Lallana's Left Peg

We might need to shoot first!

Because that is so much money to spend on a full-back for a team of our size it is disproportionate to everything we've done ever. If we have £8-12m to spend on a player I'd much rather it be a striker or centre-half. I don't see how it is assumed that if we got £30m for Shaw that we'd spend £10m on his replacement. I genuinely think it is crazy. EDIT: Here is an example. When we sold Chamberlain for £12m and signed De Ridder for whatever it was. That'll happen again.

I agree with all that. But do we even have the money to spend £8 - 12m on a full back? We're Southampton. We have an annual turnover of around £100m and we think we'd spend about 10% of that on a full-back? We've only ever spent money on the spine of the team, and I don't really see that changing. If we did get £30m for Shaw I could see us spending £20m of it on 3-4 players at most. The biggest issue being selling a player for £30m that may have been earning £20-30k a year and then having to sign 3-4 players for £6m each and dealing with wages of £30-40k each. So when I think about what wages a £8-12m full back wants I just don't think it is realistic at all.

So three clubs that are comfortably bigger than us and have far bigger budgets? I don't deny we want to get up in around them but I just don't see us spending the £8-12m you suggested we would on a full back. I would imagine £5m absolutely tops and even then I would be very surprised.

Man Utd, Man City, Arsenal, Chelsea. Though you can probably chuck in any big club to be fair - so add Liverpool into that. Outside those five, how many other Premier League teams sign full-backs for more than £5m? That is the spirit of my question.

There is no way we'll spend £8m on a left back in my opinion. In fact in history how many full-backs have been signed for more than £5m outside the Top 4?

The poor sod who joins will be on an absolute hiding to nothing

I get the feeling the two are somewhat linked to each other. If one goes, the other will.

£30m is a helluva lot of money. It could perhaps allow us to strengthen the squad to a degree we could cover his loss to us in the team. And maybe it is inevitable he leaves one day. But...if he is happy to stay then I think it would be an absolutely huge statement of intent from the club to keep him. Maybe it means we don't bring too many in this summer. But for what it would mean - even to keep him just one more year - could have an impact that improves our standing in the game and perception from young players that they don't need to leave Saints to play for their country etc. It would be the missing piece in the Academy jigsaw - the time we produce and keep our players for longer than before. I think it would mean a lot. I could understand the pragmatic reasons for him leaving though. I just think that in a time when many clubs don't have an identity, we can forge one when it comes to keeping players that have been with us since the age of 8.

This report seems fairly insistent - £30m to Man Utd: http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/apr/23/manchester-united-beat-chelsea-luke-shaw-transfer-david-moyes

We absolutely have a chance based on a set of circumstances that are not as far fetched as you think. They are unlikely, but not remote. We need our young players to have an affinity with our club. They need to value playing over money and status. It's not impossible if they take a long-term view over their career. We need astute signings in the market and even more nous commercially to increase revenues. We need stability at the club and a good Manager in it for the long-term. We've done a lot of the hard bits in my opinion, it's just now is the time that it gets tested. It also helps to see big clubs hoard players and ruin careers of many young players. Youngsters are starting to make some wiser choices and we need to capitalise on this. Clearly if a big club has a first team spot open it's near on impossible to keep a player, but we long as we continue to develop kids then we're on the right path and doing the hardest bit first. We're in a period of marginal gains and we need to be patient. If we do anything to impede our progress then that isn't acceptable. If things are taken out of our hands (like players wanting to leave) then we can't dwell and we just have to get on with it. A few seasons at 8th-10th would be good for me - then we push on.

You can pass a medical while injured as long as the injury is healing in a manner consistent with expected recovery. I think Stewart Downing signed for Aston Villa when he had a broken leg. Not sure Jay Rod could pass a medical for a long time after his injury though.

ESPN advertising this as 'seductive football'. Fear we may see exactly the same sort of game that Everton vs. Man Utd was. We'll have more possession and a lack of a cutting edge and Everton's pace and power on the break will kill us.

Given our commercial revenue is so pitiful then any increase in that gives us a lot of flexibility to increase the wage bill so we should be ok?

There is a reason we spend a lot of money on Sports Science and that table reflects it to be fair.

Not sure if you've been keeping up with the news mate but they have one player nominated in each category - Adam Lallana and Luke Shaw.

I agree but rules are rules.

Luke Shaw nominated for Young Player of the Year as well. A fantastic achievement from them both.

The Manager wants to push on though.

I wouldn't mind betting he and the club already know what they'd like to spend and have a list of targets already. Pochettino is very guarded in the media over things like this and often stays away from the truth regarding things he has no interest letting the media about.

He's 18 years old. He's going to be world class.

Interesting that Schneiderlin likes to play deep and collect the ball. When Wanyama plays he can't do that as much.

I bet Big Vic is absolutely ****ting himself over pre-season

Says the right things, some may say strategic timing with the season ticket renewals. But I feel like there is no way the culture at the club is what would convince Pochettino to sign a new contract. He'll want investment and backing after what he has achieved this year. He worked hard at Espanyol every year after having to sell players and he has already increased his profile enough at Saints to feel like he shouldn't have to do that again before a better opportunity comes along.

As an aside, what would people think if this was our team on the opening day of the season? Boruc Clyne Fonte Lovren Shaw Wanyama Schneiderlin JWP Lallana Davis Lambert