S-Clarke

I'm more confident now I've seen the team, nice to see a bit of real pace through the heart of that team with Welbeck, Chambo and Young - although I'm not a huge fan of Welbeck. I think most peoples optimism grew the moment they saw Downing was a sub..!!!

They'd have to change it to 6 aside or something then.

In his breakthrough season he made lots of sub appearances, only scored a couple of goals but that was still enough for him to get young player of the year. Was only 18 at that point I think

We want him, that seems to be well documented in most places. Guess we're sounding it out, but it fits what we do in the market. I can't say I've seen a great deal of him but for all the interest and talk he's quite clearly got something about him. You don't get called up to a Euro squad if you're rubbish (ok, maybe that argument falls a bit flat with Downing, but that's another debate).

Davies is exactly the sort of player I can imagine we'd be after. Alan Nixon is a Bolton fan and he said Davies isn't leaving this year for any fee...so make of that what you will. Seems a bit random seeing as they'd lose him for zilch if they don't go up. (or maybe even if they do)

Every team has a dip in the season, that's either caused by a succession of injuries, suspension or fitness issues. It happens. It happened to Man City, Man Utd, Chelsea...etc etc. Overall though last season was amazing, there's no criticisms from how we went about things in the pre-season or the January window. We knew we wanted, we did it and when it didn't quite come off...we didn't panic and we still sorted it. We'll probably get a spate of injuries next year, where the likes of Lallana and Lambert aren't available for a few games. Our form will dip. That's not because we're poorly prepared, it's because 2 of our best players are missing and you cannot pre-empt that sort of thing by signing 'backup' with equal ability, that isn't how it works.

It's refreshing to see how we are these days. Cortese is backing this club to the hilt, that's for all to see. Truly grateful for that.

It's an interesting debate. Good players win you games, it doesn't matter if they have 'premiership' experience or not in my opinion. Momentum is also very important for a newly promoted team. When we were in the premiership (or the championship for that matter) I always wanted to avoid newly promoted teams in the first few games, because you know they'll carry on with a 'bounce' from the season before and you take advantage of that 'bounce'' effect by keeping the squad similar, no wholesale changes. The thing I love about our squad is that it's young, hungry and motivated. There aren't any prima-dona guys in the squad, there aren't any former premiership players on mega-bucks - none of that. We've got players like Morgan, Lallana, Rodriguez, Cork...etc etc. All young and talented enough to make the step up without much of a problem in my opinion, and I'd hate to disrupt that group by signing 'premiership experience' on wages that would most likely be more than those guys are on. It didn't exactly go to plan for QPR at the end of the day. I like our transfer policy as it's quite clearly about building a spine of young players who can play together for years to come, that's why I can never see us signing players like Owen or Yakubu - I'm not saying they're bad players, they just don't fit what we're trying to do at Southampton.

Thanks Yep, I've been a long-term admirer, going back seasons. Always had something top class about him. Glad he's ours..!

A load of waffle.

I also doubt it's all £6m up front either, I just think it's what you have to pay for top young players now. I'm for one chuffed we're in the market for them. Butland next...

Can't believe Sunderland fans, laughing at us for spending £7m on him ''WHO?'' etc. Errr, didn't they spend £6m on Kenwyne Jones, and 12m on Wikcham? Hardly ones to scream. I still don't get all the rubbish about this being too much. He's English, young and incredibly talented. People saying it's an embarrassing fee are ignorant to anything outside of the PL.

http://www.premierleague.com/en-gb.html Top story on the premier league home page, nice.

Would prefer Trippier for RB if I'm honest, but he's staying at Burnley afaik.

He's got a great eye for a striker. He signed Hooper, Martin Patterson, Sharp first time at Scunny IIRC, Paul Hayes who did v well for them at the time...then got a big move to PNE.

He's not got ''out and out'' pace, but he has a nice turn of pace on him. Great on the deck with a lovely touch, great agility and he has terrific movement off the ball. Should be perfect and add more mobility to our front line. He's much more than just a striker, which is why I've always wanted him here.

The following statement has been issued by the Burnley Football Club Board of Directors, following the confirmation of the sale of Jay Rodriguez to Southampton Football Club. "Burnley Football Club has a renowned tradition of producing talented young players, who have come through our youth system over many years. "Jay Rodriguez started his career with Burnley at a very young age and, throughout his time here, he has been a great player and excellent ambassador for the football club. "However, ambitious and talented young footballers want to play in the Premier League and we wish Jay every success in his career. "His rise in prominence is evidence that here at Turf Moor, the investment in our Youth academy provides a pipeline for players to the first team. "We have already seen the current youth team achieve tremendous success by reaching the FA Youth Cup semi finals this year, and through the club's ongoing commitment to youth development we hope this will help to produce more players like Jay Rodriguez."

We have the 2 strikers from last year's team of the year at our club now, impressive.

So much waffle on twitter. ''If he's worth £7m, I'm worth £3m'' ''He's not even worth half that'' ''Jay..who? They paid £7m for who...?" So many ignorant idiots out there. I doubt they've ever watched him play.

I think you may have just made that up, first I've heard of that.

http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10280~2807639,00.html Jay Rodriguez has become Saints' first signing since the club's return to the Premier League for a substantial undisclosed fee. 22 year-old striker Rodriguez is widely regarded as one of the hottest properties outside of the Barclays Premier League, with his prolific goal scoring record moving him on to the radar of several top-flight teams. The deal to sign the promising young forward was formally agreed whilst Rodriguez was on holiday in Mexico, and today he put pen to paper on a four year contract alongside Saints Executive Chairman Nicola Cortese. Burnley-born frontman Rodriguez has been The Clarets' top goalscorer for the previous two seasons, during which time he also gained international recognition with England Under-21s. He made his professional debut in the Championship aged just 18 and went on to finish his opening season on loan at Scottish side Stirling Albion where he grabbed his first senior goals in an 11 game spell. Jay went on to play a bigger role the following year as Burnley earned promotion to the Premier League. He landed the Club's Young Player of the Season award, whilst he also added League Cup goals against Fulham and Tottenham to his name. Despite not featuring in his hometown side's sole top-flight campaign due to an injury setback, Rodriguez maintained his match sharpness with a loan spell back in the Championship with Barnsley. It paid off as the youngster went on to strike 15 times in Burnley's return to the second tier, although a Clarets side which also featured current Saints duo, Danny Fox and Jack Cork, narrowly missed out on a place in the play-offs. He elected to stay on at Turf Moor when Cork and Fox departed for St Mary's last summer, but the youngster continued to enhance his glowing reputation, finishing as Burnley's outright leading scorer with 21 goals, a feat which also won him the Club's Players' Player of the Year award. Rodriguez ended the campaign just four strikes short of 50 career goals, and was also named in the PFA Championship Team of the Year alongside Saints stars, Kelvin Davis, Adam Lallana, and Rickie Lambert. His move to Saints provides Rodriguez with an opportunity to realise his aspirations at both club and international level. Jay Rodriguez said: "I'm really relieved that we've got it sorted now, and it's done. I really can't wait for the start of the season, and the start of pre-season. "This is a great club, a massive club, and they're where they belong. It's a squad I want to be a part of, and it's really exciting. "As an outsider, you look at the club from where it started, and the drive they have to move up the leagues in quick succession is amazing. "The sky is the limit. You see how good the players are at the club. They want to push on even higher, and carry on the way they're going." Nigel Adkins commented: "Jay is an exciting young English prospect, so I am really happy he is our first signing of the summer. There has been a lot of hard work going on behind the scenes on several fronts and we are delighted Jay has signed us as we get ready for our pre-season schedule. "He is an exciting forward thinking player who has already scored a lot of goals at a young age over the past couple of years. His characteristics are what we have been looking for. "He has demonstrated a superb attitude and when we have met him it has only confirmed what our research has told us. He has a hungry and enthusiastic attitude with a desire to work hard in the positive environment that we have at Southampton where will be able to develop his talent."

4mins to go

it works fine for me, and long gone are the days when you had to bring down a website to update an article...

Alan Nixon apparently has an ''update'' on the situation tonight . Credit to him for being right about our interest, but he's been lost on this story for the last week. We've broken it before him!

it won't be bad news.