SuperSAINT

Gotta love Harry Lewis being involved as 3rd keeper

https://www.chelseafc.com/en/news/2021/07/27/young-defender-heads-south

Far too sensible. There will be players who will go on to be far better than him & there will be some that don’t make it as professionals, but I imagine they will all get something from him if he has an aptitude for coaching and teaching them. It’s a win-win for me. The only negative is he takes a playing spot, but I can’t imagine he’ll play every minute. I think this is a really good idea.

There’s a clear sense of who read the Dan Ashworth / Brighton article last week and who didn’t

He’s quite a logical choice in 2-3 years if he wanted to do it.

Cheers. Indeed. Crofts is now head U23 coach and they’ve restarted the process with Gary Dicker as player coach.

I’d be interested to know what @Monk makes of this.

They actually need him with the players they’ve lost 😂

BUMP!

Lancashire is back!

Me neither 😂😂

Fitting that for likely the final Lemina article that marks his Lemsgacy at saints, it features talk of how good he was and could have been, but also clearly illustrates the fact that he’s still a d*ck by f*cking off without permission.

Mario Lemina’s transfer to Nice signals the end of Southampton’s tireless efforts to offload what can only be described as their deadwood. Sofiane Boufal, Guido Carrillo, Wesley Hoedt and now Lemina, who cost Southampton a combined £66 million, have departed the club in the last 12 months. Of that outlay, they have received less than £10 million back. Having them on the books in recent times has hampered the club’s finances, especially as they were all handed lucrative contracts when they made the switch to the south coast. In reality, Southampton got very little — if anything at all — back from their investment in terms of what they offered on the pitch and what they sold those players for. Boufal, Carrillo and Hoedt went for nominal fees, and Nice agreed to pay €5.5 million including bonuses to sign Lemina. But with the 27-year-old midfielder finally sealing his long-awaited exit, Southampton can now start to look forward with renewed vigour in transfer windows to come. Yes, they will be feeling the effects of the pandemic, but no longer are they wedded to the quartet that tied them down for so long. Club sources were hopeful that Lemina would have departed the club before Ralph Hasenhuttl and his players returned to begin pre-season at the start of July. There was interest from several clubs back then, but it was only tentative. It was no secret that Southampton’s manager and the central midfielder didn’t see eye-to-eye. After all, the former Juventus man was sent out on loan in 2019-20 (to Galatasaray) and 2020-21 (to Fulham). What was surprising, though, is that the two seemed to put their differences behind them and hit it off over the past couple of weeks. The Athletic is led to believe Hasenhuttl was impressed with the Gabon international’s commitment during pre-season and was seriously considering keeping him at the club until his contract came to its end next summer. And although the Austrian may feel a tinge of disappointment that he’s gone, the harsh reality is that the good feeling between them both wasn’t ever going to last. It was important the bigger picture remained to be seen: how would their relationship look in three months if Hasenhuttl’s not selecting him? Before long, you have an unhappy highly-paid player around the camp. But, on the flip side, Southampton’s boss would have viewed him as an extra body in the building and that if potential suitors weren’t going to come forward, he’d have managed the situation. One former player previously told The Athletic that such was Lemina’s technical ability, he would do things in training that others simply couldn’t. On his day, nobody could get near him. And another senior source once intimated — when Lemina was sent to Turkey on loan — that there are managers who would choose to build a team around Lemina, he is that good. Southampton just didn’t see enough of those moments to warrant putting an arm around his shoulder day after day. When the talks with Nice started, it’s understood the French side originally wanted to sign him on a free transfer. You can see the argument that you’re better off keeping Lemina than give him away but figures behind the scenes continued to negotiate. The price eventually rose to €5.5 million including bonuses after some healthy competition from Newcastle. Watford were another Premier League team to show an interest, although it’s believed they wanted Lemina on loan. As the discussions with Nice progressed, it became apparent late on Thursday evening that France would be his most likely destination. However, against the club’s wishes, Lemina flew to Paris before heading south to undergo his medical and agree on personal terms. Senior figures at Southampton were unaware he had gone abroad and indicated they could have fined him for doing so. But they wanted the deal done without any last-minute hiccups, so decided against a monetary punishment. Supporters will perhaps remember Lemina most for his creativity off the pitch rather than what he did on it. In his 52 appearances for the club, he scored twice but managed to set social media alight with the birth of #TonicLikeLeminade, which was posted alongside a sped-up highlight reel of his best bits. Upon his return for pre-season, he tweeted #Lemsgacy alongside pictures of him training in a Southampton shirt. His move to Southampton in 2017 promised so much but as we’ve seen with Hoedt, Carrillo and Boufal, it failed to deliver. The club will hope they’ve moved on from making expensive mistakes but there will always be a pang of disappointment that the midfielder wasn’t ever able to realise his full potential at St Mary’s. He now has the opportunity to resurrect his career in Ligue 1 — where you expect his new surroundings on the French Riviera will suit him down to the ground — and remind everyone just how good he can be.

If Fab is right, then I think we can count Spuds out of the Vestergaard race:

Used to be able to play right-back AND centre-mid back in the day. Was a really good player but agree that injuries are the problem.

They probably are if he's free.

👀 ? we are short at left-back

They have really thinned out the older players for the B-Team. Going to be a much younger group. Theres still time to add a few players, though.

Can add Slattery & Tchaptchet to this.