Saint Pete

Hmmm, thought this one was progressing a bit too smoothly so far

Great news if true! Can't say I know a lot about Hoedt, but from what has been reported, sounds like a good fit for Saints - Promising young player with some top level experience at a big club, who can be improved.

Yes, unfortunately, probably more likely to be to come up with a plan for what kind of threats / sulky social media posts etc that they can employ next to try to pressurise Saints into changing their stance. Probably something along the lines of Coutinho's reported threat to Liverpool that he "won't play for the club again" I fear. I still suspect that this will drag on until September despite the club's efforts to draw a line. But let's hope some common sense will prevail!

Yes, I agree. I think what the statement does is make it crystal clear that anyone who wants to buy Van Dijk in this window has to pay seriously big money and that we have no intention of selling unless that happens. There will be no reduction in what we will accept because of Van Dijk's antics. I also think this probably means we will go ahead and buy another central defender anyway (e.g Hoedt) irrespective of whether Van Dijk goes. This is sensible if we have the money available because it means we should get a better deal than if we wait until any Van Dijk deal goes through, but does make me wonder who we will sell/loan out if we do end up keeping VVD, as we will be overloaded with centre backs! Presume Gardos will be off somewhere, but we might also loan Bednarek out as he will surely slip out of contention for 1st team? Unless something is in the offing with Yoshida.

That's easy to say now, but there is always risk attached to putting money into football clubs. Our own history tells you that it's not a dead cert and there are plenty of examples where huge amounts of "investment" have gone down the pan in football. I think you have to give credit to Kat and the team she has put in place for the successful way they have managed the club over the past few years since Markus died, which has reaped the benefits for everyone involved, including us fans. Regarding Van Dijk, my opinion like yours and Les Reed's, is that we shouldn't sell to Liverpool under any circumstances, but if she was taking the stance that she would sell if the price was right, I guess she was being consistent with the way the club have operated in last few years, which ultimately has been very successful for us.

Great news. Looks like just the player we need in central mid. Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

Ings? So, we sell Jay and bring in a guy who made zero leagues appearances last season and only 6 the season before. Don't think so! Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

Still confident?

Gaping hole where our centre backs should have been!

If Fonte has declined, that may prove the club were right to sell when they did, but it doesn't prove that he has been replaced successfully. We should have been aiming to replace a peak performing Fonte, not a declining one. Otherwise, we are moving backwards from where we were. Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

If that is the case, I think we should hold firm and not sell. There is no way we should give in and accept lower than what we think he's worth just because of Van Dijk and Liverpool's bad behaviour. That would just be the ultimate green light for more of the same from players and agents in future windows. Best scenario for us now would be to go ahead and sign a decent replacement now so that we have insurance if we do get the right offer late in August, and also gives us better options if we don't sell and Van Dijk continues his hissy fit. This obviously depends on us having enough cash to fund the replacement without selling Van Dijk, so we may need to try to move on a couple of other non essential players to help finance? Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

Yet another case of headline being unrelated to article below! In what way are Liverpool "ramping up" their chase for Van Dijk? Interested to know if the bit about talks with the Lazio defender are true though. Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

The real question mark over our squad is in terms of quality rather than quantity, especially in the centre midfield area, where we are over-reliant on Romeu. I also think centre back is potentially a weak area if Van Dijk remains unavailable but suspect we have made our choice there to trust the development of Stephen's and Bednarek. Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

Too many touches from Boufal at times.

Will be interesting to see how that lineup plays - very attacking looking, but will it be balanced in the midfield?

I can't see what's wrong with the odd loan if it's the right player who will improve the team. It's obviously better if there's an option to buy, although I may be wrong but don't think there was officially one with the Bertrand loan and we still ended up agreeing a permanent deal for him. Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

He and his agent really ought to have thought through this possible scenario before signing on the dotted line of a new 6-year contract rather than 5 months after! Also, he may be saying that he sees Liverpool as a big career to move to help him "go down in history" now, but something tells me he will be saying similar things about Barcelona or Real Madrid a year down the line if he is approached by them having done well at Liverpool.

Utterly pointless article as it goes on to say that neither Liverpool nor Saints have changed their position. The news is there is no news! Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

Totally agree with this. Utterly pathetic behaviour from someone who signed a 6 year deal only a year ago. Very important that we continue to stand firm on this - he should not be rewarded for the way he has acted by getting what he wants. If he is to leave this summer, our full asking price must be met and it can't be to Liverpool.

Yep, I agree with that and would be pretty happy if we made the 2 signings that you have suggested, and offload Clasie, who would then be surplus to requirements. I still would rather we had signed a higher calibre CB to replace Fonte, especially given the possible issues we may have with Van Dijk, but I get that the club are obviously hoping that Stephens and Bednarek will keep developing and get better. Regarding left backs, if we were to lose Bertrand, I would expect us to sign another contender for 1st choice position, rather than be left with McQueen/Targett, which for me would look like a weak link. At present, I rate McQueen slightly higher than Targett and think he has more versatility in other positions, so would rather see us keep him and possibly loan out Targett?

Bringing new players in surely shouldn't be dependent purely on selling Van Dijk or Bertrand though? I can't believe we have literally no money available given the huge rise in TV income, and we also have the option of moving on players that would fall down the pecking order if we can bring in better quality to replace them, eg Clasie. Feels like we are being somewhat complacent in just settling for what we've got rather than pushing for improvement. Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

I would be disappointed if we don't do anything to improve our quality in midfield options, which I think was shown to be our biggest weakness last season. It's not a question of numbers but of quality, and also not enough backup for Romeu, who if he were to get injured would be a major worry based on lack of suitable alternatives in the squad.

Will be delighted if we don't sell any of our top players in this window, but would still be surprised if that's the way it pans out. I don't see that Reed is saying anything radically different to what the club have said in previous summers when we have then gone on to make sales of "top" players. Note that he doesn't categorically say "Van Dijk (or anyone else) will not be sold in this window", only that the top players are not "for sale". This and his comment that some players may be sold if it suits both parties gives plenty of wriggle room for sales to still happen if the club get what they consider to be the right offers, and they can also use the argument it's for the good of the team due to players being unsettled. As I say, will be very happy if I'm proven wrong, but based on previous experience, this is likely to be a tactic to force higher offers from those who want Van Dijk, Bertrand, etc. Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

The most important thing is surely that we allow the new manager to pick the team around him that he trusts and is happy will be able to help him get across to the players the way he wants them to play. If that's Sammy Lee, then fine, but suspect it will be some of the guys he worked with at Alaves, which is fine by me. Judging by what some who have some inside knowledge have said on this thread, I would think it's unlikely he would choose Black, unless the club tell him he has to keep him which would not be the best way to go in my opinion.

Let's face it, Samuels is a bit of a ****! His reference to Leicester's title win is particularly laughable - if he's going to use that one-off freak event as a stick to beat us with, then surely that applies to every other premier league club who hasn't won the league in the last 5/10 years, including Stoke, Swansea and West Brom! There is however one sentence out of the rest of the drivel where he does have a half decent point - "If there is a 'Southampton Way' it involves a fine academy that generates revenue and helps maintain an upper mid-table position." This is basically the model we are employing (although it is not just academy players that we develop but also young talent bought in from other clubs) - the problem we are facing in that strategy is that if you keep selling your 3/4 most marketable players every season, it will be extremely difficult/impossible to progress to beyond the upper mid-table position that we have achieved, even if your recruitment and academy development is good (which by and large it has been), as you are having to constantly re-build at the start of every season. So, at the moment, you would have to agree with him in the sense that "the Southampton Way" has been very effective in achieving an upper mid-table position in the league, but it's hard to see how we can achieve further success beyond that unless we break the cycle of sales at some point. Where he is wrong though is belittling the achievement in consistently achieving the positions in the league that we have, and the stats show that we have done significantly better than the other clubs he compares us with.