Lallana's Left Peg

From the sounds of it Saints are pushing the sales of Clyne and Schneiderlin forward (as they have declared their intention to leave) so they have the funds to acquire top targets early in the summer rather than deal with the frantic nature of the last few weeks of August.

I don't think anyone knows who made the decision. He was certainly a part of the picture under Koeman. Some rumours suggested Ramirez himself wanted to be first choice somewhere and Koeman couldn't guarantee him that, while others say it was a squad juggling decision made by the club as freeing up his wages allowed us to get Toby in etc.

It makes no sense to have a £15m centre back and play him at right back when our first choice right-back is injured and he doesn't have any backup. It significantly weakens our team.

If we're going to push the boat out and sign a centre back for £15m I'd be banging my head against a table if he played right-back for us. If we sign Toby and he is fit, lets play him at centre back please, no matter what.

On one hand I think we should be a little proud that we develop players to the point that one of the biggest clubs in the world want to sign them as they can't develop their own talent. But on the other there likely isn't a bigger club in the world that is becoming increasingly irrelevant both domestically and in Europe so maybe my first point isn't that great. The best part of this is the fans who shallowly chose to follow them because they were good and won trophies and now they aren't good nor win trophies they have no idea how to react. Liverpool are on the verge of losing their best player for the second season in a row, that usually doesn't happen to them but that shows where they are in the pecking order. Of course, you can lose your best player each summer and get better as Saints have shown, but Liverpool are handicapped by their fanbase and 'history' and thus there is no long term planning at the club and they'll always suffer from that. All of the players that left Saints for Liverpool will earn more money, and that in itself is justification for moving. No issues from me there. Some handled it better than others, but that is usually down to the quality of person that the footballer is.

Interesting that the Echo is suggesting Saints may not dip back into the market for another right-back. That would be a big mistake for me.

Nah - we sorted it out at the last minute. Cortese was quite good at avoiding court based situations at the last minute... http://www.sportsmole.co.uk/football/southampton/transfer-talk/news/saints-palace-agree-comp-for-clyne_36422.html

£3.5m a year for Song doesn't seem too bad with no transfer fee to consider?

Google reckons Watford want them both

Seems a peculiar fee for a promoted club to pay for a left-back who is still learning the game. I can't see him being a difference maker despite an argument that his signing is relatively low risk as a bad season won't impact his value by more than a few million. I guess his wages will be cheap too.

Not sure we're on the same wavelength here. From my perspective you said you were waiting for some fantastic players from the Academy to play regularly for the first team and not be sold. I was suggesting that it was hardly the clubs choice to sell the fantastic Academy graduates we had - they all wanted to move. The Academy players we have that do step up and remain aren't as good. Unless you were referring to the utopia of developing brilliant talent and them wanting to stay - which will never happen!

To be fair if they aren't sold through choice, are they? They are sold because they are fantastic players. So we can't have it both ways.

They certainly do, and neither are half as effective in that position despite having little end product up the other end of the pitch from open play. We need to replace Cork, and if he leaves, Schneiderlin.

As DoF I suspect he is highly aware of the overall budget for the first team and will have as big of an input as anyone else as to how it is best spent for the strongest squad possible under the circumstance. Personally I'd be very worried about us spending anything more than £15m on a single player.

We agreed a deal with Palace before it went to tribunal. It was rumoured to include a 20% sell on fee.

Well I am assuming that Davis and JWP both will not play in central midfield and we replace Cork and Schneiderlin. That would leave four positions for the following players: Pelle Jay Rod Davis Ward-Prowse Tadic Long Mane Juanmi That is four players missing out each game.

Where in our squad / team is there space for him?

From Sky Sports. I have never seen him play and don't know what he will earn at Inter, but if he is as good as everyone says then isn't that deal a little on the low side?

No because that £2m or whatever it is negates Saints opportunity to buy for £6.8m. So it's an even playing field right now in every respect. The only thing you may say is that the loan fee we paid for Toby has been paid back to us giving us a little more money, that's all.

Still not enough. EDIT: Also, I'm aware briefing is a part of the game now, but did Liverpool really have to alert one of their biggest mouthpieces the moment they made the bid?

He's looked good, but a leg amputee would tonight against our lot who have been terrible. I thought he was a defensive midfielder but Italy deployed him on the left of a midfield three and he has looked capable both defensively and going forward. A bit like Steven Davis. But this is the first time I've ever seen him play so he may normally play in a different position and have a different style.

Chalobah has to be one of the most overrated players in the country. And this England team has been thrown together and look like a bunch of strangers.