Rebel

So who is next out of the door after Ramsdale and Edozie? My money would be on Sugawara or Taylor, probably followed by THB and Fernandes. I hope it's ABK but I think we will be stuck with him for a little longer unfortunately. I also think we will move on Aribo if we can due to his high wages.

Matt Ryan on a free as a back-up keeper has Saints written all over it. If you look at his stats it suggests that's more or less what he's been everywhere he has played. He's 33 so a one year deal perhaps - or maybe 2 or 3 years and he replaces McCarthy as our veteran back-up keeper in the long term. It does look like we will be starting the season with Bazunu as our number one. I am hopeful that with a competent defence in front of him and not being forced to play out from the back all the time he will be better keeeper than he last time we were in the Championship.

Anyone else think we are selling Edozie because we can't sell Fraser or Bereton-Diaz and we need the money - or am I just being very cynical?

He may be Armenian by football nationality - but he's Russian by birth and that's the only place he ever played by the looks of it. With the war in Ukraine we shouldn't even be looking at players in Russia. Surely our scouts can find an attacking midfielder from somewhere else.

I guess we will have to wait and see but I would prefer we sold Ramsdale for a good fee and bought a first choice keeper. I'd be happy with Victor Johansson or someone of the calibre as first choice - with Bazunu and McCarthy battling it out to be second choice. Then if we do manage to get promoted this season we can still go out and sign a first choice premier league keeper to battle for a starting spot with Johannsson (or whoever). McCarthy will retire next summer anyway and we can either sell Bazunu (with a year left on his contract) or give him new contract and keep him as third choice.

Even at the price and wage we overpaid for him. We needed a top class centre back far more.

Nope the solution is to get rid of them - but take a calculated risk on signing the players we need before getting rid of the deadwood. It seems like we are always waiting to sell players before we buy - which leaves up playing catch-up and missing out on players. I am not saying don't get rid of them - just take a hit for a couple of weeks on the wages and a calculated risk we can get rid of the players we don't want. Maybe it means we have to sell for a bit less than we hoped or would have liked. But maybe we are just stuck with the crap players until they are out of contract and can't afford to buy any other players. But that's down to our terrible transfer strategy in the first place.

I think we were all expecting a bigger overhaul of our squad than has happened so far this summer. And right now my optimism for the season is fading. It looks like we have too much deadwood in the squad - and too many players on big salaries we can't shift as we are overpaying them. By now I was expecting us to have moved on players like Fraser, Aribo, Bednarek and ABK - and players like Ramsdale and THB to be close to the exit door. Every year we seem to have to wait to sell players before we buy - sometimes I think we need to take a calculated risk and sign the players we need first and then look to clear out the players we don't want or need later. I hope Spors hasn't underestimated how much of a clear out and reset the squad needed this summer - we need to change a lot more than we have done so far and get rid of the 'loser' mindset in the team. I get that things could all change in the next few weeks but it doesn't set us up for a flying start to the season we will need. In reality we will probably end up losing Dibling and Fernandes for smaller fees that like and send Ramsdale out on loan. Ramsdale is a prime example of a player we overpaid for and are overpaying. We'd have been better off getting Bijlow on loan for the season and spending £3M on Victor Johannsson rather than coughing up £20M plus and a £150K a week in wages. Our first 11 just about looks OK - apart from up front - but we desperately need more depth on the wing and in defensive midfield. I would quite happily of changed all of our strikers out (Armstrong, Brereton-Diaz, Archer and Stewart) as I don't think any of them are really good enough. I hope I am proved wrong.

Edozie will be one of the better wingers in the Championship - he can beat his man, he tracks back and he has the physicality. The one thing he lacked was the final ball - but with 6 goals and a couple of assists in what was effectively half a season that's not that bad either. But he is a right footer and has generally played on the left cutting in with the ball which seemed to affect his final ball at times. But it seems Still wants to play him on the right which should improve his final ball and significantly increase the number of crosses he puts in.

With it looking like West Ham are signing KWP and rumours they are interested in THB and Ramsdale as well it will be interesting to see if they do whether they are woeful defensively this season like we were last season - and whether it was down to the players we had or was it really just down to Mr Martin's terrible management and coaching. My guess would be neither KWP or THB are good enough defensively for the Premier League - but Martin's tactics and coaching made the worst of it. It could be a good test of Mr Potter's coaching ability.

it looks like Ramsdale will be at the end of domino chain for premier league goalkeeper transfers this summer - he could end up at any of Sunderland, Leeds, B'mth or West Ham but he doesn't seem to be first choice for any of them. Maybe its because he wages are too high - or he's just not as good as people think. Or maybe its because he's seen as bad luck charm when it comes to relegation! As much as some people seem to want to keep him I am not really sure we can afford to given his wages. I always thought we overspent on him last summer with his transfer fee and wages when we could have signed a player like Johannsson for an awful lot less and spent the money elsewhere like CB and or CDM. I think THB is in a similar position - he's on the list for a few premier league clubs but not at the top. I can see him ending up at West Ham, Burnley or Palace. We need to shift some players out and reduce the wage bill if we are going to bring any more players in besides the rumoured attacking midfielder. I was hoping Aribo, ABK and Bednarek would have left by now for a start. What we really needed to do was shift Stephens, Bednarek, ABK and THB and bring is a mid to late 20's CB who is experienced and can lead the back line and play alongside Edwards and Wood. Quarshie adds depth and potential but did we really need another young defender with potential when we already have THB, Edwards, Wood and Kayi Sanda.

KWP's big problem is he can't really defend. He doesn't have the stature or physicality to cope with big forwards or high balls. And his positional sense defensively is woeful. He is great going forward in an attacking team that dominate the ball - and could play as an inverted full back or wing back for a team like that. But as a straight full back he's not in the elite category. Plus he's not really that good playing on the left - it reduces him to a one trick pony going forwards - cutting in and passing the ball inside. And he was even worse defensively on the left. If he could defend or was two footed and could really play on the left we would have easily sold him 2 years ago when we last got relegated for £25-30M or more but no one came close to offering that because of the holes in his game. I think the closest offer we got was £15M which the club thought was too little. I think they made a mistake there - they should have accepted it and replaced him with a full back that was better at defending - but probably not so good going forwards. He would probably be best as a wide right midfielder in a 'wingless wonders' team.

and Besfort Zeneli is a cool name - he sounds like he should be really good!

I get the feeling we are going to sign more the one striker this summer - a tall centre forward and an inside forward. Which suggests to me that Armstrong and BBD will probably be the ones that are going to leave - although I would happily swap out all of our strikers (Stewart, BBD, Archer and Armstrong) this summer. And if we are chasing a new right back I would probably cash in on Bree with a year left - and keep Sugwara. Firstly I think Suga will be great in the Championship and secondly keeping him will help Matsuki and Takoaka settle in. Also with one eye on replacing Suga if/when we go back up to the Premier League. At the moment our transfer strategy does seem to be following our normal line of buying young players with potential and more 'importantly' resale value - but I think we could do with a bit of maturity and leadership on the pitch if we are going to push for promotion. I'd like to see us add a few players in the their mid to late twenties to the squad at least.

Damion Downs looks ok as as back-up centre forward - but I still feel we need a starting centre forward. We can't rely on Stewart with his injury record and BBD, Adarma and Archer are all second strikers or wide/inside forwards.

now if they'd said Rangers and Martin are talking to Ross Stewart and Ryan Fraser it would've been a bit more believable.

I have figured out our new transfer strategy..... ....its to sign players with names similar to the names of existing or old players! So far its: Quashie = Quarshie and going forwards its : Downes = Downes O'Brien Whitmarsh = O'Brien who else is out there!?

if we are not in for Kesler-Hayden at that price it suggests to me that Sugawara is staying with us this season.

I think we will start to see a lot more movement in the transfer market from this week onwards - partly because for us July is the month that players with relegation clauses in their contracts get a pay cut - and also players are coming back from their holidays and ready to move on. I fully expect players like Bednarek and Aribo to quietly leave in the next week or so. Its also the crossover period for PSR which I think will also make a big difference to a lot of clubs.

I read it here - https://saintsmarching.com/stunning-three-way-striker-swap-could-be-on-the-cards-for-southampton - but I am not sure its a reliable source. Well I am pretty sure Sargent will leave Norwich for Leeds or somewhere abroad. I can see Norwich replacing Sargent with Armstrong if they pay us a good fee for him - but he's not really the same type of striker - Sargent is a 6ft 1 centre forward although probably not good enough for the premier league - Armstrong is a 5ft 8 (according to Wikipedia -he looks a lot shorter than that to me) inside forward. He's not going to fill the hole left by Sargent if he does leave Norwich. As for Piroe - I am not sure he would want to leave premier league Leeds for championship Southampton. He a 6ft 1 second striker really so we would still need a centre forward. I wouldn't say no but only if we get a centre forward as well.

I guess its assumed by people that one of Sugawara or Bree will leave and we'll need to replace them in that case

and some American player called Freeman but wasn't it one of the three positions that came out of the Solak interview as one we had budgeted to spend on before selling players

If we are looking at signing a right back it must mean either Sugawara or Bree is leaving. My guess would be Sugawara for a club in Italy. Bednarek is also off by all accounts and you would also hope that we can get rid of ABK to some lower end Bundesliga team. I think Aribo will also be off with just a year left on his contract - probably to one of the big Turkish clubs - for a last big payday. Ramsdale has to go with his wages - but I'd rather we just sold him than sent him on loan somewhere. Once Newcastle buy Trafford or someone else and Villa sell Martinez I think we will see the goalkeeper dominoes fall quite quickly and Ramsdale will be gone. Part of our transfer strategy should be buying the best players from the other Championship clubs (we already have 2 in Charles and Edwards). Signing players like Kesler-Hayden, Johansson, Rudoni, Lewis O'Brien and Ben Sheaf (only has a year left on his contract at Coventry), Maja (same at WBA) is a double hit really.

I am guessing the need was for a left footed centre back. None of the existing centre backs are left footed whereas Quarshie is supposedly two-footed. Maybe the other requirement was height - at 6ft 5 Quarshie is taller than any of our existing centre backs - Bednarek, Wood and Harwoord-Bellis are 6ft 2, Lawrence, Kayi Sanda and Stephens is 6ft 1, Edwards 5ft 11 and ABK 6ft 3 And I am willing to bet the other requirement was pace - none of the existing centre backs are particularly fast across the ground It also looks like ABK, Bednarek and THB will all be leaving Saints this summer. Kayi Sanda will probably play a role in cup games and the U21s and Nico Lawrence will probably go on loan again. Personally I wouldn't be against bringing in another left footed centre back so we have cover on both the left and right of central defence.

We should stop kidding ourselves - we desperately need a first choice centre forward and have done for a long long time. I mean a 6ft 3 / 6ft 4 striker with pace and power - and ideally more than one so we have a backup as well. I would quite happily sell all of our current strikers - Armstrong, Archer, BBD, Ounachu and Stewart - in exchange for just one player like that. They scored just 6 or 7 goals or something like that for us this season between them all. Romulo from Goztepe would fit the bill perfectly it seems - and if we don’t end up with him or someone like him I just don’t see any point to this multi club model or the one way relationship we have with Goztepe.