SNSUN

And the risk they've taken with Sandro is not dissimilar to the punt we took on Juanmi. With Lookman still young, I'd still suggest they lack goals in attack at the moment.

A loan would be OK in this case IMO. I'm one that doesn't generally like developing players for other clubs, but I've heard great things about Roberts and Celtic are desperate to get him back for a very good reason. I wonder if Premier League football can swing his head our way. Plus the kicker, City don't often keep their young players, so after the loan, if he feels at home here, we could be in pole position to sign him permanently. He'd be a decent addition to our attack and he has an eye for goal. Hope we pull this one off, even if it's not a full transfer. Besides we can't seem to keep hold of our decent players for long so a season with us is pretty good! But yeah, a permanent transfer would be massive. Can't see it happening though.

Burnley sign Bardsley from Stoke. Another one slips away... etc etc Seems Dyche's mission is simply Premier League safety. Probably wise.

RAWK seem to have it in their heads that we should be delighted with Chelsea's renewed interest because what we want is a bidding war. Sure, NOW we want a bidding war, but that wasn't the case at the start of the summer. We wanted to keep him as our captain and best player - it is the blatant tapping up actions of Liverpool and Klopp that have made his position at this club untenable. Not to say that we'll be letting him go on the cheap even if a bid from Chelsea doesn't materialise, his contract situation hasn't changed and we'll get very close to the £70 million we want, even if he does put in a transfer request. I don't care if his heart or his head or his ballsack are in Liverpool, Barcelona or Bognor bloody Regis, if we don't get the money, he's here for another season at least! Personally I'd be delighted if he goes to Chelsea. I think he'd go with the blessing of virtually every Saints fan if that were to happen. At Chelsea he has a chance of winning things... The whole tapping up situation in general needs looking at IMO. I'm sure all clubs do it to some degree, but Liverpool were the ones caught with their pants down doing it, and rules need tightening to stop it happening, especially for players with 5 years left on their contracts. Granted something as simple as a bid from one club to another can be enough to turn a player's head, but secret meetings with another club's manager or other member of staff needs to be outlawed.

I wonder if the accusations of tapping by Monaco of Mbappe will expose more cases, or wonder whether it will help us with regard to the Liverpoo/VVD situation. If something happens with the Mbappe case, surely the Premier League have to take our complaint more seriously. And if that's the case, surely it makes Liverpool's pursuit of VVD untenable? The longer this transfer saga goes on the more I can see we hold all the cards. We'll get the money we want if he does go, that's for sure. Bonucci's move to Milan was made official today. I'm waiting to see what Juve do next...

If the starting XI on the first day of the season is Forster, Cedric, Stephens/Yoshida, VVD, Bertrand, Romeu, Davis, JWP/Boufal, Tadic, Redmond, Gabbiadini, I'd be happy to start the season with that team. If that's still the best starting XI on the 1st September then I'd agree we've missed the chance to strengthen, especially defensive midfield (and centre back depending on whether you think Stephens has what it takes long term.) We've had some quality players that we signed late in the window, Mane, Alderweired, Gabbiadini, VVD. One negative thing I will say about signing players late in the window is that there is not a lot of time to switch targets if something happens - as we saw with Boufal when he got injured before we signed him. I figure we signed him anyway in the hope that when he got fit he'd be an asset. I still hope he can be an asset to us this season now he's fully fit. I understand about the lack of team bonding-side of players that sign late but as long as they're not injured (as Boufal was, but that won't always be the case unless the club drops a b'llock) they should be fully fit from doing pre-season with their previous club. However I still believe it is too early to be worrying about not signing anyone (bar Bednarek). Still 3 and a half weeks until the start of the season. I'd love a signing this week as a fan, but even if that happened I'm pretty sure a day after we signed x, y or z, people would be requesting another. It's quality over quantity we need - Gabbiadini-type-quality players, and sometimes that takes time, especially with a new manager still settling in. Let's hope we can pull a couple of quality rabbits out the hat though by September 1st. On on the subject of winning trophies, the current squad got us to the League Cup final where we were robbed. As for making numbers in the League - yes we are sadly. We don't have the investment (yet) to do an Everton and try and break the 'glass ceiling' of the top 6 - Leicester was a freak occurance, the top 6 wth their finances won't be allowing that to happen again in a hurry. I'd rather be fighting it out at the top, but that's not what this club is about currently. I suspect that's why we've been looking at investment with the Lander people.

We have 44 days left of the transfer window. Over 6 weeks, or an eighth of a whole year. I dont understand the impatience of some of our fan base, especially when we already have a good enough squad to start the season with and so far we've stated nobody is leaving. I'm sure the signings will come. If we've signed nobody or flogged VVD and whoever and not replaced them on September 1st, then we can be worried. The problem this summer is Everton blowing their wad all over the place early on which is attractive to fans of other clubs. Someone called it the Football Manager generation the other day which is true. With Everton though, for example, if someone comes on the market late that's better than Sandro Ramirez and Rooney, they end up top heavy with strikers. I'd rather we spent time bringing the right player in, not spending for the sake of it. And I love a transfer as much as the next fan!

Yep, but just the asking price. We've put a price on his head, and whether it's Liverpool or someone else, if it's matched, he'll go. We're well past talking about VVD as a £50million player - the Telegraph had an article rating him as the 13th best centre back in world football and he's still only just turned 26. If they really, really wanted him, they'd pay the money. Put up or shut up, and quit moaning about it in the newspapers. IF we don't get a bid we want, I think he'll stay for the next season. Personally I'd rather we never sold to Liverpool ever again after their tapping up revelations, but football is a business, and I suppose if we ever wanted a player from them it'd be wise not to close that avenue. Personally I'd sell him if we get anywhere close to the £70 million (I'm talking £65 million+) and reinvest - who knows how good he'll be after his injury or whether he'll be fully committed to the club all season. Anyway, I've got a source that tells me Juventus's interest in VVD is true and they are seriously contemplating bidding for him to replace Bonucci. Let's hope that occurs. I'd love seeing Juventus at one of the giants of world football. (Not clubs clinging on to former glories from 30 years ago.) (The last paragraph was written purely to wind up Liverpool fans. Don't take it to heart.) The fact is there ARE bargains still to be had and for good young players too, it's just that the big clubs are under pressure to pay big money to appease the fan base who want instant success. Will Hughes and Chalobah will be bargains for Watford for about £5 million each, Murphy at £12million will be for Newcastle IMO, I could go on. (To be honest I'm surprised the big 4/5/6 didn't break off and form their own Super league with the other big European clubs years ago such is their contempt for us smaller clubs.)

His head was in the Nivea advert.

He's earned more than the rest of us (unless one of you is a secret millionaire) will earn in a lifetime from being a bang average footballer. Good luck to him.

Good tip over by Fraser. Good stream here http://www.hesgoal.com/news/17743/St_Gallen_vs_Southampton_FC.html

I miss the days we used to have a "trialist" during a friendly! No Cedric, No Redmond. No VVD. Start the conspiracy theories!

Liverpool been tapping up someone else now. Surely the Premier League can't ignore them again? http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2017/07/11/exclusive-liverpool-accused-falsifying-document-heart-tapped/

Still 49 days of the transfer window to go! We're well equipped to start the season, even if we make a few last minute signings like in previous years. I'm sure the club can see we need a DM as much as the fans can, especially moving from a manager who started off playing a 4-1-2-1-2 diamond last year with one DM to having a manager that plays 4-2-3-1 that needs 2. If we haven't brought anyone new in by September 1st, then I'd worry. I still think we'll break our transfer record this summer, and I don't think a £30 million signing in today's market is beyond us. All IMO of course.

Liverpool: Will you take any less than £75 million? Saints: No. Quick discussion! Short of a few Twitter rumours, nobody knows anything so there's no point in worrying about it until it's concrete. For a bunch of people that hate The Sun, (and rightly so IMO), they don't half jump on crap journalism when it suits them.

If England's current first choice right back is worth £50 million to City, England's current first choice left back on a longer contract with his club is also worth £50 million, and we shouldn't be taking much less. City have overpaid for Walker IMO, but they've made their bed when it comes to full back transfer fees. The only way I can see us selling for less is if Bertrand himself kicks off about a move.

I'll be doing mine closer to the start of the season after Saints sign Ronaldo.

I'm still surprised he can write TBF.

Dear F.A., Please, please, pretty please could you make sure you keep that mean club Southampton (who we call the Scummers lol) away from us in the Checkatrade draw. They will smash us to pieces and make our fans cry, including our club pin-up Mr Westwood. Then they will laud it over us for years because the chances of us playing them again in a higher league are slim. If you could oblige, we will send you all our pocket money (£3.46p), our Panini album from 2006 (when we were good) and our entire collection of Lego cards. All will be wrapped up in a brown, nondescript envelope because that's what we're used to. Plus dirty Tracy will show you her FooFoo if that's what you want. Don't let the the scummers know that's why we're out the draw, please lie and say it's for policing issues. Thanks! Lots of love, Iain McInnes

Exactly. I'm surprised this has been leaked from the club, if indeed it has. We're usually pretty good at keeping our cards close to our chest. "Saints want to sign..." is a West Ham-type announcement. Although they'd need their own channel for announcing who they're after. Never heard of Vietto, so rather than instantly writing him off, I'll wait and see until a) we've actually signed him and b) I've seen him play.

Decent price. Would be a decent option for us really but he obviously feels at home at Stoke.

Watford fans are still confident he's theirs and think he's already agreed to join them. Not that it means much without a signature, but still. Personally while I think £5 million for a defensive midfielder that's played a ton for England's younger teams and is only 22 is a punt worth taking, I still think we can do better. Still any transfer activity would be nice right now. :-)

He was poor last year, granted. But nobody's going to want him so unless a miracle decent bid come see in from someone (I'm looking at you Newcastle) then we're stuck with him. Just have to hope with McCarthy back he provides decent competition. We have 2, one International and one who was scoring goals until his injury last year. For a team likely to play one striker up front, that's enough with Long and Gallagher/new striker as back up. Agree. Areas can be improved upon but in terms of the first team we're one DM away from a decent outfit to challenge for Europe again. However I still don't think we've seen the last of players leaving. (And personally I'd take the big money for VVD and invest in the squad but there you go.)

Lukaku has signed for United. £75 million, £25 million short of what the Everton fans wanted for him!

Ageing players with no resale value, to add to a squad that already has players of similar ages like Williams, Barry, Baines, Lennon, Jagielka. Granted they've picked up a couple of younger players, but Koeman is really building them for instant success with no longevity. He must sense that Barca job just around the corner. "Wow" signings at first but they certainly wouldn't be Saints-type signings.