the saint in winchester

Surely the Ings sale means JWP off the menu? Or do we think even more likelihood of JWP to Villa now Ings has gone there?

What number is Perraud then? I missed that. I assumed he would take 3. Maybe we ae getting Stuart Pearce back in? 😏

Poster 4 was giving me the giggles, especially the line about "77% pass completion - that's a goalkeeper." 😄

I'm starting to think we don't need Ings ... or Armstrong... Adams and Tella look very comfortable together. However, I appreciate we aren't playing Cardiff and Swansea next season. Let's see how they get on vs the big sides visiting in the next 10 days.

Smallbone, maybe fund Maitland-Niles? Delaney? I wouldn't expect - or want - to blow £40M on this position. Use it to buy A.Armstrong as well, and a proper back-up LB (so Djenepo isn't calling on for that role). Anyway, it's all moot until Villa make a sensible offer.

I flippin' hope not. He should be LW and nowhere else. Not LWB or LB. Middle 2 in our 4-2-2-2. He has creativity which is being knocked out of him by being asked to work on a defensive game.

I was saying the offer has to be taken off the table. How would you feel if during the season, he gets injured, realises he isn't going to get his dream move, and so says to saints "ok guys, get me a pen, I'll sign your contract at £120k (guessing) a week". Would that be okay for you? It wouldn't for me. We get to fund his medical time out and still have to pay an inflated wage. At some point, we need a YES from him, and not when he is crocked, as he has no other option.

I agree. Worst case scenario is an offer accepted at 10pm on deadline day, then us scrambling around in the final hour trying to agree a deal for Armstrong (or similar). I suggest that no offer by 15th August, we declare him unsellable, offer him a contract on terms he has to agree to by 31st August.

09:23 COSTA TO BESIKTAS? Diego Costa is considering a £50,000-per-week contract offer from Besiktas after seven months without a club. The Sun reports that the striker is weighing up a move to Turkey, having left Atletico Madrid in December 2020. He had been linked with Benfica, Marseille, Atletico Minero, Sao Paulo and Palmeiras in January, but failed to secure a move.

Andrei Kanchelskis? Did he come straight from Man U, or via someone after?

Yeah, we could have afforded to BUY Alderweirald (£13M), but I assume his wages expectation was way above our budget? If we find he is taking the equivalent of a wage we could have afforded, then we have missed a trick.

What did we get for Lemina? £4M? We can't buy Armstrong or Edouard with that. I'm as frustrated as you. We should be finding a buyer for Ings as a matter of urgency, to get funds in so we can line up his replacement. Instead, the Club are determined to keep him into the season, effectively meaning we will have no money to buy a replacement, either in January or next July.

Depends if Spurs want to take Jesus in PX. If they do, they may not want Ings at any price. But even if they do, we all know the offer will be around £15M.

Not until on the Saints FC website. Or at least as on the Sky Sports transfer window as a Confirmed Deal.

Better to be safe than sorry, is my thinking. But if we're playing scintillating football that has to be witnessed, then I'll get a hazmat suit and mask to attend.

The statement was that he would be part of Ralph's squad, so not part of the U23 squad. Looks a decent player and could well become a first choice this season.

Any contact offer for FF would have to be in line with our budget. I don't know if we can bring in a keeper from overseas, playing at a higher level, for that wage level? But we sure as hell can't offer him anything like £85-130k pw.

Ah finally, someone sees it the way I do. Those says Ings is the difference between staying up and going down seem to base it on not replacing him ie. having an empty squad number. Get £25-30M for Ings now, spend half of it on A.Armstrong on a 4 year contract, probably on a lower wage, and we have our Ings replacement and money in the bank as well. I don't go along with 'the only way we can stay up is with Ings'. Other players are available.

It sounds like the fans have accepted that Ings will likely be going. Not sure Ralph has accepted it yet. Sounds like Ralph still wants him to play on all season and leave for nothing more than a "see you around" which doesn't help our budget one bit.

If the club won't sell him, and he won't re-sign for us (so he says), is he really likely to throw himself into 50/50 balls or push himself to breaking point this coming season? Another serious injury during the season could leave him out of contract with us, and at risk of not finding a new employer for the following season.

They won't. They have suggested we still pay the £100k and they will pay £30k. I doubt they will want to pay a significant loan fee either. The numbers just don't work for us. If we have to pay £100k pw for him to play elsewhere, we may as well pay £130k pw and play him. Obviously, when his contract finally expires, it's a different scenario.

Headline today is that Saints are reluctant to deal with Spurs, after getting hurt on the Hoejberg deal. Problem is they are circling for both Vesty and Ings. We need other bidders ASAP.

Agree with you. £2M loan fee PLUS £65k pw ends up at a £4.5M deal. I'd sooner BUY a championship player, pay a wage level acceptable to all, then keep or sell on for an increased price.

Jamaica?

Yeah, we should have been in there offering.