Professor

Looks like it is a loan and Inter will only buy him later if he behaves himself - and if he scores some goals. Amazing that a player with the World Cup as a real prospect this time last year could throw it all away by lack of self-control and failing to work hard enough. He was stupid then so he's probably still stupid now and I wouldn't bank on him changing his ways at Inter if he is loaned to them. This problem might take a long time to be settled.

Looks to be a good prospect but taken in conjunction with the attempt to buy Forster, it must be sending a message to Gazzaniga and Cropper that prospects for them may be limited. That the club rates young Osborn enough to make the financial commitment they have shows they must feel confident in his likely development so a very positive move.

Like sadoldgit, I enjoyed L1 and the following year in the Championship. When we got promoted to the EPL you couldn't help wondering if we would have enjoyed football more if we had stayed in the Championship. But a successful Championship team, one just failing to get promoted, is just as vulnerable to seeing its best players picked off by premier league sides. Last season was enjoyable for most of the year, but for most of us the pleasure was ultimately ruined by the way the manager and a few players behaved, which clearly they had been planning for some time. To talk about "Fair Play" is a joke because the TV money and the CL have distorted football so much, with a small group of ultra-wealthy clubs dominating, and with the power to destroy teams like ours with their financial muscle, so that for the rest it looks like a downhill path. I went to fewer games last year than the year before, mainly because the early season promise faded somewhat. Although I'll be at the friendly with Brighton, I expect to go to fewer matches again this season. I'll never stop following the saints but we might as well accept that we are in the EPL to make the numbers up and the only realistic target is to try to get above 11th spot, but forget about the top 6.

A twinge of concern when I read this. Important for Southampton that events don't allow Koeman to feel the same. It seems reasonable to assume he was promised what the fans were promised, more actually because we were told no players would leave whereas Koeman has said he was told that three were going, but we were all told that the squad for the new season would be stronger than last year. There is still time for that to be true but as each day passes the doubts accumulate. At least Koeman will know better than the fans about what is being done and as long as he doesn't feel like Poyet, all should be OK. Koeman has impressed as an open and honest communicator which is a good reason to be positive as long as he is.

Sorry to come back to this a day later, but what was seen at Swindon was a pre-season friendly and not enough to judge a player. Based on the Swindon game we have no strikers of Prem quality since they all failed to score, some given fairly easy chances. Matt Targett didn't get into the England u-19 by being a poor player and he will only become a premier standard player by plating premier league games. If Koeman and the coaches think he's up to it, and they work with him every day, that would be a more reliable basis of assessment than watching an hour of a friendly match from the stands.

In the last 25 or 30 years, football has gone to the dogs and whose fault is that? It's our fault. The Fans. We still keep our dedicated allegiance to teams that are now mostly groups of foreign mercenaries playing in the colours of what used to be English Football Clubs. We still call them 'clubs' when in fact they are businesses, half of them owned by individuals with no interest in football the game, but only in football the money-making business. And yet we, the stupid fans (and I'm as stupid as the best of them) still trudge off to watch matches that leave a huge financial hole in our pockets, while allowing ourselves to be mugged for more money to buy hugely over-priced accessories. We blame Sky, we blame the FA and the Premier League bosses, we blame the agents who help players and managers get their snouts into the trough of TV money, but its actually our own fault! And what can we do about it? Nothing! We are addicts who can't do without our football fix and don't they all know it.....

Simply by negotiating selling prices and granting transfers instead of saying 'Not for Sale', which is what they told us they would do, but did not actually do. Only when Koeman arrived, with three sales already made, was there any change. He clearly wants to keep Lovren and Schneiderlin but with the history of those three sales it is very hard for him to hold that line unless the Board back him by buying in the players to strengthen that they said they would.

There was always the option of refusing to sell. We were told by Kruger and Reed that this was the policy but they sold Lambert against policy and for 2 weeks at the end of the season while Pochettino was negotiating with Spurs they stayed in their bunker. The total cost to the club of Shaw, Lallana, Lambert, Lovren and Schneiderlin was no more than about £10m. Even if all 5 had 'refused to play' they could have been re-placed from the Academy until such time as they changed their mind. Given the risk to destroying their careers, it is doubtful that any of the 5 would have gone through with a strike but as one after another the club broke their policy, so the others were encouraged to think the club would do the same with each of them. So far it is three but it looks very likely that the Board will lose all five. Prediction? The board will buy in replacements for most of the departing players, although whether that will create a team as good as the one broken up will remain to be seen. They will tell the fans what a great job they've done but they will fail to do what they said, which was to strengthen the squad so as to be capable of improving on last year's performance. The unknown is how well Koeman and his coaches can get the team playing. Its a huge weight on his shoulders but it is just about the only prospect for optimism.

Good to see that SFC have adopted the living wage policy.

If all we have done is match the buy out price that QPR have offered surely the answer is simple. Offer more. If Lovren goes the club should do the same to get Vlaar, or whoever else would be an adequate replacement.

There are examples of clubs forcing players to stick with their contracts - Suarez at Liverpool last year and Rooney at MU were two cases in point. Its not clear what line our board has taken or whether the players know much more than the fans. If you accept the argument that it is counterproductive to hold a player to his contract that still leaves our board open to the criticism that they have not done what they said they would do, which is to strengthen the squad. Replacing two of the three players who have gone is all very well but it is not strengthening the squad. There is time still to do that and maybe it will start this week, but until people, including the players, actually see it happening the doubts will remain. The longer that goes on, the greater the risk that more players such as Schneiderlin will leave, citing lack of ambition by the Board or small club mentality, etc..

There are grounds to be optimistic that we will start the season with a team as strong or better than last year's: * two of the three departures have been replaced by players who are of similar quality * one or two of the young players being tried out could well prove to be of premier league standard * Les Reed, in his vidcast, made it clear that players had already been identified who would strengthen the team but the new manager would make the final decisions * The manager was away all of last week with the squad, so it was unlikely that any signings would take place while he was in Belgium and while he was assessing the quality already available. Movement is likely in the coming week, or fortnight. All of this still leaves some cause for concern: * That Koeman has been able to bring in good replacements for two of the three he was told would be leaving is good work but it still means that none of Les Reed's " targets we have identified to improve our squad" (statement 2 June) have yet joined us; * The LB position has not been replaced. If Matt Target is introduced to the team, that is likely to be gradual, as it was with Shaw, and would still require another LB to provide competition for the spot; If we are to be weaker at LB than we were the question is, by how much will this weaken a squad that was supposed to be strengthened? * Some players on Les Reed's list back in May could well have signed for other clubs by now so the list might now be somewhat diminished; * That Lovren was not included in any of the four line-ups that played in Belgium/Netherlands could indicate that he doesn't feature in Koeman's plans because he is expected to go. With the gaps all caused by departing international standard players it will be hard to argue that the squad is stronger until those coming in of similar standard, exceed the 'outs'. Much as it will be good to see one or two young players making the grade, they could hardly be regarded as strengthening the squad until they have proved themselves. So it's an important week this week, either for signings or rumours of signings, to increase the optimism by next weekend.

Matt Target is an exceptional talent. Not every 18 year old LB gets selected for the England u-19s so his selection made him exceptional. As a teenager, physical development makes a difference and Shaw did seem physically mature beyond his years, but Target will be 19 in Sept and older than Shaw was when he made the Saints' team. Like Shaw, I wouldn't expect him to be dropped straight in to a nailed on starting place. That will depend on how well he does and what competition there is for the LB slot. There's little doubt he'll get his chance and then its down to him to make the most of it. There does seem to be a surfeit of RBs (Clyne, Chambers, McCarthy) and CBs (last season's four plus Turnbull and Stephens. Thing is, can any out of that group provide competition at LB because buying one in might limit Target's opportunities.

Train to Falmer is best as there is very limited parking near the stadium. From Southampton take a train to Brighton and change. If coming from the North or East a train to Lewes and change is a good option.

Caught my interest but it turned out to be just another kite flying. Its better really to have potential players names on threads only where there is some reasonable source to base a rumour. Signings may be unlikely while the manager and the squad are in Belgium, so its a long wait after the excitement of two coming together last week/weekend.

Some of my contacts have been referring to Ronald as "Co-Man", which is not how he would say it. When I saw someone had called him RoKo it suggested the use of 'Co' might be more widespread. The correct pronunciation is "Koo-mun". If anyone would like to check that, listen to fellow Dutchman, Jos Hoiveld speaking about Ronald in his interview from the Belgium training camp. 'fraid this does show just how sad the close season is now that the WC is over, that I've got nothing better to do.........

"Sources in Hampshire suggest Fonte is unhappy that he has not been offered a new deal and would not be against a move to ambitious Cardiff City." I do hope this wasn't me and a colleague. We were in a pub near Basingstoke, taking Saints. My friend said he thought Fonte might be unsettled by with the Lovren situation he was surprised the club hadn't nailed Jose down for at least another 2 years. I thought the guy at the bar in the raincoat looked a bit suspicious and he might even have had a Welsh accent.

If you were analysing how the team did last year, which Koeman and his coaches must have done, you would have to look at relative GD and goals scored. We came 8th because the team did better than all those below them, no team finishing below Saints had a positive GD last season but ours doesn't compare too well with the clubs above, except for Tottenham. You could conclude that although we did very well on possession, we did less well on making and converting chances if you compare to the teams that were competing for European places. I have no idea how Koeman will go about it, but I do think he will put more emphasis on creating goal scoring chances even if it means occasionally losing out on possession. If so, is our defence good enough to handle the extra pressure and could that be where he needs to buy?

Putting aside what happened afterwards, while Osvaldo was being rumoured as a signing last summer, I seem to recall there were a lot of negative comments about his willingness to come to Southampton and that he had other options. I'm not sure that you can put too much store on rumour until an event actually happens.

He showed rather poor judgement in the WC by immediately acting as a denier of the Suarez biting offence. Would have done better to have kept out of it and as a Saints' fan it was a shame to see a Saints' player trying to defend the indefensible.

The three players who have gone were effectively England B internationals, none being in the first choice starting XI. Shaw will continue to develop and is by far the biggest loss but that the other two are replaceable is evidenced by the rapid signing of Tadic and the signing this weekend of Pelle. If Koeman can deal with the Lovren/Schneiderlin situations there are grounds to feel optimistic about the quality of the team. Possibly the toughest test for next season is the strengthening by other clubs that were above us last year because ultimately how well you do depends not just on your own team but on how good the others are.

Interesting that Koeman mentioned Steven Davis as a player he had spoken to in order to assess the mood in the dressing room. If Koeman sees him as being influential in the squad and someone he can work through, Davis must be a strong candidate for the captaincy.

Not really a fair comparison. I took him to mean that the agreement is made with Feyenoord and it is only the final terms with the player that have to be settled.

It's true that punctuation would have made for easier reading but I didn't think you journalists had much respect for punctuation because every comma adds to the character count.

I can't believe he deliberately set out to deceive because the facts would have quickly given the lie to what he said, as they subsequently did on Lambert's transfer and on releasing the names of the shortlisted manager candidates ( which he said but which was unbelievable when he said it). It could have been poor briefing by whoever helped prepare the script for the interview, but I can't recall whether it was live (probably not) and if recorded, it could have been edited before release. So maybe the amateurish approach went wider that just Krueger. But the fact is that Krueger and presumably, Les Reed, went back on what had been stated to be club policy by letting Lambert go before the appointment of the manager had been completed. Simon Carter has suggested that this set a tone which may have soured the relationship of key players with the club. Hard to see any evidence to the contrary and its now quite a burden for Koeman to rebuild the situation.