S-Clarke

Not sure if 'Big Sam' was chatting crap or not, but when they were discussing this on SSN the presenter put it to him like - ''Ings and Austin, backup for each other as both have had injuries'' etc. Big Sam then said ''It will be different with Ings. Austin has a problem whereby his knees are permanently damaged, he has to manage his training and take anti-inflammatories - so this is an on-going issue. Ings will be different as I understand he has been fully fit for a while now'' It was something like that anyway. Does this harp back to the time WHU tried to sign Austin and the dildo brothers said he has no cartilage in his knees? Obviously Sam (if this was when he was manager) would have been privy to any medical results..

It's hard to call really. It's a bit easier now that everyone has done their business, so you've got to look at Watford and wonder if they have enough quality. They are one I believe will struggle quite badly. Cardiff look short of genuine quality. Then anyone else from about 10 other sides! Although I think Wolves and Fulham will have enough to be towards the upper end of the 'middle' pack. Us? Who knows, it really is down to the fitness of Austin and Ings. Keep them fit and get Gabbiadini and Long supporting both/one of them, and it could work out quite fruitfull. I still worry about our lack of pace and power through the spine though....

Cool, could still see a bit of movement for the likes of Hesketh/Gallagher etc.

He's effectivly signed a 4 year contract today, fee will be close to £20m in total. It looks as if the loan initially is more for our 'cash flow' purposes/management as opposed to anything else, as Shurlock alluded to earlier.

Don't think he can now, can he? Only to european clubs? Or can Champ clubs still trade....?

Scary thought. Could have bought you Salah 18 months ago for £37m....... Oh well, football is broken!

Not that it will make much difference come Sunday....but christ alive, they are absolute bilge tonight. Dire in every position. Awful.

If he's fit, then I don't see why not. ''If'' being the key word with him...!!

Why are people ignoring the season he had in the PL with Burnley....? (he scored 15 in all comps that year iirc). 11 in the PL. I'd bite anyones hand off for someone who can get into double figures for us...

I notice Lemina's still here.

Because we don't have the ability to pay that outlay at the moment? So we pay a smaller amount now, for a loan fee, and pay the rest next year.

Doesn't sound like a try before you buy, this is all but a permanent deal by the sounds of it. I've seen it mooted that it's a £20m deal, £4-5m paid now in a loan fee - so £15m left to pay next summer. Says he's already agreed a contract to 2022 which will become active next summer. Seems a lot of money.

Leicester lost their best player. Watford lost theirs in Richarlison - don't think they spent any of that fee either...? (might be wrong) Think that's it

2 goals. That's all we ask for.

I can still see Fraser leaving to a european club.

Yeah, maybe. no harm in a loan though, if he scores/plays enough then it's a win win. (i.e we get him, for what is probably quite a small fee - relative to this day and age)

He's not a truly awful footballer though is he. Carrillo was. Heck, even Boufal was most of the time as he couldn't be arsed. Even your mate, who you were sure was being sold, has been pretty awful for us.

Yeah, you get these deals quite a lot. ''If he plays x number of games, the transfer becomes perm etc". Which kind of is still a good deal, as he'd need to have a fairly injury free season to activate that anyway.

It's the only thing that makes any sense to me, huge wages of our current players holding back any additions. Maybe in combo with our internal wage caps. Who knows, but I can't see us being skint.

And a good season in the PL which prompted Liverpool to sign him. If we were signing him from Burnley on the back of that PL season, we'd be loving it.

They don't have players on huge wages. I think that's what's holding us down. People like Forster, Prowse, Austin being paid bucket loads. These new sides that come up will have quite modest wage bills in all respects.

Sometimes people get more excited when they see £25m/30m etc. We have been shocking at our 'record deals'. (Carrillo, Boufal, Gaston...) Maybe we should rename it to - ''Southampton Sign Danellie Inges for £30m" If he stays fit, he's a complete improvement to us. The problem I have is 'if', and also why it's all last minuite.com. Maybe as someone suggested - Liverpool have been playing games and have shelved their big asking price at the last min.

It's seems more clear by the day that FFP is totally holding us back right now (with all these huge contracts). I don't believe we've not got any money to spend, we just aren't allowed to. That's why FFP has always been an utter farce in my opinion. What is fair about not letting the 'smaller' teams strengthen their squads? How is that levelling the playing fields? The clubs with money can just happily fliter cash away anyway, breach FFP and then pay - to them - the tiny fine. Joke.

To be fair, these 'underwhelming' deals sometimes work out better than the mega money additions. I remember Jos being seen as seriously underwhelming when we signed him, but he was so critical to us that season.

We've known we've needed a striker since 2016, so it's a bit odd that we're having to submit an extention. Bit last-ditch, when it shouldn't have been. Still have absolutley no confidence in who is running our recruitment at the moment. We needed another striker though, without question. Glad they finally got one and if fit he's a hell of a lot better than Carillo, we just need to hope he stays fit and we don't end up with a season of Ings and Austin in the treatment room! Still, it's a cheap gamble I guess.