Lallana's Left Peg

Which is what will lead to speculation about Clyne's future. Soares appears to be first choice for Sporting Lisbon and his international career has just started (like Clyne's) so I would speculate he is unlikely to leave to be second choice.

Bye bye Clyne?

Yep you're right and whilst the people pulling together the rankings obviously have their own methodology for what is important for a 'brand' at a football level we're nowhere near as 'branded' as lots of clubs we're ranked above.

It's complete ******** in my opinion. No doubt our 'brand' has got better, but we have a better brand than the likes of Atletico Madrid, Ajax, Inter Milan, Celtic, Roma, Valencia, Benfica etc? Give me a break

Peculiar move for both parties on the face of it.

Another way for the club to make some money but it's inevitable given the season we've just had and how FFP works.

Why are people having a go at Saint Charlie for wishing Schneiderlin well if he goes

He's going to want to be first choice. Would he be first choice?

Yep - so you could slice it and see it as a £10m transfer fee and £150k a week for four years, or a £20m transfer fee and £100k a week etc. Either way, it's £40m assigned for Milner to play in central midfield for the next four years until he is 33. Not convinced.

I'd rather have Cork in front of the back four but Milner is clearly the better footballer. Is he 200k a week good in central midfield? I don't think so personally.

I think at this point the ability to get rid of Osvaldo and free up £2.5m+ in wages a year would be welcome. I think Ramirez still has some resale value given his age - I think we could flog him to an Italian club for a few million and someone like Inter could pay all of his wages too without us needing to make a contribution.

Can Mane or Jay Rod play on the right? And that would mean Tadic missing out? Good to have squad depth in a vital part of the pitch, but just wondering who is first choice all things being equal.

If we presume that Jay Rod is a starter for us, where does he fit in our team? Mane is on the left, and Pelle is up front. Can't see either one of them missing out?

Still after this Duda chap apparently - and have increased our bid to £5m in order to starve off competition from Inter Milan: http://eurosport.onet.pl/pilka-nozna/transfery/southampton-podbija-oferte-za-ondreja-dude/d0kmq6

A reported £200k a week (including signing on fee) and he'll play centrally. I think he's a decent player but I don't think he's going to make a difference for them getting into the Top 4. And £200k a week...but they won't give Sterling £150k a week. A bit silly.

Yep - them as well. And more recently Palace.

The agents acting on behalf of French clubs / French based players love to link their players to Saints and West Ham. We're pretty much the default clubs for them in most stories

To be fair, the article opens up with that comparison and then the rest of it dispels it thoroughly. Hardly lazy journalism.

I know a plan guaranteed to stop it: Lets start buying crap players

Whilst there is no doubting Fulham as a team were terrible that season, when he came back from injury he couldn't displace David Stockdale (now at Brighton) from the team. Anyone know why that is? As I said, I have some reservations about him but understand that our criteria for a stop-gap keeper does reduce our number of options in the market. I'm hopeful that he can do a job for us, and whilst I do trust Koeman's judgement lets not just blindly assume everyone he brings in works - Elia is an example.

He still has a fair bit of seasoning to go as a player before the big boys will be seriously interested.

Goalkeeper aside (because we know that is something that needs to be addressed regardless), I can't see us being protagonists in the market until we know what is happening with Osvaldo, Ramirez, Schneiderlin, Clyne, and Alderweireld (or at least a few of them to set off the wheels in motion of replacements / using the budget they free up / funds raised).

Accidently clicked on the banner and there was a link to this on the SaintsWeb homepage: http://www.saintsweb.co.uk/content.php?616-NUMBER-CRUNCHING-Europa-League-Seeding-Prospects Seems fairly comprehensive!

Well I think it is more of a case of availability? How many good goalkeepers are out there and available for loan for a season?

Hasn't played a full season since 2010/11, didn't have the best of times at his last three clubs, but I suppose given the circumstance its hard to find a keeper to fit our criteria and he'll definitely be an upgrade on our current keeper options despite his recent history / form.