Matthew Le God

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?

None of you answered my question... What would you propose as an alternative? If the players are refused moves to clubs offering big wage increases and Champions League football then they will refuse to sign new contracts and their values will drop as they approach the end of their contract.

What do you propose as an alternative? Do you want Saints to only sign players that Champions League & richer clubs will never want? I'm glad you clarified that, I thought it may have been someone else's.

What form do you see this line in the sand taking? If the players are refused moves to clubs offering big wage increases and Champions League football then they will refuse to sign new contracts and their values will drop as they approach the end of their contract. Why is it a bad thing to be a "stepping stone" club? What would you propose as an alternative? Les Reed has openly labelled Saints as a "showcase club", in terms of the best up and coming talent across European football Saints would be in a good position to give them a chance to impress in the world's most high profile league.

I bet Celtic fans feel the same about Southampton... 2013 - Wanyama 2014 - Forster 2015 - van Dijk? It happens at all levels of football, there are only a handful of clubs at the very top of European football that don't sell their best players.

Saints in the last 2 seasons have had more higher quality players in their squad than any other club outside those finishing in the top 6/7. Champions League sides aren't rushing to buy lots of Stoke, Palace, West Ham etc players because they don't have many (if any) players they'd want.

a) Koeman was asked a question about Fonte at last week's press conference and answered it. b) Koeman was not asked about Mane today so had nothing to answer. His press conference today was before all this broke, are you expecting him to bring it up himself?

We are doing well, we've just had our best ever Premier League season and are playing in Europe. That was after a summer where lots of Saints fans, fans of other clubs & the press were writing the club off.

Perhaps Saints will say no this summer, but I can't see Mane signing a new contract with us. His contract ends in 2018, so its either sell in 2015 or 2016 at a big price or in 2017 his value will drop like Clyne's did in the last year of his contract. A few minutes ago you were saying its... So how do you know it will "catch up with us" if its an unprecedented situation?