Lallana's Left Peg

The problem is that in that case why didn't Toby fly to England yesterday for his medical etc. with Spurs. There is clearly come concern somewhere which is holding it up. I can't see us getting him really, but if we can't get him we may as well disrupt Spurs' plans and seek even more money than we were previously entitled to.

Not just very insightful, but also the Production values are outstanding as well. Great stuff. EDIT: It is also a good vehicle for the club to bring players and personnel closer to the fans. It humanises them.

Given these legal things take a long time to be sorted, could Toby end up playing for Spurs while it is being resolved or would he likely be suspended from playing until it is resolved? Is there even a precedent for this?

I don't disagree with you, but there were plenty of here talking about £20-30m net spend this summer which is lunacy given the state of the accounts.

Koeman has confirmed in his press conference that pending what happens with Schneiderlin and Toby, Saints are done in the transfer window after the impending signing of this defender from FC Twente. I suspect we've spent about £9m on Juanmi and Soares combined, who knows what this bloke from FC Twente will cost (not much I presume), and £10m out for Clyne and Osvaldo paid off as well. Not much spent at all - I've always said I don't think there is much money about.

Nowhere near as prominent but Man Utd in 2012/13 had a fairly strong English presence too: Jones, Ferdinand, Rooney, Smalling, Carrick, Young, Welbeck and Scholes - though clearly their most important player that season was RVP.

So firstly you should know everyone is going to ask you for the identity of the players for which we'll be potentially completing deals for Existing clubs in the Top 4 can do it, but not new ones. The reason being that the current rules make it hard to retain talented English players as the top clubs have quotas to fill and will do so by purchasing talented players from those lower down the food chain (where it is easier for English players to make the breakthrough). Both Clearly it is not efficient for us to replace Academy graduates with English players as the inflated fee we attain via selling them is then 'lost' in purchasing the replacement. Right now it makes sense for the team to get better and spend money in a market that offers more value. As long as we have Academy graduates coming through fans won't mind, but the moment that well starts to get dry we're just like every other club, which is ok, as this situation is not of our doing.

He sounds like a backup at best

If we are willing to match the terms offered by Spurs (to player and club) then it is a bit risky playing this game - an opportunity presented itself to get Toby to half price due to negligence from Atletico but it will really draw out the affair and could backfire. A calculated risk?

Are they actually saying that?

As opposed legally signing the player for £6.8m, receiving even more compensation from Atletico, or even messing up transfer plans for a direct rival? At this stage the £1.5m is fourth choice to the above.

The whole thing is a mess, but why would he be travelling to Spurs to discuss terms and a potential medical if a) there was any doubt over the deal, and b) he would like to join Saints?

From a FFP perspective, yes. From an overall cost saving perspective there is no net gain. Osvaldo got paid a lot of money to go away.

Hmm, the clause was always there to protect Atletico in the first place - in that if Toby 'outperformed' his £6.8m agreed fee they could cancel that deal for £1.5m and then sell for more. Them behaving like this is a little off, though I suppose they are entitled to do what they want. If Toby really does want to join us then it doesn't matter, meanwhile I suppose Spurs see an opportunity to try and get a deal done.

Levy wouldn't be flying out if he didn't think the deal was possible (and had been given an indication that the player would join Spurs). He could be in Spain has he has other business to conduct (Spurs have been linked with a lot of La Liga players, and they also need to find buyers for a lot of their own dross), but I'm actually more encouraged that he has flown out there - £12m or so should be nothing for Spurs, so there are obviously some complexities to the deal that mean he needs to go out there and speak to Atletico. They could be him offering players as a part of the deal, for example. If we don't get Toby, as long as it isn't for want of trying then that's fine.

Every club is relevant to their fans. But are they relevant to the rest of football? Liverpool are far more irrelevant now than they were from 1970 - 2010.

I think you're going to need to set the MLG signal for that sort of thing.

He'd fit in well here then!

Atletico Madrid have re-loaned Emiliano Velazquez to Getafe for another season, so if there is to be a Miranda replacement, it's either Toby or another signing.

I heard Tadic was carrying a groin injury long before he finally submitted and sat out the last few weeks of the season and even went home to Serbia before the end of the season to rest up. Anyone know if this is true? Groin injuries have a nasty habit of reoccurring many times a season - Schneiderlin in particular has issues with them, and Lallana always has to look after his when he was with us.

I don't believe that's our primary objective of signing players at all. I think we want to sign players who will get better and retain value, and Toby fits that bill for us. I think a big attraction to him is not only his outstanding performances for us last season, but also that he can cover several positions (not that I would want him to play anywhere other than centre back for us, but that is a debate for another day, perhaps if he signs).

West Ham are streaming their game on their official website tonight. Hopefully Saints will do the same for our games if they aren't on TV.

If he could do that we may as well have loaned him out? I suspect the market for him is tiny?

I wouldn't mind betting he's been paid the vast majority of what he would have earned at Saints over the course of the last two years of his deal. What would be his motivation to accept a nominal amount?

This is good news but publicly we were confident that Clyne would sign a new deal and he didn't. I think it's 50:50.