tajjuk

Presuming Boufal is almost over the line, who is the other (potentially two) signings?

Well it's not done until it's announced and that is why Puel doesn't want to talk about it. Probably as well why the club does things on the quiet to stop last minute bids from other clubs happening, but not much you can do when the Lille manager basically says it in his press conference. I'd also expect whatever attitude he has, the club are well aware of it and it has been considered. Osvaldo is the only bad apple we've signed and his signing bypassed the usual system and backfired, so I seriously doubt this is the case here. The club's record on signing the right sort of players means we should not worry, they know what they are doing. We've probably been watching this guy for like two years and the club will have done their due diligence. Still don't get this issue with 'little guys', wtf is this the 1970s? We aren't building a team to lump balls into the box, we are building a team that is based on passing, movement and quick transitions. A short arse like Boufal will run rings round the likes of Shawcross.

The Spanish Jamie Vardy so makes sense, as they were after the real Jamie Vardy. Are West Ham linked with everyone? Bilic is saying today they are after Bony. Their scouting policy seems to be, has legs? check, make a bid.

I like this one. Bank balance wise I think we lose out to Arsenal supposedly they are sitting on over £250 million

Apparently so, line has been crossed financial doom is now inevitable. The black box is just the FIFA and Football manager databases combined, if both say a player is good, we go for him.

We are leaving it late, but if there are 3 coming in and one of those is Boufal, our window is starting to look a lot better than the likes of West Ham, Everton, Stoke. Probably on par with pool, though they seem to have strengthened too much attacking wise and not enough defensively when you spend £70 million and still have Moreno as your ledt back. However, they have recouped like £64 million selling squad players so you can't sniff at that.

Ha Ha, so of all the posturing and all the players they were going to steal from us, they are going to get Martina. Very funny, be good if we sign Boufal as well, one of the best young attacking talents in Europe for about £5 million less than they signed Bolasie. I seriously do not get all the Cedric hate, the guy is quality and I'm pretty sure he'll only get better this year. He was still performing well and still getting stuck in last year even though two different people had taken chunks out of his head and IMO it was a bizarre decision to drop him. Martina did ok, but he's not Cedric level and we have Pied now.

Yeh isn't Jeremy Wilson pretty reliable with Saints related stuff? Do hope it's 3 as Le Goddard is saying, wonder who the other two are? Boufal as a no 10, another striker? or maybe Boufal is being groomed for a forward position and Stanciu might be the no.10, he seems very much our sort of player. Would still love to see a physical DM come in, like Gonalons.

Over £20 million, plenty of people saying we wouldn't pay that much for one player, seems we will.

I think it's the other way round, Stanciu is the virtually done one, with probably us just waiting for them to be confirmed out of the champions league and Boufal is the advanced talks one as the press still seem to be saying the fee is being discussed.

Wages would be absurd, but at the base of the diamond, depending on who we were playing I think he would be quality. He's not the box to box midfielder he was, but there is no reason he couldn't turn himself into a Pirlo. But yeh he's basically said he's not playing for Europe which presumably means he's going to the US or China, or he's going to sit out his massive contract at Utd, then move to the US or China.

Now Steau are definitely out, I wonder if we'll see Stanciu sign. ITKs seem to be saying one signing is almost done, Boufall seems to be still deciding on fee, so my guess is Stanciu, especially as he is in the country.

Stanciu. I'm pretty confident he's going to sign in the next days, they might even leave him out of the team tonight against Man City. ---------------------------- On a side note, you have to laugh when statistically the best right back in the premier league last year that has just won the Euros is rated as 'bad'. Top kek

Seems a pretty sensible decision to me IF they play him, with Long, Austin and Redmond vying for two starting places he's currently 4th choice and what he needs is game time, match fitness and confidence. The club need to see if he can get back to what he was before the injury and the loan will show if he can do that in Premier league. My only worry would be that it's WBA managed by Pulis and they don't do a lot of attacking, so he could spend most of the time defending. Let's hope he bags some goals and gets plenty of matches under his belt, and comes back with his old zip and confidence.

Both Mourinho and Man Utd are arrogant enough to think that would be the case. All the big clubs think like that, they just expect clubs like us, Everton, WBA etc. to just be happy they throw some money our way. Arsenal clearly weren't expecting WBA to say £25 million for Evans, and both City and Chelsea clearly thought they could get Stones for way less. it's also a great example why the window should shut before we play any games.

IF we are signing Bouffal then I think he's being brought to play up front as an alternative to Redmond. Stanciu would be the No.10, reading how the diamond is supposed to work, the forwards need to be very fluid and able to provide the width when needed - http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2432605-breaking-down-footballs-in-vogue-formation-the-midfield-diamond That would explain why Redmond is there and why Bouffal would also fit that system, rather than more traditional strikers.

No contact bit is interesting, doesn't just say from Arsenal. More and more this just sounds a bit like agent games. Wonder what an 'exceptional bid' would be for Fonte, probably a lot of if West Brom want £25 million for Jonny Evans. Seems to be a distinct lack of centre-back talent out there, which highlights what a good job the club did in finding VVD, plus Alderveld and Lovren before him. Hope the scouts are working hard on a Fonte replacement anyway for long term.

Always seen Romeu as more of a Cork replacement, not a Wanyama replacement. But even then we lack cover in that 'anchor man' role if you accept that Romeu is a good enough first choice (which personally I don't, but we'll see). To some extent it is, they very rarely buy youth and potential, Liverpool have done a bit in recent years, but take Nolito for example, Man City spending £14 million on a guy who is 30 in October. Man Utd signing Imbra, Mikrahtin, Chelsea signing Kante. Not a huge amount of under 21s are signed by the big clubs and if they are, they are often not near the first team. The only big club that seems to do it is Arsenal, but half the time they just waste time sitting on the bench or instantly go out on loan. If the big clubs do sign a young player, it's usually one of the best in the land that already has a lot premiership or top flight experience, like Shaw for example.

That bleacher report article is a good read, helps the understanding a bit and I can see why Hojberg was signed, he's basically our Paul Pogba for Juve. And I can also see why Redmond is being used as striker, because of the movement issue, might take a while for Austin to get used to that sort of system. Plus we have good full backs in Bertrand and Cedric, with able deputies in Targett and Pied/Martina, probably won't find much better fullback strength outside the top 3/4 teams. So it does kind of make sense, but then you look at players like Tadic, JWP, Austin, Jay Rod, Davis and you don't really see a role for them in that formation. I kind of feel looking at that formation that we lack the other 'shuttler', though Clasie has potential for that as he has a lot of energy and work rate, plus is decent enough on the ball. You also worry about Romeu being the anchor, is he good enough to play that lone role and what are our options if he's injured/suspended? From that I can kind of see why we are still getting linked with central midfielders, because really we lack another 'shuttler' and lack at the very least cover in the anchor role. If the rumours are true and we are getting two attackers in being potentially Bouffal and Stanciu, you can see Bouffal potentially being up front in that formation rivaling Redmond and Stanciu in the No 10, with Tadic. So -----------------------Forster/McKarthy-------------------------- Cedric/Pied---Fonte/Yoshida---VVD/Gardos---Bertrand/Targett ----------------------------Romeu/?------------------------------- ----------------Clasie/JWP-------Hojberg/Davis------------------ --------------------------Stanciu/Tadic---------------------------- -------------Boufal/Redmond---Long/Austin--------------------- (BTW Imagine that midfield with Wanyama anchoring, then Hojberg and Morgan in front going box to box) So like I said the 'anchor' and 'shuttler' roles as that article calls them worry me, and that is presuming we get the needed no.10 and striker quality.

I was watching the build up to the Sunderland v Boro game on Sunday and they were talking about Juninho and how good he was. Jamie Redknapp reckoned today he'd destroy the league because he'd get way more protection than he got back then, the rules have changed. He's only 5 foot 6 and still did excellently in the premiership back when it was even more physical. I'm not sure height is really an issue, especially in forward positions, I mean Aguero does alright and he's only 5' 8", I think it's more about attitude and build, I'd be more worried about a lanky thin 6 footer than a stocky little guy. ------------------------ Do feel though that we need another defensive mid with physical presence and there are guys out there, William Carvalho being an example, Danilo being another, as well as Gonalons. Think we've been linked with all 3 at times. And as people have said we've known about Wanyama leaving for over a year, so plenty of time to find some players.

No direct flights from Southampton to Zurich either! So if they are going to Zurich they would need to go to a London airport. Plot thickens. If anyone knows any Romanian and there is a Steau Bucharest forum they could probably work out where there team is.

Interesting thanks, didn't realise he could have potentially qualified for Holland. On Janssen I just means he'd only had one good season whereas Ziyech seems to have been doing well for a few years in a poor team. Forgot that, weren't people talking about a potential Van Dijk situation where they didn't want to sell him until they had done their champs league qualifier. They are almost certainly out now, so will be interesting to see if he plays tomorrow. As far as I can see there are no flights direct from Bucharest to Manchester either, so I'd presume Steau are flying into London today before travelling up to Manchester. Just a guess but I'd say it's likely Stanciu is going to be in London at some point today. http://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2016/08/22/report-southampton-close-to-signing-nicolae-stanciu-for-7-millio/

So Wilson is head of Scouting and recruitment, so would he be needed if they were meeting a player in London? And do they need a finance guy for contracts? BTW going on a wild guess they might be meeting Stanciu, I can't see any direct flights from Bucharest to Southampton so would make sense for him to fly into London.

Looks like Gareth Rodgers to me.

Yep, Clasie, JWP, Reed and Davis are all pretty much the same type of player. We have plenty of bodies in centre mid, but there still seems to be a Wanyama shaped hole in there to me, Romeu is the only out and out defensive mid there and no one really offers much pace and power. Hojberg is the stand out in quality, but for me he replaces what we lost in Morgan, that box to box complete player. Would feel more comfortable if we signed another defensive mid, not to mention played a different formation that actually suited out players. Anyway, don't see why we would need a replacement for Jay Rod if he goes on loan, just have a recall clause. He's going because he's not getting game time, even Austin is struggling for game time. So why would we need another player in up front? IF we get the two attacking players in, they could fill in up front if needed plus for cup games, bench time etc. is where you bring the youngsters in. Would only be a serious worry if Long/Austin/Redmond got a long term injury. Otherwise whoever we bring in is just sitting on the bench for long periods.