S-Clarke

I'd class Everton and Villa as much bigger clubs than us, and I'd fancy his chances of being a regular in both of those teams.

MLG is ready to pounce.

I think we will get him in the end, but it'll play out similar to the Jack Cork deal. I'm pretty sure he was very keen to stay in the area of England he was in, but in the end no one else came in with an offer that was better than ours - so he had no real choice in the end. It'll come down to money and location at the end of the day, and you have to say that if clubs like Villa do bid then we're out.

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Well, yep. Just makes a mockery of this so called exclusivity thingy.

Nixon seems to think there may have been interference, and that Jay Rodriguez will let the other clubs come in and drag it out. Exactly how I thought it would pan out tbh. It will be a long wait.

Just off phone. Seems Southampton only have exclusive right to talk to Rodriguez until midnight. Open season after that So much for the ''No one will match'' our offer talk.

The only player I'd take from that list is Guthrie, and even he wouldn't improve us in the middle massively.

Should be an excellent day. Last years format was spot on, IMO, and it was more than just 2 football matches - plenty of other stuff to do.

Just to bring this thread back to some kind of topic, I've been having a browse on Alan Nixon's twitter feed from today. Some quite revaling stuff. The jist of it is that we will have a decision tomorrow, one way or another. Other clubs are in the background but won't move until our deal falls through, as they know they cannot match the financial offer we've made to Burnley. Will be an interesting next 24 hours, and for what it's worth I don't believe Rodriguez is in Southampton. His agent will be doing all the talking, who is oddly, Ade Akinbyi

Well, exactly. That's why i've never got this argument about buying ''cover for lambert'' ''cover for Fonte'' etc....they can't just be cover, they need to be better than Lambert and fonte! It's all about evolution...

If the player we bring in is better than one of our ''current'' starting 11, then they should start.

No Lampard then, whatever people say that's a huge blow. A very good player who is a winner. Doubt he'll ever go to a tournament again with England, so personally it must be awful for him. Henderson replacing him. Nuff said. Such a non-event of a football player.

It wouldn't really be obscene. Stop being so dramatic. It's a pre-season game, who cares who it's against as long as we get a good run-out.

Swansea are after Wigan's coach, Graeme Jones, to replace Rodgers.

You would say that as you are a QPR fan To be fair, they're both over priced. no doubts about that. But as far as attributes and ''all round game'' goes, I'd have to say Rodriguez pips Hooper.

Handful in the away game, got the assist IIRC. He didn't get a great deal of service in the home match, but I did watch him most of the game as we'd been linked with him for so long, in the snippets you could tell he had class, he just oozed it whenever he got the ball - but he didn't get it anywhere near enough, and the service to him was pants. Wasn't the best game to judge him on. His overall record this year is quality though, so many different types of goals. That's what makes him stand out for me, he can score headers, long range 30 yarders, clinical finishes, poaches goals and mazey/dribbling goals. Out of Hooper and him, I'd want us to go for him, I think he's much more than just a 6 yard box striker.

A few new goals in this youtube video. He's just class isn't he? Great in the air, bit of pace to get away on the shoulder, terrific technique and agility on the ball, strong in the air and bringing other's into play. He's just a top class all round centre forward, with years ahead of him and will only get better. Personally, I'm a massive fan and if it takes £7m+ then so be it. [video=youtube;PsyCqOLo-KY]

It came from one of their club spokesman on twitter.

It's alot of money, but it's what you have to pay for top english prospects. There's no getting away from that. Was Chambo worth £16m when we sold him? Probably not, no - but he's proven to be a shewed signing in the end. Was Wickham worth the £12m that Sunderland paid? No, probably not. He hasn't really had the impact either as yet, but mainly down to injury. At the end of the day young English players = inflated fee's, so if you want them you have to pay over the odds. We'll be getting a future England international though IMO. Ask most Burnley fans who watch him every week and they think we're getting him for a steal.

Really odd move for Lambert if true.

Doubtful. Everton have spent their cash in January, and it took a fair bit of wheeling and dealing to make that money available to Moyes. I'd be very surprised if Everton spend more than £5m on another player in this window. And Villa are in total limbo, doubt they even have any transfer targets. We're in pole position, it's just up to Jay.

Arsenal were the only confirmed team, Napoli was just a random forum rumour. Could well be Ajax I guess, but we did play them a few years ago. I remember a certain Saurez scoring a hat-trick.

Have heard today that the entire deal/package could earn Burnley up to £10m. It's £7m up front, guaranteed. Rest is on all sorts of clauses. Chaplow isn't part of a swap, but Burnley have enquired about taking one of our midfielders. That's all I know on it. He's back from holiday on Monday apparently, but I still think this will drag for a long long time yet.

Neither did sharp to be fair, but $$$$ talks and I assume he'll take a big rise by moving here. Bit unambitious if he doesn't want to move though, he's got the potential to be top class but he needs to move to realise that.