saintant

Yeah, to be fair he looks good in the air, quick, decent on the ball, tackles well and can ping long passes with pin-point accuracy all day long - everything Stephens can't do.

Are we collecting centre backs? It's creativity and goal scorers we need plus a goalkeeper. Hope this is clickbait.

I think if we get north of 35 million for Fernandes we'll have done ok. He's had one season in the Premier league so we're not getting silly money for him

An upgrade on Baz then 🙂

What you are really saying is that you hope he faces fewer shots so will let less goals in - a competent defence and not being forced to play out from the back does not make him a better 'keeper. He might have improved and we'll likely find out soon.

The thought of the pair of them on the pitch together worries me.

I'd imagine they'll rotate players to get as many minutes in them as possible so many of their potential first team will likely be on the pitch at some stage much as most sides treat pre-season friendlies.

Ryan is very vocal - not surprising being an Aussie. There's a video of him during lock down playing for Arsenal at Villa Park when on loan from Brighton - there's a mic picking up all his shouts, commands etc and he certainly helps his defenders which is something we've not had for a while. He'd probably put a few well aimed rockets up some arses where necessary. Seems a decent shot stopper with loads of experience so might be worth a shout.

Probably better off not knowing.

Never heard the saying, 'Those who can't, teach'

Baz is still young. Not saying I agree but it would not surprise me if SR's thought process is that he will develop quickly and they'll be able to turn a profit on him. Can see him starting in goal against Wrexham.

Nah, I think he wasn't considered good enough - his agent was probably told to find him another club.

Did you hear this from someone you consider a reliable source?

I think we paid an initial fee of something in the region of £18m so don't think 4m for a one year loan plus wages saving is a bad deal.

They've already spent almost 90,000 Euros on 3 new midfield players.

4m loan fee and big wages saved is a decent deal so long as we replace him with a new number one who has suitable talent. However, fear we'll be bringing in a number 3 behind Baz and McCarthy.

It's not just the monetary losses we made it's the fact that our recruiters signed sub-standard players that didn't help the team progress.

It seems now the pre-season tour is over the dominos are beginning to fall starting with outgoings. Would be good to hear some news about incoming players but hopefully work is in progress.

Start the bidding war!

I think Stansfield is over rated. Will be interested to see how he does this season.

Probably be half that. He's really not demonstrated much ability so I'd value him at 4-5 million max. We'll see I guess but he's been a bit of a disappointment really.

It's probable that most are scared off by Armenia's links to Russia. Not convinced we'd be able to negotiate this transfer either or that the club would consider embroiling themselves in the problems it might raise. Very good player though and would love him in our side but don't think it's going to happen.

I couldn't give a monkeys whether Stephens and Manning plus others want to play for Southampton FC - our new manager and DoF should not want them playing for us. Lessons must be learned rather than old mistakes repeated over and over again.

Hope he doesn't mind sitting on the bench because he'll get very little game time at Villa.

He'd be perfect for us but I think he'll sign for a higher level team.