Saint Matty 76

Wanted Sigurdsson for years, can't see it happening now though as Premier League transfers will be at such a premium now.

Could also judge him on the fact he made the Ligue 1 team of the season.

We're not signing a 30 year old Edin Dzeko on the wages he'd command.

Hard to make predictions without knowing how teams are going to do in the market. Think Middlesbrough will do well though.

Does everybody forget that Charlie Austin scored 18 goals in a relegated team 2 years ago putting him only behind Aguero, Costa and Kane? The injuries last year were unfortunate but with a full pre-season he's going to come in like a new signing.

Agreed. I'm not worried at all about Austin being Pelle's replacement because we saw what he could do at QPR and he just had an unfortunate few months of being injured. However relying on Rodriguez to be a vital squad player is a bit of a worry considering how woeful he looked whenever he featured last year, hopefully he can benefit with a full pre-season. Redmond being the Mane replacement would be dreadful though, not to undermine his ability but somebody like Boufal would really have made a statement and got the fans on board.

Even Leicester had a net spent of +£40m so I'm not sure where that's come from. You're also not taking into account the TV money all Premier League clubs are receiving this year, if we were to not have a + net spent this season it'd be almost ridiculous.

I've never been worried about us selling players because we always replace them well. However, if this is the year that we're going to decide to stop doing that and rely on our youth instead, who seem to be lacking in quality, this could be the "failure year". We're going to drop down a few league positions no matter what, but if we're going to end up with a net spend of something like -£30m whilst teams like Palace and Bournemouth are spending £50m+, this could end up being embarrassing. Hopefully this is all knee-jerk as we don't know Puel's plans yet and it is still hard to make deals with players on holiday/at the Euros, but all these articles stating that he's "happy with the squad" are starting to worry me slightl.

Just heard we're looking at Maxime Gonalons from Lyon. Puel has apparently named him as his top target to replace Wanyama and wants to get a big signing in early to try and win the fans over. Will have to wait and see if anyone else informed has a word on its validity as I'm not entirely convinced we could get him.

"According to latest reports in Spain, Saints are on the verge of completing a move for a striker from Tenerife, will he fare better than the now departed Juanmi. The player in question is called Alexander Mesa Travieso or Nano for short and appears to be one for the future rather than ready to step straight into the first team. The 21 year old has been wanted by both Aston Villa and Newcastle United, but according to Spanish newspaper Marca, the player has flown into England and is about to sign for Saints."

The three B's.

Get French Football ‏@GFFN 7m7 minutes ago Claude Puel wants to bring Hatem Ben Arfa with him to Southampton... More to follow tomorrow. Obvious link and not sure there's anything to it but he's really turned himself around in France. Ended up with 17 goals in 33 games from attacking midfield. On a free as well would be a great signing, adds the unpredictability we lose with Mane.

£32m for Mane is yet another piece of robbery considering his inconsistency, hopefully now that's our two outgoings done early and we can only receive good news now this summer. Good news all round.

Boufal has been linked to far better teams than us all Summer, don't think we could pull that one off.

Going to be overwhelmingly disappointing if that's the only information you post.

Puel to replace Wenger in two years after he takes us to CL, everyone happy.

1st Job, Monaco: Won the league in his only full season in charge 2nd Job, Lille: Took them to CL twice, finished 2nd in 2005 (highest finish in 50 years) 3rd Job, Lyon: Took them to CL semis for first time in history 4th Job, Nice: Took them to 4th in the league when they were 13th when he arrived That's pretty much it at a quick glance, doesn't seem any better than Rudi Garcia.

Were you really impressed by Poch? He was sacked by Espanyol with an awful win percentage and in a time where nobody wanted him.

Just moved to Leverkusen.

One of William Carvalho or Danilo Pereira seem like the perfect replacement for Wanyama.

I guess it shows how far we've come to feel a bit of disappointment that it could be Pellegrini, a manager who's won the Premier League and managed Real Madrid. May just be me though.

Chris Bascombe ‏@_ChrisBascombe 4m4 minutes ago Koeman suggesting Southampton only wanted him to stay if he signed new deal. Indicates would've seen out last year of contract if possible. Good news that really, means we didn't actually lose him to Everton. We gave him away.

08/09 - 5th in Ligue 1 09/10 - 4th in Ligue 1 10/11 - 1st in Ligue 1 11/12 - 3rd in Ligue 1 12/13 - 6th in Ligue 1 (moved to Roma) 13/14 - 2nd in Serie A 14/15 - 2nd in Serie A 15/16 - Sacked by Roma in January Impressive in fairness other than one or two years, seems like a lot think that the Roma sacking was a bit unfair too.

Signed and made Eden Hazard, signed Payet for Lille as well.