S-Clarke

Possibly deliberate if they want to keep him slight/nippy/able to turn quick etc. But I don't think that alone is enough to make you a success at this level if you're not particularly 'skilful'. He doesn't need to become hulk, but just a little bit of upper strength!

It doesn't look like any real league experience in any country is desirable 😄 I don't have a problem with signing talent like this, it's exciting, but when you're working from an 'experienced' base of Adam Armstrong, Moussa, Elyonoussi it makes me somewhat nervous as we'd need these kids to hit the ground pretty quickly.

Wouldn't have said he'd done that well, somewhat surprising. I guess some of that may be a 'bounce' effect, but hard to say. I dunno, I just have a feeling that he will crash and burn and his americanisms will begin to irritate all.

Honestly, I'd hope it would be someone like the guy from Sttuggart (Kalajdizc). Martin Terrier from Rennes. Dolberg from Nice. - Those sorts of players, not 'old', but with a few league seasons behind them and coming up to their mid 20's. I do have a somewhat uncomfortable feeling that we are going to risk it with a kid who hasn't ever played pro football though, as we have form for those transfers with Lavia, Tino etc.

I think we'll get two strikers, one who is more of a natural number 9/target man type, and another who can play across the front and out wide if required. Mara fits the bill for the later, Delap fits the bill for the number 9 type. My argument is that I don't think the club will sign two kids for this position, I'd imagine one of the strikers will be someone in the 22/23 mould with a bit of league experience behind them. . I think '1' untried kid is fine, but two untried kids in the position which will make or break our season is a bit risky to say the least.

Yeah, his frame is tiny. That's always going to hold him back at this level as he doesn't really have anything else about his game bar pace. In the Champ you can catch teams on the break with your pace, but at this level that doesn't happen as often so you need to have a bit of physicality to help build the game as well, otherwise it's very easy to become isolated with the attack/midfield so far apart, as we often saw when he played.

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.