Convict Colony

As a comparison Che Adams 8 goals 5 Assists - cost 15m Robert Firmino 6 goals 6 assists - 30mil a while ago Timo Werner 6 goals 8 Assists - cost 50mil I think he's delivered for the money spent on him.

Yeah I'm hopeful we will hear something soon. Premier League status secure Guaranteed TV money UK looks on track for attendance next season.

It depends on the interpretation of this i think. Is it a player who was/is a 20/15mil player in the normal climate now worth 10mil cos his club are skint and need money Or are we only looking at players who are 10mil under because of the exposure and age etc. Either way I'm an optimist and we'll get what we need.

who knows but we've got a better record scouting than the black box - rip #ziyechwatch from FC Twente time in 2015 Apparently Rangers and Atalanta scouting him a lot now - also side note Jerdy Schouten is also being scouted by atalanta so players who would fit our system. Also random Jankewitz point - he was linked with Groningen in Jan and if he joined them he would be playing with Arjen Robben who came out of retirement this year to play for his home team.

24 times 80-90 mins - most those 90mins 5 times 70 ish 1 other 12mins

We've scouted this guy apparently - Jerdy Schouten - CM playing for Bologna - same agent as Elia https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/jerdy-schouten/profil/spieler/347900 "At Bologna he is taking over the build-up. I saw a report from our scout in Italy. Well, that was great, ”says Buter, who works as a scout for Southampton, England. “Frenkie has one touch : all people have to take the ball once, look around three times and then play. If you do that right ... In that respect, Jerdy is the same as Frenkie de Jong, only Frenkie does it much faster. People underestimate how fast Frenkie is, he was by far the fastest in Ajax's selection. I think he is also the fastest at Barcelona. I want to compare him to Frenkie, because he also has the insight, the one touch and the technique. But not the speed, it switches just not that fast. That is the difference."

100% I gave him grief earlier in the season for cutting inside and losing the ball in the centre circle but that was because i didnt understand that was what he is tasked with doing. Running inside, opening up the wing for KWP and looking for runners in-front of him, now he has moved inside he is looking more effective as the attacking CM. Endurance on him is immense, JWP get lots of plaudits but Armstrong runs hard and fast all game with his ball carrying. Best hair in the team as well so defo player of the season for me with.

Pretty sure with mini the deal with Liverpool is the more minutes he plays the less the loan fee. I'd suspect we are just trying to get him for free at this point, hence his minutes.

Wait did you slip Redmond in there to see if anyone read this post 🤣

Isn't it still Ramadan until tomorrow

Armstrong has some lungs on him, always running hard

Mateta an.old rumour of our interest about 3yrs ago

We have Moussa.....signed to the same agent Frederic Kanoute

Probably off to Dortmund if Halaand goes I guess but maybe a 20mil signing if no bigger teams come in. Suspect he'd only go to teams who fit his style anyway so it would limit his options.

Yes Chez you're on the Daka express

Yes The Wall is on

The thing with Redmond is he plays a lot when his form doesn't warrant it. Hardly scores Hardly assists Blames everyone else Isn't going to improve after 4yrs Edit - I'm claiming credit for a 2nd half hatrick

completely players fault that one, so much shitness

My summary of Gao. He escaped corruption charges in china by grassing up others to save himself. Xi Jinping then declared his love of football and to see the improvement in the national teams position. Gao then used this as both an attempt to curry favour and move capital abroad took a personal loan via a Hong Kong bank to buy 80% and was due to pay the remaining. 20% i believe the next year. Unfortunately for him chinese politicians were then horrified about the volume of cash flowing out of China (and therefore cannot be controlled)and roadblocked any further movements, consequently Gao couldn't get a loan/buy the remaining 20%. Being the lucky sort of fella he is his Lander business then had a sharp decline and was bailed out by a regional bank owned by the central bank of China which now has majority stake of his business. This has left Gao in a bit of a pickle, he is asset rich with us but cash poor in china and in the govts pocket. The unseen player in this is the Chinese central bank, if they tell him to sell it at a loss he will as that is a regular approach for them directing individuals and "corporations". He used DealGlobe to buy us apparently and their backers are Shanghai based and one of their main backers is Wind Info who apparently who are involved in 90% of the financial transactions in china but apparently have a website which is created by someone whose never done one - https://www.wind.com.cn/en/aboutus.html. So in summary i don't think Gao has much of a say who he sells too as some would think so i think it is more about both the investor's risk tolerance and a suitable covid price I am sure the discussion is how to factor into the buying price this short term (hopefully) cashflow to the asset - hopefully some finance ninja can explain how that could happen.

The funniest thing i saw in this article was "19 !! where was his paper round beirut"

Just read this in the telegraph about our season so far and the causes etc - less pressing and rubbish goalkeepers basically. Also you can read without paying if you block cookies from Telegraph so you dont get the sign up rubbish - works a treat https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2021/05/07/southamptons-decline-explained-tired-legs-less-pressing-goalkeeping/ "Another long-running issue for Southampton is the quality of their goalkeeping. One way to measure the quality of shot-stopping is using According to Opta's Expected Goals on Target metric. XGoT, unlike expected goals, is a post-shot model. That means it takes into account not just the location and quality of the shot, but the goalmouth location where the shot finishes, throwing out all those that are off target.Subtract goals conceded from XGoT faced, and you get a strong sense of which goalkeepers are conceding more than they should from the quality of shots faced. As a club, whether Alex McCarthy or Fraser Forster start, Southampton rank bottom of this metric.As individuals, McCarthy has conceded 50 goals from an XGoT faced of just 41.96. Only Crystal Palace's Vicente Guaita has a bigger negative differential in the league. Southampton should be in the market for a new No 1 this summer. "

You never know after Semmens comment in the forum about surprised the investment hasnt already happened maybe we have a budget that indulges this sort of quality luxury player. Also if Ings re-signs that might be a sign we are doing some things.

Just a random thought, Grady Diagana from West Brom for the Left wing position, has qualities that would work in our side. Probably too expensive even with Wet Brom going down but maybe Gao could ask their owners Also interesting from The Athletic this morning about Marc Guehi. The deadline to activate that clause was not until May 15 but Chelsea saw no reason to delay making a decision about a player who is highly regarded at Stamford Bridge and the subject of serious interest from Premier League clubs, including Crystal Palace and Southampton, as well as Borussia Monchengladbach in the Bundesliga. Further talks about Guehi’s future will take place in the summer when Chelsea will decide whether to allow him to spend a third successive season on loan — he will almost certainly sign an extended contract on improved terms if that turns out to the case — or cash in on a player whose market value is expected to be in the region of £15-20 million.

Prost is running the game, review of our academy set up. https://www.prostinternational.com/2021/05/09/unfiltered-diamonds-are-losing-shine-through-substandard-academy-hasenhuttls-b-team-transformation-is-his-biggest-challenge-yet/