Smirking_Saint

Good player at a very good price, also adds some versatility and I think he also has leadership ability too We really are having one of our best ever windows here It’ll be interesting to see where he is employed, I imagine either as a CM as part of a 3, or as a No.10 in either a 4222 or 433 Either way Im really impressed with this buy

I don’t know if he will or if he will not I don’t know anything about targets etc, I’m just putting forward the info I know, which is that financially we don’t need to sell KWP or JWP to fund this years spending and we have funds available to back a new manager ‘if required’ in January

FYI… as far as I am aware they are comfortable investing to strengthen their product and I believe their hand has had to be dealt early due to the end of last year’s campaign Ralph is to be given an amount of time, and money, and certain autonomy around his coaching staff and will be assessed up up to around the new international break Should it be required there are names and funds available for the January window and new management team Thats the depth of what Ive heard, Im not sure where we are around ‘balancing’ any debt but I get the impression we have strategic funds available and no need for unnecessary sales… surely if we needed to we’d sell JWP ? This effectively ‘clears’ our debt, or atleast a significant chunk I wouldn’t expect us to start moving like City/Newcastle but we have been told that we will be sustainable however no longer need to sell to buy and that public narrative fits around what Ive heard internally Southampton are and will remain the ‘major club’ of SRs new project, and relegation puts that project on the back foot, hence why we are seeing significant action here now As far as the rest of the crap above, Id be gobsmacked if KWP goes for any less than 25m… I’d also expect to see Bednarek/Valery and likely atleast 1 No.10 go to balance the squad/books

Im not sure why everyone keeps mentioning Williams Was awful at Norwich

Spot on Taj… Ralph trusts him and Moi is tactically flexible, he can even play CM at a push Not a bad option at all from the bench Had we not brought in first team replacements Id be concerned, but seeing as we have this feels sensible

He has been given everything he wants, the players he wanted (within reason) and autonomy around his coaching team… I would say he has until October 👀 If he is failing by then Id ‘suggest’ we have funds available and managerial targets lined up Sports republic are serious and fear relegation will disrupt their organisation

What about his game makes him suitable ? Out of interest ?

A reasonable read but nothing relatively new in it to be honest The disconnect between senior ready academy starlets and the new scholars isn’t really difficult to understand considering that age group is likely around those that would have been affected by our falls down the leagues TBH I’m pretty comfortable with our current strategy, we seemingly are trying to position ourselves as the premier destination for young talents at the levels below say Foden etc and I think as a club our size that is very sensible, look at those looking to ‘break’ into the top 6 using a spend model, aiming for players such as James Rodriguez or Coutinho is a risk at high values and Id much rather buy good up and coming talent with good pedigree. We probably do need an ‘experienced’ head, I know thats a marmite word on here, but in my eyes I mean leadership ability not necessarily time in the game From the outside sports republic look like they’re moving in a good sensible direction

So… as far as I understand yes its a 3 year rolling equation and you are not allowed to make losses totalling more than 105m Lots of other things go into it such as money spent on infrastructure etc that effectively offsets it… as does COVID losses which is a bit of a sticky one and causes some creative accounting Because of COVID it is now a 4 year rolling equation and Everton where effectively on the precipice of sanctions unless a sale was made (FYI it wasn’t just the ‘fee’ it was more the ‘profit’ needed) hence why Digne and now Richarlison were sold recently I think they’re still in the shit overall, but now not staring down the barrell… whether they spend or not this year is to be seen

21 yr old RB, full international Not sure too much about him

Personally Im very happy with the start we’ve made, signing some very highly rated young players I do agree experience for experience sake isn’t the answer, you certainly need the ability to go with it… what we do need and have lacked is leadership though… many of us have said this since Fonte/VVD has left… I think a couple of good forward signings and some real on pitch leadership and we’re well on the way towards the best TW since the Koeman years and perhaps even better My ONLY concern is around the buy back clauses, I appreciate they may have been necessary to acquire some of these talents I just hope that they are favourable… the ex buying back and selling on doesn’t even worry me too much so long as they don’t look too cheap in a couple of years

He’s 16 isn’t he ? Realistically he won’t make either first team until he is 20 unless he is very very exceptional A 3 or 4 year deal on those wages is impossible to turn down really and one we can’t match… a big shame but we cannot match it and I assume will get a tribunal fee ? I believe thats how it works ?

Experience is overrated

He is perfectly entitled to say whatever he wants to, he exercises his right quite often… unfortunately freedom of speech doesn’t mean freedom of consequence and as such he has been booted out of Sky and Saints and by the looks of it has now realised he needs to move his ‘forum’ to an even smaller echo chambers He has made some valid points, namely the government’s overall handling of COVID and by that I mean the scandals of not actually following their own advice, and of course his thoughts on the major media outlets having agendas But even those points, aswell as everything else outside it is engorged with baseless conspiracist bile that is spoken with a heavy degree of arrogance I love Matt Le Tiss the footballer, always will, but this is a guy who broke during lockdown and was unable to accept the reality for what it was

And at the time Tino was in ridiculous form Not really sure what the point here is, we also don’t know how either performed in pre season. KWP got back on the pitch al be it at left back

I agree, but Im not sure Henderson fits that bracket really. Good keeper but if we’re being completely honest 100k+ wages and an extra 10m upfront (or however the deal is structured) probably doesn’t represent the value we need to achieve this window We need a GK, CB, ST as an absolute minimum with CM, No.10 and maybe even another FB after that so our funds will need to stretch For that reason Im comfortable taking Bazunu and not Henderson, because Id rather more significant funds are used to strengthen outfield positions

He really isn’t, the times Ive seen him he is vastly overrated However, I imagine Pep needs English heads for the squad quotas, otherwise I imagine he’d be looking elsewhere as Phillips really doesn’t get near that City CM

Why will it be our undoing ? We aren’t sure of the whole package here, loan fee, signing fee, wages Yes we need a GK and hopefully Bazunu fills that gap… but we also need significant strengthening elsewhere too Im sure our budget isn’t bottomless. So negotiating this window was always going to be tricky

When I was up there for the match they were saying quite confidently that he was signing and was sorting out childcare for the following season It’ll be interesting to see what he does but I 100% agree, it’ll probably be Spurs or Brentford, I just can’t see him going anywhere else

Looking at his stats for the last year he looks promising (can be found here - https://fbref.com/en/players/0a3d6d2b/Chris-Richards), decent passer of the ball, good in the air.. defensive stats like blocks/interceptions are at times dependent on tactics and Im not sure how Hoffenheim play really Generally speaking Im not sure Id be against this but I do think someone like Mee would be a better option

He fits their system, Im not convinced he fits ours

Exactly, we need a GK but i think Id rather our outfield positions were of sufficient quality first

I do think, from the bits Ive heard around the club and other stuff in the media (2+2=5 probably) that we have funds available, we’re more likely to be shopping in the 10-20m bracket because we have significant work to do this year in multiple positions, so we probably can’t justify spending 30m etc on a single position as it won’t allow us flexibility in the others We also, apparantly, will have funds available in January if necessary and if we appoint a new manager by that point he will be backed.. so theres that Lets see what SR do this window before writing them off

I can’t see us signing Bazunu and Pope/Henderson… I just can’t, even by modest projections you’re looking at 30-40m and we frankly have too much work to do everywhere else Im not completely comfortable with MGW/Benrahma or Minamino either.. I think there is potentially better on the continent: Sinisterra for example

It was quite an incredible achievement I imagine it was difficult because for best part of an hour Monaco were trying to confirm it wasn’t a scam