S-Clarke

Yeah, I'm not having that. He was a shocker. In the list of worst ever PL signings, not just for us, but for anyone. He wasn't any good as he's been a total failure even since he left us. He has scored the grand total of 11 league goals in 5 years and he is now at Henan Songshan Longmen in China. Monaco are probably still having a laugh.

It was when we had Kruger I 'think'. One of his daft pushes to try and make us relevant in the states, opening up satellite academies in the summer, doing pre-season out there etc. We went out and did some things with Under Armour too, really trying to raise our profile. I don't think we quite took over Man Utd's states reach though, it was close.

Rumour has it that Niko Kranjcar and Peter Odemwingie are in the car with him.

That's another popular shout from the Bournemouth lot. Not too far fetched.

PSV are in the driving seat really, he's got 4 years left on his contract. If he doesn't throw in a transfer request and kick up a fuss (and that doesn't seem to be what's happening), then PSV can ask for whatever they want. If they don't get it, oh well, they can ask again next year as his value won't drop.

I can't really remember how those panned out, is it right that there were no links or stories about those two guys until deadline day? I remember Mane wasn't actually paraded until after the Sept international break, cue mini meltdowns on here that we'd spent money on a player who couldn't get a work permit.

Yeah, those are the two. I saw some Bournemouth fans thinking Steve Cooper was a realistic target 😅

Why judge him on goal scoring though? Seems a bizarre stat to use against him. If he was a striker, fair enough, but he's a deeper CM.

Probably not, it's just a random link. Why would you be against that one? He is a very tidy midfielder.

Pretty much. He's hung the ownership out to dry by saying if you don't give me more money, then we will lose more games and not compete. They don't have very good players, not even close, but you can't sell out the owner like that given the backing he provided in January. Only one result after he did that, and it's a culmination of comments over the course of weeks. Somewhat strikes of a club without any footballing structure though.

It's 11pm on Thursday 1st September, 100%. 72 hrs to supposedly bring in 3 and lose 3. I can't remember us ever being this active in the closing hours before.

This is more than just the 9-0, apparently there has been a fundamental bust up behind the scenes. Parker asking for 'more money' and saying that the squad is underequipped has infuriated their owner, apparently. He funded a bit of a spree last January to get them out of the Championship, on the opinion that those players would be long-term investments - not just quick buys to get them out of the league, and it seems as if Parker saw them as short-term fixes and wanted more money this summer. He's probably not wrong, you can't say Keefer Moore is a long-term investment. But it looks like both sides have been idiots here and communication was crap.

I'm with you, the attacking third is still ringing alarm bells for me. I love what we've done with the CB, I love what we've done with CM and the goalkeeper, every one has been an upgrade. Big investments too. Aribo will be a good addition, but he can't do it all alone. The attacking third, as it stands, is probably slightly weaker than last season in both personal and numbers. We are crying out for that centre forward with a burst of power and pace, It would make so much difference to us. If we don't do that and we have to rely on Elyounoussi and Adams/Armstrong for the goals then we're in for an incredibly tedious season in my opinion. The club know this though, they know the missing piece is a game changing attacker and I'm sure we'll see that. Cover at LB and a number 10 will be a bonus and will probably depending on who we shift, but a focal point centre forward has to happen. I can see a defender coming in too, as I think that will be critical if we lose Jan.

3 quality signings right down their spine this summer. Agard the CB from Rennes (Top player), Paquetta who is obviously a superstar (this is on par with Newcastle signing Bruno imo). And the big Italian striker, Scamacca. That's not forgetting the additions of Cornet, Emerson and Areola. Absolute top class additions on top of Rice, Soucek, Zouma etc they already had. If they're not pushing for the Top 4 then they'd flopped.

And that's still not going to be enough! They're looking for 50m and we're still 'talking' to try and reach something. Feels very unlikely.

Little bit more from this Rik guy, whoever that is. Doesn't sound like 35-40 is enough. Game around PSV attacker Cody Gakpo comes on the wagon: Southampton wants to pay tens of millions | PSV | ed.nl Premier League club Southampton has reported to PSV for Cody Gakpo. The British club has not yet made an official offer, but it has made it clear that 35 to 40 million euros can flow to PSV in the event of a transfer.

It wouldn't be the summer 2022 window without this happening...

We've had a good window for sure, but failing to sort out the attack before the end of the window would somewhat undo a lot of that good early work (in my opinion). I think we'll get a couple in so I'm not too worried, but it wouldn't be right to sit here on Friday after not signing anyone and say we had a really positive window.

FFS WE'RE GOING TO MISS OUT ON HIM TO BRIGHTON. Am i doing it right?

Must have Portuguese ancestors.

'no move is close' - well, you've got 3 days to sort it, so it has to be somewhat close!

Sounds like it based on that tweet. Stephens isn't in the squads at the mo, I can see him heading out too. We don't want to leave ourselves too short. If this happens though it does beg the question as to why Villa didn't go for Caleta-Carr in the first place.

2 or 3 in i reckon, with 2 or 3 on the way out.