S-Clarke

We were interested in him as well, at the time we were also interested in Jay. I think Leiecter at the time (under Sven) were a bit more flashy with their cash and got him in the end, although to say he flopped would be an understatement. We bide our time and got Jay the following summer and reaped the rewards on that one.

Or Brett Ormerod! Those types of players are priceless. They often get pelters for their lack of goals, but they do bring a lot to the team 'IF' they are partnered with the right player. If they're not then the pressure builds on them and people point the finger at them, but at the end of the day that's unfair as it was never their game.

Ah yes, I know the one you mean. Liam Fontaine, really highly rated at the time. Never progressed though, ended up pissing around in the SPL for the last 8 years. Not sure if he's retired now.

I get this is a strange thing to say, but I don't think people should base Adam's influence on just goals. He'll never score loads of goals, it's just the way it is. He's not a clinical finisher and I don't see that ever changing. What he does bring to the attack is power, strength and legs. He stretches defenses and can create space for other players to run into. He works his absolute arse off which is priceless when we base most of our game on counter pressing. This is why it's absolutely critical to find a player who can work with Adams and be the 'goal scorer' in that partnership, someone who can take advantage of the space he creates through his unselfish running. Adams can still be an influential member of the team, but relying on him for goal scoring will lead us to the Championship rather swiftly.

Something like that, I remember him being quite upset by the situation (and Cov too). Bit of a Cortese special that one.

Amar Jemal. Cue meltdowns on that one Eliott Ward - another set of meltdowns. John Halls - weird one, I think he'd even had his medical.

Oh yeah, good shout on Perisic, keep forgetting they signed him. So yeah....can't see anything in the Spurs stuff being a goer. The £10-15m 'offers' from Everton were laughable, we're not bundled into a corner as he still has 3 years on his contract. Feels like agents playing the media here.

I think their priority is Djed Spence for £20m. Unless they seem him as a LB...as they've put Sergio Regulion up for sale weirdly.

I'd imagine it's something like that. Look at Ronaldo as another example, missed the first day of pre-season due to 'personal family reasons', but we all know why it was. Low and behold he still isn't there. Sometimes I wish clubs would just be honest with their fans and stop trying to fluff up stories.

Oh yeah, he was back in the form last year for Lyon. Just didn't quite happen for him the year before, it was a weird one (i think that put off the big clubs, as he was touted to all of those before that move)

Last year of his contract, some potential cheapness to be had here. A few years ago this guy was on the cusp of being an elite striker, but it never quite happened for whatever reason. Had a miserable time in spain. On his day he is deadly though.

As other's have said, the only reason is because Villa already have multiple number 10's. Why would they need him? They're paying bucket loads for their existing ones as well, so they're not going to become bench players overnight.

I don't think he's over rated at all, all we have to compare him against is Bednarek and Stephens - so by default he's class. Technically he's a very good player, he smells danger and always seems to be in the right place at the right time. He tailed off last season and I'm sure both himself and the club want to understand why that is, but when he was on it he was unbeatable against the best teams in this league. The guy is our best CB and we need to be building a defence around his sorts, not Bednarek.

I don't think Chelsea really know what they're doing at the moment, I said the other day that the club just feels a little chaotic. Their new owner desperate to make a point, but he's never done football before and it's kinda showing.

City right back we are interested in, one of their youth/EDS squad (although he's been on loan in the top tier of french football)

Welcome to modern football? Happens all the time. You gauge a players interest, put some details down on a table for them, if they're receptive then you go and offer the club the money they want so you can make it official.

Chelsea are a strange club. I'm not really sure Ake is up to the level they need, he's a decent squad player for a Top 6 team but no more than that I don't think

yeah probably, it's been a sad few years really.

From where we were before it's investing heavily. This will be around £45-50m spent without a sale and I cannot remember when we last did that. In comparison with other sides, no, it's not huge, but we're not other sides and we're Southampton - and for us this is huge.

Pretty much what I expect to happen. We tried to do this sell to buy model when we had nobodies to sell before, that's why we ended up with so much shit as we just couldn't generate enough dollar. We now have ownership in who realise that, have provided the initial investment to allow us to build that team for the future which will generate those fee's further down the line.

There is certainly a different approach to absolutely everything this season. Coaches, recruitment, pre-season, quality of opposition. I imagine the better quality opposition is once again down to money? We have to pay a fee to the likes of Monaco and Villarreal I'm sure.

He's good enough to start for us tomorrow, so it makes me wonder if we'll start the season with KWP at left wing back and this guy at RB.

Kabore is quality. Top league experience too (through loan deals). For a cover player that would be an incredible addition. I really, really like what we're doing.

Yeah, this one isn't happening. Everton don't have the money to make big signings on proven players, as someone aluded to above they are in a similar position to where we were with Gao, having to sell before they buy, but even still the selling doesn't directly equate to them being able to reinvest every penny of that. They're in a little bit of a mess.

I do see where you are coming from, I think for clubs like us spending money in those regions does look a bit scary and is always going to be a huge risk. In my honest opinion I'd probably only pay a package of £20m for him with 50k wages tops. (12-15m up front). I'd be comfortable with that as I feel that's where he's proven himself, he still has a lot of development to do and I'd suggest £30m and 100k p/w is what you'd pay for a finished product, or certainly someone a lot more refined. He's clearly got some pretty unique attributes. He's powerful, strong, very quick, he's a tidy finisher when he keeps his head. I have no doubts that he's going to be a good player but I would just be uncomfortable paying that much for someone who isn't there quite yet.