SuperSAINT

No.10 in a 4-2-3-1 system is his best position IMO.

Boufal to go to AFCON after Everton match. https://southamptonfc.com/news/2016-12-29/sofiane-boufal-afcon-claude-puel-southampton-west-brom

A loan move might make sense if we are bringing another centre-back in.

Manolo Gabbiadini linked consistently linked again. I'm not convinced. But I noticed Mark Hughes mentioned him as a possible loan option.

Sky sources: Leicester make approach to Sassuolo for permission to sign defender Francesco Acerbi #SSNHQ

Gel's with LeG's posts. I'm thinking we'd still be looking at Haller.

A worry for me is low on confidence / out of form Long & Tadic appear. Really need a big performance & confidence boost from them. Let's forget about Bournemouth for a minute and we are still lacking cutting edge & didn't really work the keeper last night. WBA really are going to be a tough but to crack, and in Rondon & Chadli, they now have quality to hurt us at the other end. We might need another Boufal produced rabbit-out-of-the-hat again.

Our midfielder's really are tiny. I mentioned before the game that I worried we'd get bullied last night.

Their wingers double-back to help the full-backs. Something Boufal could learn from.

Going to be tough. Very organised, very well drilled, good at set pieces & well rested.

They've got some monsters in their midfield.

Liverpool likely don't have the ££'s.

That's a big plus.

It's an odd one. I'm assuming he's a replacement for Jordan Rhodes who will be sold to a championship side.

Now that is good to see.

@ed_aarons: Looks like Rudy Gestede is set to join Middlesbrough for around £6.5m despite interest from Palace, Newcastle and West Brom #boro

He's slowly approaching the Cork / Clyne / Wanyama contract twilight zone.

Pretty sure the Chinese group's period of exclusivity would have ended by now?

L'Equipe list us amongst the interested clubs: http://sportwitness.co.uk/southampton-keen-new-ngolo-kante/

Not much of a chance when they tried to "do a Saints" and sell their forward line & best defender.

Tell him that when he's on the bench

http://www.francefootball.fr/news/Chelsea-a-fait-une-offre-pour-franck-kessie-atalanta/763848

This thread is like a post-modern version of the "Schneiderlin or Wotton?" thread.

Wonder if the fact he can play as a winger might tempt us as Boufal is off to the AFCON.

I thought he was woeful against Bournemouth in the 1st half, but fair play, he turned it around and was very good 2nd half. Always tricky to judge a players potential, but at 21 he's got a pretty good chance of making a very good footballer.