Saint Charlie

If the price (for any buyer) is £14m then that is an absolute steal for a player of his quality and age. I wonder if Atletico said he would be a start for them whether he would still want to leave for any PL side? They are a really top team.

He is a good player but he is a PL good? Doubtful, which is no disgrace. Hesketh is a very interesting player IMO and already been picked out by Koeman last season. Think we will see more of him...

JWP isn't a no10 type player IMO and never will be. He is a deep lying playmaker who can spread the play. Unfortunately for him, his physical attributes will hold him back as in men's football you would need to pair him with another defensive midfield player who can add a presence i.e a Wanyama type. We have given him games further forward, but as an opponent you would not worry about him playing just behind the striker because he doesn't score goals, cannot beat a man and doesn't run in behind the striker. Whilst Davis doesnt do many of these things either, he does have a little more flair to his game, but easy to see why we have identified this position as a weakness. If JWP is to be played behind the striker he is best out on the right where he can use his excellent crossing, but then those same weaknesses also apply and we have better players in the wide areas than him anyway. I really don't see him as a starting player unfortunately.

I jmagine a few of them might go out on loan this season like Stephens and Turnbull have. Both of those are closer to the first team than McCarthy I would imagine.

Byram to Everton, Coleman to Man Utd...

He is having his Porto medical now apparently.

Whether he stays or not, there were a number of games last season, especially at home, where Ramirez could easily have started instead of JWP or Davis. Still far more likely to produce something leading to a goal than either of those, but we probably can't afford a 60k a week player who isnt a first choice all the time. Shame it hasnt worked out, because he is a very good player, just probably better suited to a slower, more technical league.

Our main issue is that either we are slow off the mark in looking to extend the contracts, or, more likely, the players move to us with the thought of playing a couple of years every week in a decent PL side knowing they will get offers if they play well. If we asked them to sign 5 year deals at the start some might refuse as it gives them far less control of their situation.

£2m due to Palace in sell on clauses. Pretty meagre initial fee for Saints, especially when you consider the Mings deal. Entering last season of contract has a huge effect, as will probably be the case with the Wanyama transfer saga next summer and to our benefit in the cases of Juanmi and Soares.

It was said that he was resting it, and should be fine for this season, but maybe you are right and it hadn't cleared up with rest.

Suprised Tadic not there as he didnt play any of the Intls.

But we aren't in for them?

At £12.5m that is a very good signing for a relatively young England Intl with quite a bit of PL experience and a good injury record. Sure he will do well there, hopefully Cedric can replicate Clyne's form of the last two seasons. Good fullbacks a great asset to any team.

Not at all. Just pointing out the fact that we have fewer good homegrown players than we have previously. Still have a very good team, just an increasingly foreign born one.

Also somewhat suprising we didnt try harder to keep Cork, who is better than JWP and Reed.

I didn't say it was cheap. Just it was a good free transfer signing. Which it is.

Swansea signing Eder from Braga, Portuguese Intl. I think they have done the best business so far this summer and haven't lost anyone of note. Spurs have signed Konoplyanka according to Italian press. Would be a decent free if true.

Once Clyne and MS go we will have sold Lallana, Lambert, Shaw, Chambers, Cork, Clyne and Schneiderlin in the past year which is seven home grown players all good enough to play first team football. That has to be a little concerning in the balance of home grown ratios, because we cannot afford to buy great home grown players, yet in the next 2/3 years will have to unless some of the academy players turn into 22/23 year old players who can genuinely take their place in the squad. Would imagine we will look to make at least one HG signing this summer, even if just another GK who can fill the place KD will vacate for next season. Luckily we don't really have any HG players left that anyone will probably snatch from us, apart from maybe Jay Rod if he has a good season or JWP if he starts to live up to his (largely inflated) mega hype.

The latest: http://gianlucadimarzio.com/en/eng/inter-will-contact-imbula-this-afternoon-while-felipe-melo-is-the-alternative/

Yeah, I'm sure he would be open to joining Spurs and the fact a few Intl teammates/friends play there, that it is in London and that Spurs always finish above us and also like us have a good Manager will only help.

Spanish paper AS saying Spurs are in advanced talks to sign him after he decided he didnt want to stay at AM. Pretty ominous the number of different sources that say he is to join Spurs. Would be a massive blow, not least because he would improve them significantly, and they don't seem set to lose any of their best players.

Lazio keen to wrap up a move for Clasie according to some Italian reports today, but we are obviously going to be in for him too. Main doubt I have is physically. We already have JWP and Davis who are relatively (JWP definitely) lightweight, plus Reed who whilst aggressive is tiny. Obviously Wanyama adds a presence, but if he were to miss games which he will at some stage, we would lack so much power in a key area. Interestingly the other midfielders we have been linked with are all known more for their physical attributes than technical, the likes of Gueye, Imbula, Krychowiak.

Did we? Tadic is no Lallana. Half of this board slag Pelle. Toby isnt our player and whilst Bertrand was excellent this season, Shaw was for us too. Easy to throw around those type of comments.

Always going to be tough. If we start this season with a team as good as ended the last then thats a good summer IMO. Very hard to build from our position anyway due to what is above us, and made more difficult by losing some of the best players, especially this summer potentially in key positions like centre back or central midfield. The Morgan and maybe Toby replacements will need to hit the ground running and maintain it.

We already signed him. Echo says we might not sign another RB, which would be a big mistake, especially if we don't have Toby and potentially have more Europa games. RB the only position there is virtually nobody from the U21s that is nearly good enough.