement

Neither did saints comments that chambers was "ill" wen in actual fact he was having a medical at Arsenal. They could be covering themselves should he decide to stay

Personally, I dont think the feeling on this message board represent the feeling of the overall fan base Saintsweb seems to attract the fanatical "lunitic fringe" that seek out likeminded indivduals to voice their discontent, seeing as saintsweb is one of only a few limited places they can do this the feeling on this board can be a misrepresentation. All the Saints fans i've spoken to outside of this board are willing to wait and see and make judgements at the end of the transfer window & the end of the season

Wellbeck offers way more to the team overall where as Hernandez really is just a goal scorer. With RVP up top they often want the other players to contribute tactically somewhere else, tracking back etc which is why he's on the bench and Wellbeck plays. IMHO Wellbeck is quality and gets some unfair stick

I think it's important to remember who our goalkeeping coach is, worked with some very good English keepers and if we're signing him he's obviously come recommended

Can you imagine haha, infact what’s Michael Wilde doing these days? Or Leon Crouch?! A fan on the board would be horrendous!!! "oi oi lads, we're just about to sign Hernandez... buzzzzzzin!!!!" Two days later the Hernandez deal is hijacked by a bigger club and he never signs, imagine the back lash against the poor fan! Let’s hope it’s not a lee "lying lee" kind of has the same ring as "wreck it ralph" *CRINGE*

Not justifying it, just trying to give perspective to the process/length of time it takes to complete signings for any club. When it comes to signings we've completed around the average amount for this point of the window. No that doesn't take into account the amount of players that have left southampton but as I've said in other posts, the amount of players left has no bearing on the length of time it takes to negotiate a transfer it just means we need to sign more players.

Lets hope they get completed this week

That they do The above was in response to early posts regarding prolonged transfer negotiations. Posters had commented that other clubs don’t seem to have a problem with signing players. Free transfers where taken out of the assessment to give a comparison between transfers that require negotiations with selling clubs as this is the factor that’s most at play regarding the length a transfer takes from start to finish, when comparing transfers that have required negotiations we’re bang on average for incomings. True, but the amount of players sold doesn’t have any impact on the actual length of the process when buying players, it doesn’t make agents any quicker, or solicitors any quicker. It does of course make it more important to sign players, but that’s a completely different subject. IMHO if anything it probably means transfers take longer to tie up. All selling club knows we have more money to spend and negotiations regarding price have probably become somewhat prolonged as we don’t want to pay over the odds. Again, arguing whether we put ourselves in that position or not really does nothing to impact the actual length transfers take to complete

My point being though if you take out clubs who have made free transfer signings it'll probably be a better comparison only 1 of those players, Campbell, would have involved negotiations with the selling club. 7 of those are Free Transfers so the process would have been allot quicker, no selling club to negotiate with, no player chain, not as much paper work when you take out free transfers and concentrate on negotiations whether loan or free Arsenal - 4 signings Aston Villa - 0 (2 development fees) Burnley - 3 signings Chelsea - 4 Signings Palace - 1 Signing Everton - 3 Hull - 4 Leicester - 1 Liverpool - 6 Man City - 2 Utd - 2 Newcastle - 6 QPR - 1 Southampton - 3 Stoke - 2 Sunderland - 2 Swansea - 4 Spurs - 3 WBA - 3 West Ham 6 So 60 signings in totally excluding free transfers which means the average transfers that have been negotiated per club is 3...

I think we're light at CB & up front. I think with Jose & Yoshida we have players who will be adequate against the likes of Leicester\Burnley\West Brom but when it comes to the bigger teams are at risk of falling to pieces. Yoshida struggles with intelligent strikers but can handle physical players much better, if we play a high line and the opposition doesn’t have any genuine pace then we’ll be alright. When teams look to play in behind Yoshida looks terrible, that’s when we’ll get caught out. He backs off and hates players running at him, he back tracks and defends on the back foot. Jose plays on the front foot a little better, which is why he suited a partnership with Lovern who also plays on the front foot. He does suffer a bit from the old “lazy leg” defending where he just sticks out a leg and hopes. He’s a much better ball player than Yoshida and offers something going forward. However his composure is always in question when under pressure which is why Loverns leadership was so instrumental in our clean sheets last year. Neither Jose nor Yoshida are particularly convincing in the air & neither are what you’d call a “commanding” centre back. A leader is essential. I think out of all the center backs listed Vlarr is the best option, he has the physical presence & the experience. He is also commanding and leads the line very well, he lacks pace but (having been a centre back for 14 years) I don’t think it’s a top requirement if you’re able to adjust how deep you play. Defending against pace is only an issue when players have space to run into. If we want to take points off the top 6 this season then we need a better quality CB.

Palace have also only signed 2 players. Also you take out clubs who have made free transfer signings it'll probably be a better comparison. Aston Villa 4 senior signings - all free transfers West Brom 6 signings, - 3 free transfers, - 1 Loan, - 2 transfers. We were also hindered by not having a manager for part of the summer, the manager always wants to judge the quality in the squad & highlight positions he'd like to strengthen in, where as other clubs are already prepared for that (West Brom apart in this case) Don't get me wrong, we need new signings, not taking sides either just highlighting that there's allot of facts to consider. It's like the housing market, if its moving slowly then your choice of new home is limited by who's willing to sell. You're also buying into a chain, where you have to wait for the occupants of that house to find a better home and so on and so on. The difference being of course that your current house isn't going to demand a move to a better part of the country :-)

There's no real way of knowing whether that actually is the case, that would suggest we'd know the ins and outs of every transfer, which we simply dont. Of course we have signed 3 players this summer already, but each negotiation is different, each with its own set of hurdles to overcome. For the top 5-7 clubs it’s allot easier as agents know those clubs are the top payers and that generally speaking, the player isn’t likely to get a better move. When Saints look to buy a player, it’s always possible that a bigger club could come in. When you compare our transfer activity to clubs outside of the top 7 this summer, signing 3 players, we’re probably about average I’d suggest? The need to purchase players doesn’t really make the actual process of purchasing them any easier, in fact it probably makes it harder in our case as clubs know we have allot of money to spend

Having friends in the professional game, I have a slight insight to how it works. Players will wait till the last minute to ensure something better doesn't come along, hence the mad rush before the window closes and why there's always at least 1 big story on transfer deadline day. Also the pure logistics of signings is rarely thought of, players coming from abroad are at the mercy of chartered flights the need for interpreters during their negotiations, somewhere to stay etc etc, there's also mountains and mountains of paper work & if a player is using a popular football agent then that paperwork & the legal paperwork can get held up for considerable time. I was told this by a Chelsea scout who had links to grass roots football in Southampton, echoed by others I know in the game both currently working at St Marys & others who have played. Imagine you’re selling\buying an average footballer & you’re using a popular football agent. That agent is also going to be dealing with 10, 20, 30 other moves at the same time. All of those players are of varying ability. The agent, naturally, will concentrate on pushing the larger transfers through first as that’s where he makes his biggest commission so smaller deals can take allot longer to complete. Of course that’s in relative terms. If the agent has a £30million transfer going through then a £15milion transfer is still "smaller" It’s a bit like buying a house in some respects, once whoever is doing the Initial negotiations to buy a player (in our case Les Reed) has agreed a fee with the same person at the selling club then they don’t have much more to do with the transfer until the player is at the buying club for talks. It's just as frustrating for them as they sit around and wait for updates from solicitors\legal teams etc. Some selling clubs won’t release a player for talks with a buying club until a proposed payment structure is in place, in which case the buying clubs financial director will work with the buying clubs legal team, make a proposal to the selling club, which is usual sent back with amendments & then a legal back & forth could potentially last up to 2 weeks. (much the same as when you're buying a house) During that time if the media get wind of the move then it alerts other clubs, players are then linked in the media to other buying clubs (even if the rumour is unsubstantiated) and the player could then choose to delay talks to see if something better materialises. Of course clever agents at this stage may decided to leak stories to flush out other clubs, especially if the player isn't that keen on the move to the original club. There is also allot of back and forth with the players legal representative & the buying clubs legal representative with concerns to player contracts, once the player is eventually at the club for talks. The player is rarely involved in these Negotiations , often it is the agent that will tell the player "I can get you 30k a week" so the agent will speak with the players legal representative who in turn talks with the buying clubs legal team & a player contract is then thrashed out, Image rights etc being the main hang up these days. The agents fee will normally be determined by whether the player does get the 30k a week he was promised plus cuts of image rights etc, so in most cases that negotiation is held up agents refusing to budge on the players demands (The player often having no knowledge of the reduced offer) Medicals could then show up concerns which would require both amendments to how much the player is costing the club and subsequently the proposed payment plan & players contract as the club may want to mitigate a risk that has been thrown up. This will start the whole legal back & forth again. That's in a nutshell too Loans are (somewhat) simpler which is why they're becoming more popular

To be honest, I still expect the majority of transfers to come after the season starts\closer to deadline day. I know we're crying out to sign players before the Liverpool game but I don't think Liverpools signings will have much of an impact on the opening day. Lallana - Injuryed out for the game Lovern - Not trained with the first team squad yet, wont until end of this week not much time to prepare for saints game Lambert - We know his game. Strengthens & Weaknesses, maybe fatigued after the World Cup. Divock Origi - Loaned back to Lille It's only Emre Can & Lazar Markovic who've been added to the squad and had time to adapted to the way Liverpool want to play. Manquillo is likely to come too late to make an impact in time for the Saints game. After losing Suarez & with the likes of Gerrard\Sterling\Sturridge\Johnson only having had 3 weeks off I don't see us being walked over. We then have West Brom at home & West Ham away before the window shuts, I'm not concerned with either of those fixtures. I'd rather we wait and get the right players in, then sign just to appease the fans

I think if you also have a look at players like Sharp, who is available on a free and is a very good championship player yet no one seems willing to take him because of his wages, adds more weight to the argument. As you say, success to quickly. Players likely (in the lower leagues) had big achievement related bonuses, big pay rises for promotions.

We potentially sign a player from Inter Milan (!!) & everyone's complaining he's **** before seeing him player. This is a massive step down in his career, we shouldn't be so elitist towards players!! What pedigree do we have to demand better than fringe players from Inter Milan!?!

Is this really a player we're signing? Or is he just the currency we're accepting in exchange for removing Osvaldo from our books? If there's not much interest in Osvaldo, I wonder if anyone would be willing to spend any kind of money on him. If it's a choice between letting Osvaldo go on loan/move for no fee or getting a player in exchange we may as well take a punt on a player. Diego Forlan was a laughing stock in the UK but had a cracking career in Spain.