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Southampton have attempted to deter interest from Manchester City, Manchester United, Tottenham and West Ham in 27-year-old England midfielder James Ward-Prowse with a £75m valuation. (Give Me Sport) I don't think we'd actually get £75 million - this is a lot like Villa last year - his worth to them and his worth to us are about £30 million apart. West Ham would probably go for him if they could get him for around £40 million but that isn't going to happen. Personally I think anything north of £60 million we'd listen to, but whether anyone would want him, even at the prime of his career, is another matter. I don't think he'll go, I don't want him to go, and I don't think we're looking to sell him - but the funding for the players we're signing has to come from somewhere... unless our owners actually have put their hands in their pockets, which would be most refreshing after Gao. I think Spurs have their midfield options sewn up with Bissouma signing (they also have Bentacour, Skipp and Hojbjerg), City will probably go for the cheaper Phillips, and West Ham won't afford him. I think if he goes anywhere it'd be United (who need a major rebuild) or Newcastle (they have the money and may be looking for a big signing, although they seem to be spending money "cleverly" so far).

Good? Just read his brother plays for Bournemouth...

SuperSAINT is the twitter/newsnow of SaintsWeb!

He wants Prem football and doesn't want to be at Bologna. Shouldn't be too hard to get this deal over the line.

We have been heavily linked with Richards in the last few days so maybe there is substance in the rumour. Bring him in and we have rebuilt the leaky centre back line up. You would then assume Bednarek is off and Lyanco and Stephens are back ups. Also it'd leave Simeu to get another loan. If it was Bella-Kotchup instead of Richards then I'd still like to see one more CB. "If you're good enough, you're old enough" and the disproved "you don't win anything with kids"... bringing in quality youngsters is promising but I agree I'd like to see another leader in the team.

A new contract for Salisu and we'd have these two as a partnership for a few years unless bigger clubs come calling. (Which would mean they've been a success).

Points. 😄 And yes we had enough points but our end of season form sure didn't make it feel comfortable. Hence why I'm pleased it seems the club have realised our squad was poor and it needs overhauling in most positions. As to the quality of our recruits, well that remains to be seen but it looks positive based on people gushing about them. I'd like to see Broja back but we hope the club have attacking options in their scouting notes with the potential of Bazunu and Bella-Kotchap.

Starting their business well. It also probably means someone will get Dubravka which is a good signing. Everton getting Tarkowski it looks like.

I'm not sure I could describe our most recent survival as comfortable! 😬

Swift and unexpected. Welcome to Saints ABK (as he might be known). Everyone seems to be gushing over him so I hope he's the insane signing we got with Tino.

I like the sound of this.

If this is genuinely the case then I put my faith back into our recruitment team. I've been worried about this "signing kids" thing as I think it is a decent strategy for a mid table team but a risky one for a squad of poor players likely to be in a relegation battle, but we're showing positive signs if they can see the current players aren't good enough.

We do need full back cover while Tino recovers (particularly if Valery joins Goztepe) but I'd rather Brandon Williams (whom United have said is free to leave) than Neco Williams. We were interested last summer but the loan fee was too high and we went for Tino. I wonder if we're still interested and could get him on loan with a view or obligation for permanent. Plus he can play both sides like KWP, would give us great versatility even when Tino is back.

A decent centre back that can score 15+ goals then maybe. We are still woefully short in attacking areas. Adams is a decent striker if an inconsistent goalscorer, Armstrong was out of his depth last season and has yet to show he can step up and... my god we still have Long and Walcott on the books (and are apparently renewing Long's contract). Oh and N'Lundulu who will never be a Prem striker. Then we get to the 10s, the only half decent one of which is Armstrong. We need reinforcements in attack or we will go down. I'm not saying we won't bring them in by the end of summer, I think we will, but the idea that we'll survive just signing one more CB is hard to believe right now.

Even if not he'll only have to wait for a couple of poor displays from Alex Mac to get a look in. That and Carabao. If anything hopefully this will push Alex to play better. Welcome Gavin. I'm not going to lie I wanted an experienced, Prem ready number 1 like Pope but people seem to rave about this kid so I reserve judgement! Our new model of signing talented youngsters does worry me though, especially in a season where we could be fighting relegation. I don't mind seeing then brought in but I'd hope for a couple of more experienced heads too. We were basically shit for the last third of last season so we definitely need the recruits.

From Matt Le Tiss to Matteusz Lis. There's a song in there somewhere.... Welcome. It seems the club see the raw GK credentials of a decent keeper but at 25 he's no spring chicken, even for a GK. Maybe he can be molded into a decent keeper. At worst, hypothetically, if we do get relegated we'll not have to worry too much about GK cover.

Better start spending the £80 million we'll get for JWP then. 😜

Ooh interesting - I wonder if Ruben Selles has joined and told them to get over there for a player or two that he knows... I still think it makes sense for a season if wages are OK - makes more sense than renewing Long's contract anyway. Mind you we'd be bang in the media spotlight if it happened.

He's a righty isn't he? Either way I do think he'll be the one to go too. His game isn't perfect although he's not far off entering his peak as a footballer. We signed him as a cheap back up player and he's ended up being our number 1 CB - credit to him but we need better. Salisu is decent but needs somebody better alongside him, then we keep Lyanco, Stephens and maybe even Simeu as back ups. Hopefully someone will give us £20 million odd to fund the next CB signing - someone in the mold of Tarkowski but achievable. Chris Richards had a decent season at Hoffenheim from what I've read, and has a bit of CL experience too - seems like the sort of signing we'd make.

A quick search seems you may be right excluding youth players perhaps that didn't play for us. I did notice we had a Jimmy Carr play for us. Bet he was funnier than the modern day version.

And perhaps putting himself in a better position to be first choice England midfielder. I wouldn't begrudge him a move as long as we are well financially compensated and not short changed. That means 60 million plus.

This. McCarthy, Bazunu and Caballero should be enough in the GK department. It's the other 6 or 7 outfield players we need to be spending money on now.

Of note... tough first game, tough first month, our run after the World Cup (post Christmas) looks decent, and the run in looks OK bar the last game which hopefully won't be relevant by then. Could be worse could be better. No easy fixtures. We need to be beating the likes of Fulham, Forest, Bournemouth, Palace, Wolves, Brentford, Leeds, Everton who will all be direct competition if we want to stay up as well as getting our usual few points against the big boys. Still I think it will be a long season. We need attacking recruits and we need them fast.

It’ll be a fixture we’d rather have once we’ve got our shit together and a missed chance for 3 points. So Brentford away. As usual I hope our last few fixtures are fairly easy, especially as I think we could struggle next season.