Saint Matty 76

31/38 appearances last year in a team that came 5th. 38/38 appearances in 21/22 in a team that came 10th. 36/38 appearances in 20/21 in a team that came 1st. Combine this with the fact that he won't cost any money, knows the club and can provide experience/captaincy to a relatively young squad. It's a legitimate no brainer.

A few I’d bet! My view is that in the position we are in as a selling club, I want to watch some of the best talents in the world play for Southampton for however many years we can have them. A few years of Mane/van Dijk, a year of Lavia. These aren’t easy things to come by and I think by attacking the best two academies in the world (City & Chelsea) who have the worst pathways is a wonderful mentality, IF combined with the necessary experience too. We only just fell short on Colwill last year as well, and he is going to be the best CB in the world.

Personally I think the “fees involved” part is null and void when we’re about to make profit on the 5 we’ve bought by selling just one this Summer after about 20 games.

It was always going to carry on when we signed their academy director to be our DOF. Shea was captain of the same U23 team Lavia was in, he was also given PL minutes by Pep this season which is not overly common. 6’2 as well and 8 international caps for NI. If I had to guess, our starting midfield will be Charles and Downes.

Looks like Chelsea have about 40/50% as well, crikey.

The article preview says they're closing in on £12m deal, the article itself says potential £15m deal and then later on says our valuation is £30m. Going to be a long summer.

Didn’t think it’d make sense for anyone to buy him this Summer until he’s proven he hasn’t lost a bit. Wonder what kind of figure we’d take? I can’t imagine they’d want to spend big on a player who has spent so long out and I also can’t see any reason we’d sell at a low price.

Fucking hell you’d like to think he’d start considering staying for a year if his option is Fulham. West Ham I’d completely understand.

Is it? September looks a little rough but we have the best opportunity of the entire league to go into it with momentum.

Express reporting that they're unwilling to reach our valuation of £45m, bit disappointing if that's our number and we don't even get it.

I think it'll be £40m too, which is somewhat disappointing. I know circumstances have changed but we rejected £50m last Summer and he only improved. Plus City will get 20% of the £40m so we're left with around £32m which seems nowhere near enough for a player of his potential.

So above the £30m from Luke Shaw, would hope it’s way above that…

Now it's giving real Pochettino energy!

On another note - probably confirms we'll have at least one CB sticking around next year in Jack Stephens.

They must have Potter lined up to go for that. Feels a bit similar to us and Adkins, albeit at different points throughout the season.

Not suggesting that I'd expect mountains of interest, but it wouldn't make sense to get it done this quickly unless it's a permanent/loan with obligation surely? Not sure why we'd accept a straight loan this early on without waiting a little bit of time for a more preferable structure.

And bring on the Saudi money!

A top source in Luke Edwards claiming that we're asking for over £50m for JWP.

Surely Saints fans more than anyone understand player value at this point? No he isn't worth £40m. No we shouldn't sell him for less. Why? Because he has 4 years left on his deal and by all accounts doesn't seem like he's desperate to leave. Player value is value to your club at that specific point. We're going to generate enough money through alternate player sales, we don't need to start selling our good assets for reasonable prices because that's "what they're worth". The easiest opportunity financially to get out of the Championship is the first year back. We have a real opportunity with some good players on good deals who can help us get there. Put our foot down for a fucking change.

He signed a 4 and a half year deal less than 6 months ago, with complete knowledge that relegation was a very possible (and likely) scenario. Unless there's a relegation release clause in his contract, which I'm sure we'd have heard about by now, why would we?

Just linked with Alcaraz as well, albeit a horrid source. Would hope we wouldn't entertain anything lower than like £40m for him this Summer, why would we?

It'd make no sense for us to let him go for anything below £25m, which is way more than he's worth. It was somewhat fair to allow Romeu to dictate his future (at our own cost) due to his service to the club. It's not even a remotely similar cause with Tella. We'll be generating a good amount of money through other sales as it is. This shouldn't be one we're desperate for and if they don't give us big money, we've got a great asset for next season.

Completely agree. Not sure how anyone could read that quote and feel bad about it, especially given the SR comments you've mentioned.

Apparent quotes from ESPN Argentina - "To be honest I leave all of that [my future] to my agent. I always try to give my best wherever I go, whether it's in this club or in other country. I know there are a few clubs interested in me, but the truth is, I'm currently very happy at Southampton. Now I'm enjoying my vacation with my family. In July, we'll see what happens. If I have to remain at Southampton, I will, as they were the club that first opened the doors for me and gave me the chance to play in the Premier League. ‘Southampton It's a beautiful club that has always treated me well. So if I have to stay, I’ll do my very best to come back to the Premier League.’’

He'd be a bit silly to do so to be fair if teams like Juventus who were linked yesterday are actually sniffing around. and for this reason alone I don't blame him one bit. Probably couldn't believe the players that were getting starts over him. Does sound like he won't kick up a fuss if we do put our foot down, so hopefully the board intend on doing that with him and Alcaraz given the contracts.