LuckyNumber7

He looks like a bit of a character/psycho/nutjob, which with our team of son-in-laws might just be what we need. I'm keeping an open mind on him. He at least looks happy to be here which is a good start.

I think he's started the season well, just needs to improve his end product. Has great skill which often gets him into dangerous positions but too often the final ball lets him down or he delays too long. That can be worked on though. Also while I certainly don't want to see him playing LB, I think he's better defensively than some on here give him credit for.

Armstrong is quite obviously Ings' replacement. Him and Adams will be our first choice, with Broja and Tella as backup, possibly Obafemi too if he stays. Not to even mention Long. That is perfectly acceptable for a club of our size.

Comes across very well in that, very mature for his age, enthusiastic but with a bit of character too. Think he'll be a real hit!

This makes zero sense to me. Signing backup means signing worse than what you already have, we should be aiming to improve. Salisu will obviously be first choice now which is fine, but if Lyanco is not good enough to displace Stephens or Bednarek then we shouldn't be signing him.

Think you answered your own question there. Unless injured, the omissions of Armstrong and KWP are utterly baffling.

Not sure where people are getting this idea that we'll sign two CBs. Unless of course Stephens or Bednarek depart. Signing Lyanco will give us four senior CBs plus Simeu which is fine in terms of numbers. I'm not overly enthused by him but let's give him a chance before completely writing him off. Anyone expecting another centre back to come in better prepare to be disappointed.

Considering how shit our CBs are, if we are signing someone to be backup to them we have big problems. Can't say I'm very enthused by this signing but I'll reserve judgement until I've seen him play.

Never heard of him, but Torino have leaked goals for fun the last couple of years which is a bit worrying. Guess he'll fit in well!

We only need to sign one CB (unless any leave) as that would give us 4 in total plus Simeu which is plenty. Meanwhile we still only have one LB in the whole squad and I'm fed up of having square pegs in round holes. Neither Salisu or Djenepo are the answer there, a young player who can develop and act as backup is perfect. If he's that highly rated then £5m isn't that big of a gamble.

Exactly why I didn't renew my ST

Don't agree with this at all. Salisu looks promising but is very inexperienced and the jury is still out on him at this point. Bednarek, to put it bluntly was garbage last season. We need to replace Vest with someone good enough to start (alongside Salisu) as that is how you evolve the squad. Signing players to be backup to players who aren't very good is asking for trouble.

If you had asked a year ago, I think the unanimous opinion on here would be that we would drive him to Leicester ourselves! In his first two seasons he was awful, error prone and an absolute liability. However... last season he was much improved. Very good on the ball, especially with his long diagonal passes to Walker-Peters on the right wing, which we will miss. Very good in the air in both boxes, solid defensively and contributed a few goals for us. He got injured midway through the season and wasn't quite as good when he returned, however he was still our best CB by a mile last season, although that's not saying much. His biggest weakness is the lack of pace, he is slower than the Titanic. I'll be mildly disappointed at him leaving but with just a year left it's a no brainer for us to cash in and hopefully get a younger, quicker replacement. If you can adequately cover his lack of pace I suspect he will do a good job for you.

Forster for me too. He's not great but don't think he did an awful lot wrong last season.

Bednarek was our worst defender last season as part of a defence that leaked goals for fun. He is far too slow and uncomfortable on the ball, will do as a backup but if Vesty is sold we really need a new starting CB to partner Salisu.

Whilst our defence was atrocious last year, Vestergaard was far and away our best CB. I'm not opposed to selling him if we can get a decent fee, but Salisu is still very much unproven, and Bednarek and Stephens fill me with dread. Would definitely need a new CB.

Blimey Sorloth was appalling at Palace, hope we don't go after him. Would be far more risky than Armstrong imo.

By all accounts a very smart signing, look forward to seeing him play. Welcome to Saints Tino, hopefully you have a long and successful career here.

Grealish has had more than one good season in the PL, he pretty much single handedly kept them up the season before last. He is a fantastic player which is backed up by the stats. Sancho is a different type of player anyway and was very good at Dortmund, but is totally unproven in the PL and has failed to impress for England so far. As with everything in life if you want something that isn't for sale you have to pay over the odds, Grealish is hugely important to Villa so they have every right to demand £100m or no sale, especially as they are financially well off. Just as we won't (or shouldn't) sell JWP for less than £50m. He's part of the fabric at Saints, our captain and contributes goals and assists and is coming towards the prime of his career. With four years left on his contract, if we sell it's on our terms.

But we can't, which is kind of the point. We cannot afford/attract proven PL strikers, so we either have to look for cheap talent abroad or at the best players in the leagues below, i.e Armstrong. Whoever we sign will come with a large element of risk, but at least AA has shown he knows how to score goals. Whether he can do that in the PL who knows. I would be happy with him signing, although wouldn't want us paying more than £15m as we have other areas that need strengthening too.

Absolutely, jabbed or not I won't be going back as long as they require proof of vaccination, which at this rate will be never. That is not 'getting back to normal'. I won't be blackmailed into taking something against my will. Some people won't be happy until Covid is eradicated, which is never going to happen.

In the few appearances he had for the first team I thought he looked out of his depth tbh. I had been expecting him to show a bit more given the hype around him. Don't think there's any hidden agenda here, truth is probably he just wasn't good enough. Good luck to him at Motherwell though.

I've never heard of Livramento. Is he the next Messi or something?

That only works if clubs are willing to buy the player. Remember Forster turned down a move to Celtic last summer and I don't recall hearing of any interest from any other clubs. I'm sure if we get a half decent offer for Moi we'll accept and hopefully he'll go, but again other clubs don't exactly appear to be queing up to buy him. It's not as simple as saying "just flog him".

As per SKD's link, it has happened.