S-Clarke

I think the Lampard odds are generous, he didn't really pull up any trees with Everton last season and they edged over the line through Richarlisons goals - who has now left. They've got a lot of work to do if they are to be competitive in my opinion. A bit of a mish mash of a team. Get money on Marcsh as well, I don't rate him. He irritates me, he's a bit like Ted Lasso. But I don't think he really pulled up any tree's at Leeds either, they literally scraped through and they've lost their 2 best players since.

You can't read anything into it really. I wouldn't say we struggled in the first half, we were quite competitive. Then McCarthy came on.

Cheers for the update, interesting stuff. Just for clarity, is Mara 'part' of that 4 or are you considering that as a done deal and we'll actually be looking for another ST too?

He needs regular game time for sure. He has the attributes to be a top level player, but his experience is lacking in the sense of his positional play. Get him a season of regular football, get his confidence up and let his physicality do the talking. He should run rings at that level.

Yep, you've got the same thought as me. I'm excited because it could be creating one hell of a ride for a few years, but equally it can go wrong! When you sign proven players you somewhat know what you're getting and you can kind of align expectations, but next season we're going to be an unknown to absolutely everyone - even the oppo. Maybe that will work in our advantage in the early months of the season.

This Lingard debate is a bit weird. At the end of the day he was never going to be a player we even sniffed at, same as Tarkowski. Walcott was a bit of an anomoly and was more of a PR stunt as opposed to a footballing move, but in general terms our model will always be signing younger players with potental who we can develop and then get a profit on. I've accepted that's our pace, so I won't be getting upset at missing out on the likes of Lingard. No one is saying he wouldn't improve us, but he's not the sort of player we'd be looking at to improve us anyway.

"I spoke to a couple of people at the club at the beginning of the summer and asked them what the remit was for the window. Historically, Southampton don't spend a lot of money, but they said to me this would be the 'transformation summer'. "They told me a number of people would be leaving the club and a number of new faces would be coming in. Straightaway, Ralph Hasenhuttl reshaped his backroom team as four or five coaching staff and he replaced them. "They've now reshaped the squad with young, talented, raw players with a lot of potential. The latest player to be on their radar is the 19-year-old Bordeaux striker Sekou Mara. "We had confirmation from Bordeaux on their social media channels that they had agreed a fee with Southampton for a player who scored five goals in his last seven league games for Bordeaux despite their relegation from Ligue 1. "Financially, Bordeaux are in a really tough situation at the moment and the player is said to have left the club because he knew the money his move would generate would save the club in the short term. "Southampton have a really talented youngster who has been watched by a number of Premier League sides for not a huge fee. "It's precisely what Hasenhuttl wants to do - bring in young players and develop them. This is a really significant signing for Southampton, their sixth of the summer with over £50m already spent."

Wow, I didn't realise Grillisch was available on a free. Put him in the same bracket as Dan Axel-Zagadou as an unexpected freebie! I doubt we'll go for either as they'll want big wages, but they're interesting options.

I did wonder that, you often get the selling clubs announcing things in principle to appease the stock exchange/shareholders and all those regulations, so there is often a financial slant to it. It's a shame they're in such a mess, they're a massive club.

I'll be interested to see how it goes with Lingard, but signings like this (as in a total extreme compared to the rest of the squad) often end badly. The funny thing is, having a quick read of the Forest forums shows at the of the window, their fans saying 'no no no' 'steer clear' 'wants a last pay day', but a few months on it's ''wow, i'm in dreamland''. Signings and rumours provoke weird reactions in so many ways. Obviously he's better than anyone we have in attack, but I'd still baulk at throwing that sort of wage around on him. I might be biased, but I prefer our model of giving players a platform and watching young players develop. Yep, we sell them, get big fee's and go again. We're never, ever, ever going to be in the market for former England internationals on 100k+ a week, so I'll never be too miffed missing out on these types. It's really not how we are as a club.

Nottingham Forest will be paying Jesse Lingard £200k per week. Absolute insanity. They've got to be desperate to pay that for him. In my opinion the clubs scouting has failed miserably if that is the target they have to go for.

Well, we're not going to sign all of those so don't expect that! I can see 3 more players. This striker from france, another attacker and a full back. Collwill is going to be dependant on one of our CB's going.

They're owned by a state, I find it paritculary sour that they were looking to scavage on a dead carcass when they could have easily met the going rate.

Most of Europe tbh.

All signings are gambles to be fair. Signing Carillo for £20m was a gamble, signing Mane for £11m was a gamble. Some work out, some don't. I get peoples concerns about the lack of experience in the side, but it's a brave approach and potentially an incredibly rewarding approach. The people running the club aren't stupid, and I'd suggest you watch a bit of League 1 and then Ligue 1 to realise that the statement about N'Lundalu is a little daft to say the least.

Wow. ok.

Or Hugu Ekitike, who scored a similar amount and is now at PSG.

i'd argue we need two attackers, I'm sure I've read articles to suggest the club think the same. I think this is the 'mobile' attacker we're going for, but I do believe we'll get more of a focal point/target man type as well. (Possibly where Delap comes in)

Just saw that article myself, this stood out: When comparing him with his Ligue 1 peers, Mara is up there with the top forwards in the league. In terms of shots per 90, only Kylian Mbappe ranks higher than him. That is a good read though, he reads perfect for what we'd want in an attacker. Mobile, can play between the lines, across the front, defends well in terms of the counter press/tracking back etc. Ticks many boxes for our style, much the same way as Bella-Kotchap and Bazunu did.

How do you know he is right?

Never heard of him, but this is exactly what we do. I hadn't really heard of Bella-Kotchap either, neither Broja when we got him. At the end of the day once upon a time Haaland was unknown, so I don't have a problem with it as long as he has the attributes we need. If he does it won't be long until he is known!

Damn.

Decent player, but clubs may be baulking at the fee (I've seen £40m+ mentioned) and his injury record.

Yeah, fair point! I wouldn't pay £25m for Broja either tbh. I rate him as I've seen more of him, but still not enough to pay that much.

It's a curious approach, it'll be interesting to see how it goes. They're not the only team who have tried building an entirely new team and have struggled, I remember Spurs when they reinvested all that Bale money. Our effort in 2014 was more of an anomaly in the main. They're having a go though, the least they can do really as they are so short on quality without those loan players.