Matthew Le God

Why?

In Downes and Charles you've just listed two dms. Both are good enough for what we need to get out of the Championship. Ronnie Edwards can also play there and did so in the Championship this week. How many players per position are you saying we need?

They are out of their depth in the Premier League but Armstrong, Brereton Díaz, Archer and even Stewart (in a small sample) have all been prolific in the Championship.

Goztepe only have two Saints players on loan. Both of them were very cheap and signing them had very little impact on our ability to buy other players. Plus they are Saints players and may find a way into our first team.

Saints don't really need to sign anyone for a Championship promotion challenging campaign. That is already the level the squad is at.

Saints sold him last transfer window.

He might view a return to a club he has a strong affinity for and is about to move into a new stadium as worth making an exception for.

Saints will get circa 20% of the transfer fee, plus a development fee on top of that.

This month Saints have signed two players who have both been added to the first-team squad list! 😉

Saints will get a financial benefit from this as a former academy player...

I guess you didn't read the article! 😂

Read my post in the context of what it was replying to rather than in isolation.

Our best player is our keeper, but that doesn't help when he is behind a shit show of a team!

Chelsea have already loaned Sport Republic a striker this season 😉

How are Göztepe 5th in the Turkish top flight having not come close to that for decades? Sure Saints and Valenciennes aren't having the best time of it at the moment, but the Turkish league isn't pub level.

Harsh to right him off as a 'dud' already. I think he looks promising in a shit show of a season/team. He should be very useful in the Championship and has proven himself to be very effective at that level before.

That isn't realistic for any club bar a handful of elite teams in world football. If we only sign managers, backroom staff and players that want to play for Saints and not progress themselves to an elite side then we will plod along and not progress. It is better to have players like van Dijk, Mane etc in the side for 2 years than to only sign players happy to have Saints as the pinnacle of their career. The issue is we aren't signing many players that the elite teams might potentially want in the future. Of the current squad Fernandes might one day get a huge move but that is possibly it for players we've recruitment and not had from the academy like Dibling.

Hard to say. Might be dependent on how much he can get out of them in the 18 remaining dead rubber matches. There were rumours from some journalists (although dismissed by others) of a 6 month break clause.

Fernandes shows they can spot high quality players with good potential at a relatively cheap price. Sadly he is a rarity at the moment for the recruitment team. Some of the recruitment at under 21 and under 18 level has been a lot more promising than for the first team.

Ivan Juric has a recent record of regular mid table finishes in a major European league, plus overseen promotion to a major top flight. He is on paper a decent manager, but he has inherited a shit show! He should at least in theory be capable of overseeing an auto promotion challenging campaign given the players and financial advantages Saints will have vs most opponents next season.

I wasn't being entirely serious

I agree it isn't a guarantee of a better player. Certainly possible to sign a better player at a cheaper price. But extending your budget to £30m to £40m strikers opens up a generally better pool of striker than the £20m striker profile.

Signing a player like that from a relegated club (as Sunderland were) would probably be £30m to £40m in 2025. Figures Saints appear reluctant to get to even though they'd spend it combined on a couple of players.

Getting more than Derby's 11 points 🤔

How do you know that?