Lallana's Left Peg

A new scholar joining: http://football-wonderkids.co.uk/player/lucas-defise/ We do seem to pick up a lot of kids who Chelsea and Arsenal release.

Yep, absolutely any goodwill they get from being brave and pressing high they lose by some of the worst game management in recent memory. These are professional footballers and they did one of the most amateur things possible so you can't have any sympathy for them.

I think that is how it works from an accountancy perspective but in football terms any time you sign a young player for a lot of money and you sell him for quite a bit less, it's a complete bust. He looked good on paper, I don't recall many saying he was a bad signing, it's just that a combination of his attitude and our circumstance (and lets face it, some bad managers) meant it never worked for him. I'm happy we can get a fee and move on rather than have to keep loaning him.

Interesting article: https://www.vg.no/sport/fotball/i/m64Eg0/moi-til-vg-etter-rekordovergangen-de-kjenner-meg-nesten-bedre-enn-jeg-kjenner-meg-selv He's going to wear number 11 and we've been scouting him for six years!

Here is a list of starting CB's in the Premier League who are under 6ft: Nathan Ake Tim Ream Denis Odoi That's three out of 40. Size may not be the be all and end all for ability in the air, but in the Premier League it clearly matters alot and that is why Premier League teams recruit big centre backs. Santos is not a good size for this league. He needs to be outstanding in other areas in order to make an impact.

Looks undersized to me, especially for the Premier League. Not convinced but I suppose £10m is cheap these days.

It's not even a question of money - we can only register a certain amount of players and with younger prospects now of an age where they also need to be registered rather than not be, we simply have to trim the squad otherwise we'll have players who can't play for us in any league game which is a waste of everyones time.

Yeah it seems odd to me as well. I assumed our move for him was off the back of McCarthy leaving, but even if Forster left, are we really going to spend £15m on a keeper as a backup - and one who wants first team football? It doesn't add up to me, though I'm not saying the stories are rubbish, I just wonder what the big plan is.

That's Ajax saying they have paid 11.4m Euros for him, rising to 13.7m Euros dependent on bonuses. That's £10m rising to £12m. That is dirt cheap. An absolute steal.

They absolutely all play different roles but they are all competing for 3 spaces in the team dependent on how we set-up, and its not sustainable for us in our current position to have 8 senior pros competing for those positions. It wasn't sustainable last season for us to have 7, so Clasie and Reed left, and now they are back and we've added to the group, so something has to give. Clasie and Reed seem obvious, but another must surely go. Davis has struggled but I can't see the club letting him leave.

Like the look of this guy based on YouTube (which is of course no way to judge a player): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvYpQiznHO4 Did well against Man City too, which isn't always easy to achieve.

He's a signing in the area of the park we're already well stocked. Who's off? There is no way a club of our size maintains the following in the first team squad: Reed Romeu Clasie Davis Ward-Prowse Lemina Hojbjerg Armstrong Clasie and Reed were already loaned out last season as we had too many, and now we're adding another.

Doesn't exactly scream ambition to me but given our track record with Celtic I'm more than willing to see how it goes.

The article says its a release clause in his deal, so basically the club have no choice and Tadic would prefer to leave for Ajax, which is actually a damning incitement of what he thinks is going on at Saints right now. £15m is cheap but that's the release clause the club put in his contract. Tadic leaving is a loss but its not the end of the world - that will come when we see who the club sign to replace him. Our transfer record for the past two seasons has been **** poor.

The Times saying we've made Wilshere an offer. They reference lots of interest in him but only mention us, Everton and Palace by name: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/sport/jack-wilshere-im-leaving-arsenal-0rlc67637 He would be a great signing, I think hes a really good player, but it would come at a cost of having to sell someone we we have a lot of numbers in that area of the pitch.

Are you suggesting Sky are the bastions of truth and establish and validate sources for all their stories?

Whether or not you think we need him, that's now Maddison, Walcott and Promes our esteemed recruitment team have failed to get over the line in the last year. Their only deal since last summer was to sign someone for £20m that no-one else wanted and couldn't even get in our matchday squad by the end of the season. This is after selling our best player for £65m. Either they aren't doing something right, or they are having their hands tied behind their back by others. Either way, its not too clever.

This is my favourite article from last season: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2017/12/28/southampton-keen-daniel-sturridge-ready-make-audacious-move/

You answered your own question. Revenue.

Even though he only signed for him a few years ago, the market for players has increased considerably since then so the fact he was signed for £10m doesn't mean much. They're probably selling him for £8m in 'old' money terms now for £12.5m. That's why the clubs that buy players and send them on loan prosper - those players don't even need to do well they just need to exist and clubs make decent profits on them.

BBC Scotland very adamant he's a top target this summer. 12 months left on his Celtic deal. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/43978875

We're not allowed a summer where we don't endeavor to lose our best central defender.

Got to start with Maya and Stephens in a 4-2-3-1. Play Long on the right but tell him to get him and down give it everything for 60mins. Tadic behind Austin, and Redmond on the left. Hojbjerg and Romeo or Lemina in front of the back four. Tell them all to go for it otherwise the longer this goes on the worst we will be.

2/5 on to get relegated, won 1 in 23 league (games or something like that). Bournemouth to effectively relegate us next weekend. Then let the post-mortem start - no point waiting as every week we lose in the summer its a week less we have to prepare for a league I genuinely think the powers that be will massively under estimate.

Les Reed's whole model is based on motivating players via the carrot at the end of the stick being a move to a big club. When things aren't going well, that move doesn't disappear, so why would the players care if we're struggling or not - they get their move either way.