BARCELONASAINT

Well with just over 48 hours to go and arguably 3 positions still to fill (goalkeeper, striker and winger) it's certainly going to be a nervy next 2 days. Only going by the press snippets coming out we seem along way off from nailing down those three vital positions. I've quite like the business we have done so far, BUT without doubt 2 of the 3 positions i think we need incomings for are absolutely vital to us having a chance of staying up. That refresh button on the work laptop is already suffering!

So many on here are ready to have a pop at the club or RM in their frustration that we are either letting go off players the club have deemed are no longer required or we have not signed a striker or goalkeeper. Alcaraz the vast majority of us love his unpredictability, his obvious skill and potential to unlock a defence BUT the club have decided to call time on his stint here. Why? Looking at it without being emotional I would say the player has failed to settle in the UK, he does not speak the language and RM has been frustrated by his lack of desire to learn English. For all his skill he gives the ball away far too much in very dangerous positions and for me has never looked like he would make it as a Premier League player....do we have an Alcaraz replacement....yes we do i would say, Tyler Dibling! Tall Paul......again has any other Premier League team come in for TP?? NO! He really is not a Premier League player, he makes Peter crouch look a world beater. Our desperation for a striker is making some irrational in their thought process. Do you those slating the ownership and club not think we have been doing everything we can to bring in a striker and a goalkeeper?? Be realistic we are Southampton, we have just been promoted and are favourites to go straight back down, we dont have the millions to spend to compete against the likes of Bournemouth let alone Brighton. We have a wage cap we wont break, which is sensible. It will be an extremely hard sell to convince players we would all like to see here and then even if we convince the player we have the nightmare of clubs thinking because we are a Premier League club we can be held to ransom over the fee.

Alberto has the potential to be an eye-catching summer signing for Saints. His former teammate Edinilson's praise tells the story of a player who could skyrocket under the right set-up: “Since (Alberto) arrived, I have seen huge potential in him. I know that, soon, we won’t have him here anymore because he has really huge potential." He has registered an impressive tally of 57 goal contributions (43 goals and 14 assists) in 129 appearances for Corinthians, and he has even been capped once by Brazil to date. In total, he has 83 goals and 24 assists at club level across 253 appearances for some huge clubs in South America, as well as a brief spell in Russia with Zenit. The idea of Southampton signing a player who has appeared for arguably international football's most famous and glamorous nation would immediately be an exciting prospect for many supporters, and he is still young enough to improve significantly as a footballer, too.

Southampton see bid turned down for Yuri Alberto HITC understands that a number of Premier League clubs have held talks with Corinthians about a possible deal for striker Alberto. We understand that Southampton are amongst the teams looking closely at Alberto after previous interest from Wolves. Wolves failed with a bid to land Alberto in January, but he now could be heading to England in this window. We reported that Wolves were willing to pay £18 million for Alberto back in January but Gary O’Neil’s side could not pull off a deal this summer. Another side that failed to get a deal over the line was West Ham United. So if this report is anything to go by then we are not the only Premiership side with clueless scouts!!

you should know better than that! Everyone on here is a football expert about every player out there despite never having heard of half the players linked with us.

the only positive i can take from that first half is the fact its still 0-0. Adarma, Aribo and Smallbone having awful games. McCarthy did his best to present the opposition with a goal from another awful pass straight to one of their players. This performance is so far removed from last weeks its difficult to understand its the same 11 out there. Walker Peters is trying his best to drag us up but he is about the only bright spark. Its far too easy for Forest who will be gutted they are not winning this.

If there is a real possibility of a transfer happening then it would be madness to risk Charly playing at all

I'm in the camp where i think it makes perfect sense to do this deal and sell Alcaraz for an amount that will not see us lose money on our original purchase. I like Charly and have love the flashes of brilliance i've seen BUT they have been so far and few to suggest he will ever make it in England. If we sell Alcaraz for the rumoured $18 mill what is there not to like about receiving this or something close for a player that will not feature for us this season?? Then add into the equation we are also getting a very highly rated youngster (that Wolves were interested in buying) as part of the deal who even if he didnt work out would be sold for pure profit. Again for Southampton what is there not to like? Too many on here have a real problem with this multi club ownership and and appear blinkered on how it could benefit Southampton in the long run.

For gods sake can we stop with the who is the most shittiest keeper out of baz and McCarthy......the one thing we all agree on is neither is good enough for the Premiership and we desperately need a new keeper!

Genius why the hell did we not think of doing this with half our squad purchases?? Problem solved.

Simple answer i believe......we are relying on the loan market towards the end of the window for a goalkeeper and we are shopping in the bargain take a punt in the dark basement for a striker because we really have very little in readies!

Martin was quite clear a week ago he hoped to have 1/2 through the door before the Newcastle game, this is clearly not happening which suggests we have failed with targets. We all know we are financially not able to compete with virtually every other Premiership team out there when it comes to recruiting a proven striker and creative attacking players that are Premiership standard. We are going to have to rely heavily on the loan market and any extra players we do sign i don't believe we will see until the end of the window. I don't wish to sound negative before a ball has even been kicked but my honest opinion of our chances of being anywhere near competitive are really low. At the moment having watched all our preseason games i honestly think we have a nice team but one that will get battered because we give the opposition so many chances and are toothless in the final third.

Really???? Guaranteed we have made some ridiculous transfers but really??? Mark Robins has revealed that Coventry City’s influential midfielder Ben Sheaf is not as close to a return as it had been previously believed. The newly confirmed Sky Blues club captain has been sidelined since he limped off with an ankle injury just minutes after going on midway through the second half against Stevenage in last month’s pre-season friendly against the League One club. That forced him to sit out the three warm-up games against Darmstadt, Everton and Werder Bremen. It’s now emerged that the 26-year-old has been recovering from ligament damage that Robins admitted after Saturday’s opening 1-0 defeat at Stoke is a “fairly bad” injury.

and knowing our track record they will not be available until January due to a minor injury that just never seems to get better!

I've avoided coming on this thread up until now because i guessed it would be mostly doom and gloom. However with a week to go before the big kick off and still 4/5 signings away from being a competitive Premiership side i have to say I agree with the majority posting on here and think we will get battered on the evidence of the pre-season games so far. Newcastle 6 Saints 0

It really is worth posting the below for all those that keep harping on about Saints not just paying what the selling club wants for players and to just get deals done!! ‘The money isn’t there’ for Southampton after recent seasons Despite returning to the Premier League at the first time of asking, Southampton find themselves limited on the financial front this summer. Alfie House on X made the financial situation surrounding the club clearer, where he wrote: “Context is important and Russell Martin did say the club can still do something in the transfer market if it’s urgent and they need to (which they do, so they must.) However… “It’s been made clear by leadership all summer that the money isn’t there. £100m spent on mostly rubbish in 2022/23, £100m losses between June 2021-2023 and relegation affecting PSR limits + off-pitch ££ (MSD loan). Sales last summer merely filled the black hole. Southampton signed the likes of Kamaldeen Sulemana, Paul Onuachu and Sekou Mara in the 2022/23 season, all of which have struggled to live up to their hefty price tag. Southampton must make the most of the loan market It’s clear that, unless necessary sales are made for those with very little future at the club, Southampton have very little leverage in dishing out sizable bids for players at this level. They may have to focus on players that may be free for loan, something that will ensure that they get quality additions, bolster their squad depth and improve their financial deficit with fees being very low in comparison to permanent deals.

Broke through at Barcelona and did very well before being snapped up by Chelsea. I would not be against this if there was any truth to the report. He is a pure centre forward, a classic '9', a specialist in the area who lives from his physical power. His best virtue is his aerial play. Marc is also very quick and powerful, he is unstoppable with space.

this Danish bloke!!!.......can i just ask if you have actually watched O'Riley play? There are quite a few including myself that tend to watch Celtic games and have seen how much O'Riley stands out in the Scottish league. He is without doubt currently the best player in the Scottish league and i have no doubt would improve our side hugely.

cam Martin not tell him when we play that it's a training session really!....Maybe the useless twat will play like a beast in a real game where it matters then!

I can't quite work out if you are taking the piss or not!

that was an awful miss by Edozie

The following report does not sound good!! Southampton will face stern competition from Serie A club Atalanta for O’Riley this summer, according to Romano. The journalist claims the Celtic midfielder is eager to join the Europa League winners and there is a strong possibility a deal could be completed in the coming days. Atalanta have already bolstered their midfield ranks with the addition of 24-year-old Davide Frattesi from Sassuolo. However, with the futures of Teun Koopmeiners and Ederson up in the air due to interest from Europe's top clubs, they appear eager to make further additions as they gear up for Champions League football next season. Romano told GIVEMESPORT: “The player is keen on a potential move to Atalanta. I think there is a concrete possibility for this deal to happen. Again, it’s difficult, but there are still negotiations and there’s a possibility it could happen in the next few days.”

I try to be optimistic about any signings we make believing the management know what they are doing.......however i am really struggling to understand either signing and what either player could bring to Saints. I really would love to know who scouted these two and what the report said.....lets face it it would have been a miracle that any scout actually saw Juan score a goal given his horrendous record!

i've watched him play numerous times for Celtic, he is absolutely the class act up in Scotland. There were 2 players i wanted Saints to be interested in at the end of the season, one was Clark at Sunderland and the other O'Reily from Celtic. Yes the Scottish league is awful but O'Reily really stood out, so much so i'm gobsmacked bigger teams than us have not already come in for him.

Honestly some on here need a reality check and need to consider what it is that we want as supporters? The reality was last season we had been relegated, we had sold a hell of a lot of the top players we had BUT were very fortunate enough to still have a squad strong enough to be one of the favourites for promotion. Lets not fool ourselves how hugely important financially to the club winning promotion was. That in itself put huge pressure on the management team to get us promoted at the first time of asking......failure to do so would have meant "we would now be looking at a team of youngsters because thats all that would be likely be left" Was last season the time to experiment and give youth a chance, some might say yes but it wasn't your job in the balance! We needed as much experience as possible to get out of the Championship the first time of asking. It was not the season to be experimenting with youngsters....at least not in the league. Some were blooded in the Cup and some looked fairly decent but it would have been a massive gamble to have been relying on these kids in the league. Lets be completely honest here......no promotion would have been absolutely catastrophic for Southampton.