Matthew Le God

I couldn't see them making our bench, let alone the first XI. So little incentive for the club or player to agree to a loan.

Saints don't zonal mark at corners. Blame the Celtic manager.

Who said it wasn't?

Thats what happens when you zonal mark at corners.

Why would their clubs agree or the players want to come? They'd be unlikely to get game time ahead of players we already have in those positions both in the XI and bench. Its a centre back we need.

BT Sport Europe

If it does I'd hope Koeman makes an exception and fields our strongest possible side. Unlikely I know, but it isn't your typical Premier League team vs 4th tier team match and I'd like us to rip them apart by as big a margin as possible. Bizarrely they still clutch onto the 1-1 and 2-2 draws in 2011/12 Championship season when we were promoted and they were relegated. Even more bizarrely they still clutch onto the 4-1 match in 2005, when a decade later there is a vast gap between the two clubs in every possible regard.

That doesn't stop players leaving. Players have to agree to the contracts, plus once a player is down to 1 or 2 years left the problem arises regardless if a top club wants him. They did with Schneiderlin last summer and they weren't accepting the first offers for the other players. Although they've been sold, Saints have received huge amounts of money, so they are hardly a soft touch.

I didn't say it wasn't a factor, I just said I think it is unlikely to be the main factor. A player could live in London and commute to Staplewood if he really wanted, live halfway between the two or even live in Hampshire and visit London quite easily whenever they want.

As I expected.

Based on what?

You've mentioned the key one... lack of loyalty bonus. It increases the amount of money the selling club get and so a transfer offer becomes more attractive to them compared to giving away some of it as a loyalty bonus. For example which is more attractive to Everton to convince them to sell...? a) Stones makes no transfer request, Chelsea bid £30m and Everton have to give Stone £2m in loyalty bonuses leaving them with £28m. b) Stones makes a transfer request, Chelsea bid £30m, Everton keep £30m. (for sake of this example I'm ignoring money owed to Barnsley) Plus it acts as official confirmation the player is unhappy and wants to leave.

I'm not sure why you think the last of those is the most important. I doubt players would put it above the other points you mention in a list of priorities.

When the elite clubs come calling with significant interest Everton and Spurs sell. What players have West Ham had in recent years that would interest Champions League clubs?

A Chelsea/Man City/PSG style takeover. Although very rich, Liebherr isn't running the club in that way. But we have still risen from 68th to 7th in English football between 2009 and 2015. So the Liebherr's can hardly be knocked for what they've done. If Saints didn't have players the top clubs wanted then that is the time to worry, as it would indicate the quality of our squad has declined from the level of the last two seasons.

Saints can offer him bigger wages than Celtic, managed by a Dutch defensive legend and a much higher profile domestic league to help him progress in the eyes of the Dutch national team.

How would that help? Saints would still lose players to the sides in the new league you propose. Plus how do you decide who plays in it? Is it a closed shop for eternity?

They were time wasting in the first half of the game at St Mary's.

Are there any examples of clubs being promoted but not on merit?

That article is the Telegraaf reporting what the British media like the Mirror is saying, rather than it being new information from their own sources. This often happens and sometimes it leads to the British media then rehashing a foreign article which is reporting what the British press is saying and it snowballs in a loop of rehashed articles.

Why are you judging him on his goal scoring and ability to dribble past players? They aren't important attributes in the role of a defensive midfielder. Claude Makelele scored 17 goals in 607 club games, does that make him a bad defensive midfielder?

Gaston Ramirez was back training today...

Swansea haven't had as many players the top clubs would want as Saints, but they have still lost the following when the big boys come calling... Wilfried Bony to Man City Ben Davies to Spurs Michael Vorm to Spurs Scott Sinclair to Man City Joe Allen to Liverpool Brendan Rodgers to Liverpool

Entertain us... why is it a circus? Do you 100% know what the situation is with van Dijk? Or are you yet again jumping to conclusions without evidence?

So sell him in summer 2016?