Chewy

Well, yes ... but we're already oversubscribed by 5 and I doubt our owners/finance team will sanction any new signings until that number is quite a bit healthier. You could risk having a couple too many and subsidising a loan or 2, but not 8!

Very unlikely this summer imho. That said, if he continues to develop this rapidly will likely be our next very large sale. Think he has a real future and could go for very big bucks next summer.

Pretty much how I see it. If I read the contracts thread right (I do love OLAS's work) we still have 30 over 21s on our books for 25 places. To bring in the cb, dm and possibly a winger would require us shifting 8 players. The chances of us shifting 8 this window are very slim imho. And they need to be 8 we want rid of too - only rumours seem to be Lemina and Boufal who don't even fit that bracket for some (me too if I'm brutally honest). I said a couple of weeks ago this mess of a squad would take a good 2-3 Windows to sort and so I'm not shocked we're not as far forward as we'd hoped. I think the appointment of Ralph has signalled the end of the downward curve on the graph and it's heading up again, but only marginally so 11-14th next season is probably about right. Will be the following season before we see that upward line steepen much imho. Obviously disappointing to us impatient fans but the unfortunate reality given the squad we have and the financial constraints such a bloated playing roster creates.

Sorry, just to add Reed and Hesketh are the other contenders, but imagine they're not in Austria due to being deemed surplus and imminently moving on along with some of the other bigger names left behind (Classie, Austin, Gallagher, Lemina and Carrillo)

Could be one of a few. As well as Slattery, you'd probably have expected Ramsay and Johnson to have been in contention, possibly O'Connor too. Blackmore specifically commented on McQueen not being included but I thought he was injured so why the comment? And Armstrong didn't travel due to 'food poisoning' which strikes me as odd. That said, I wouldn't categorise him as a 'rising star'.

I'd try and keep him, think either him or JWP on the 'right' with Hoj and a DM in the middle. Either Lemina or JWP could swap into the middle to cover when Hoj is inevitably suspended. 3 midfielders into 2 starting places works on a squad level over a season (with slattery as back up).

At this stage I wouldn't actually be that surprised if he stays next season. He doesn't have to leave and is on a good salary and we need a decent and reliable back-up to valery. On the plus side for us, we'd have decent back-up with someone we don't care about having to keep happy with game time (you'd imagine he'd put a shift in when he did play as he'll be looking to earn a contract somewhere). On the downside, we could do with the his transfer fee and might see him as a negative influence in the dressing room. Not saying he will or should stay, just that I wouldn't be shocked.

Was linked with wolves a couple of weeks ago so maybe a release from his agent designed to hurry them up? Would be a touch surprised if we are after him.

Hope he has a great loan spell - intrigued by Jones, was thought extremely highly of a couple of years back, and our respected poster Guan rates him, but his development does seem to have stalled so hopefully this kick starts things. Not reading too much into it on terms of it being the end of his chances here. Assuming Ralph wants a back 4 and we do make a signing as our number one pick, that would leave bednarek and vesti vying for places 2 and 3 in the squad with Maya as 4th place. Mayas contract ends next summer so there will be his place in the squad up for grabs with Jones, Klarer, Ramsey and maybe 1 or 2 others competing for it. I guess the issue for Jones given his age that he only his this season left to stake his claim whereas the others have a couple of more years.

Perfect source for here then - shares that trait with a number of our regular posters.

Not sure that entirely follows. I'm delighted for the young man, but one good performance against Austria's u21 (no idea how good they are, but their first team are not great) is hardly proof that he's the next Philippa Lahm or Dennis Irwin. Happy for us to sign him and discover he is, just not going to get carried away just yet.

Mostly this IMHO. It's not that he looks like he doesn't want to be here, just that he looks like he doesn't seem bothered whether he's here or not. Some over-reactions on here; it was always going to take a good couple of years to sort this squad out given the contract lengths and un-saleability of some of our squad. Within that two years Bertrand would be included; there's no way he'd be signing an extension in 2 years time. A half-arsed Bertrand is better than Targett IMO so I'd rather this happened next summer, but if the stars have aligned to mean it's happening now then so be it. Gives us a season to see if Targett can step up to be a regular, or if Vokins is as good as the hype (hype based on virtually no one having actually seen him play from what I can gather), or indeed if a fit McQueen is any good. If not we need to replace with new, something we'd probably have to do next summer anyway. It'll mean we don't progress as quickly as some on here would like, but doesn't suddenly turn us from next seasons Ajax under a god-like Ralph into relegation fodder. The difference between Targett and the Bertrand of late isn't quite that vast ... Alas, we don't have the Man City billions so sometimes have to take backward steps to move the project forward. Not ideal, but that's life as a Saints fan. That said, less than £15 million would seem cheap to me, even factoring in the additional @£10 million in wages he'd earn over the rest of his contract, something people seem to be forgetting. Of course, it's the Daily Mail so could be utter rubbish anyway!

I'm sorry, but he is terrible. I really am not a negative poster and stay pretty positive about saints most of the time but he's one of the worst signings I recall, especially given the fee and wages. In an entire season he managed one single cross of note (IIRC in the Derby replay, a game we lost anyway). Other than that, absolutely nothing. Not even a hint of being able to do anything remotely useful or impactful. That is a dreadful return by any reckoning. If anyone wants him and is prepared to give us more than 50p to help lessen the amount we have to write off on him I'd take it.

I agree with your three priority areas, but if we get a high calibre player for that price in a position where we only have a youngster with half a seasons experience I can see why we'd be tempted. The outlay is only half the story anyway - say we get 7 or 8 million for Cedric, and save 25k a week on the difference in wages between the two (don't think either are wildly inaccurate) then the net spend by next summer would be somewhere between 1 and 4 million. Not a high amount in these times. My only concern is that I don't particularly want valerys progress inhibited. I think he's a real prospect, and quite possibly our next major star (and by that I obviously mean our next huge sale to somewhere he becomes a major star, unfortunately ...)

Looks like we have got it done quick - some bright spark has updated his wiki profile to say he plays for us!

I think a far simpler solution to the whole handball issue would be direct free kick for intentional, indirect for unintentional. Wouldn't need to worry about any of this 'unnatural position' stuff, and whether attacking or not, just one means direct (and penalty if in box), the other doesn't.

This first article has a comment along the lines of 'benfica will be losing one of their strikers, will they also want to lose seforovic too' which makes me strongly suspect it's his agent pushing for his player to get a pay rise, rather than us actually looking to sign him. Could be wrong of course. In any event, there's no way we'd be paying his full release clause ... unless our wonderful new sponsorship funds it, of course.

Sorry, got his goals and assists the wrong way round. 29 goals but only 10 assists. Not sure he's creative enough from the wing then.

No, that must be another one ... Think he's talking about the Robert skov with 29 assists and 10 goals from 33 league appearances. You know, the one half of europes best clubs are after. On that note, much as I'd love us to go for him, think there may be a few suitors who can out bid and out pay us unfortunately.

Is this a "whoosh" moment I'm missing, or are you for real? You'll actually struggle to watch the team you've supported all your life because you don't like the kit they'll be wearing for 20 odd games? Seriously, people really need some perspective about a sodding football kit. It lasts a season. I'd prefer a kit I liked, and don't rate this alleged one (not as badly as my personal least favourite pony number) but really don't care that much. Its not as if I start each season deciding who to support based on who has the prettiest kit on the catwalk, is it!

Personally I don't count free kicks either, or headers if you're over 6 foot tall, unfair advantage. Turns out when you minus off penalties and free kicks for messi and headers too for ronaldo, neither are actually that good.

Maya?? Let him run down his contract and leave next year; just because the rest of our defence isn't up too much (not good enough or too inexperienced) doesn't mean he's suddenly become irreplaceable. Do you remember the good old days when he was back up to Fonte + whoever (Lovren, Toby, Van Dijk). We used to shudder when one of them was out and Maya had to play. He's not got that much better to be honest. PEH definitely at pretty much any cost, Redmond & Bertrand at a sensible level, but if they want too much I wouldn't be held to ransom. Redmond's had a very good season, and we definitely need him next season, but wouldn't want us committing to paying him a fortune for another 5 years - he's not that good.

I personally think 5 years is better reference than 16. We've been through administration and to league 1 and back in that time, so hardly think that's relevant. Either way it does go to show how massively underachieving Everton have been for the outlay, how remarkable Leicesters achievement was, how little we have spent in comparison to literally everyone else, and ... Actually (outside of the very top few) how little of the tv billions has been invested on transfers, much more going to agents and players in extortionate wages. It's actually quite shocking.

Agree, though I'd actually swap JWP and lemina over, have lemina further up the pitch. Obviously if Maya is still out I guess it will be one final outing for Stephens ... Oh well. Sims to come off the bench at some point, would have loved to see another academy prospect or 2 but doubt it's possible with the villa game in mind.

Very decent post IMHO. While there are some refs who are simply sh1t, the majority are trying to do a good and fair job. I think it's more about human beings crumbling under the pressure which is clearly much more significant when dealing with the bigger clubs. I don't think Dean would have been afraid to show a red card for something blatant, but only when blatant and he knows he won't be slaughtered by managers or the press. He, like most of his colleagues will happily avoid a difficult decision in a really big game for a quiet life when it's possible. I think it's human nature to be honest. I do think VAR will help improve the balance of errors in favour of the big clubs, but it will still exist. Doubt the Liverpool free kick would have been referred to VAR, or indeed silvas challenges.