Pamplemousse

It has

Lol, following that, the VVD thread on RAWK has been shut. Looks like their fans may finally be getting the message.

Ralph Krueger has done an interview stating VVD will not be sold. https://audioboom.com/posts/6210154-listen-saintsfc-chairman-ralph-krueger-maintains-club-stance-that-virgil-van-dijk-will-not-be-leaving-in-this-window

Leicester seemed to do OK in getting Mahrez and Kanté. Although they both came from Normandy teams, so maybe we should just concentrate our talent search in that region only.

With it being so late in the window, I can't see us selling him at all. We never sell key first team players in the last couple of weeks before the deadline.

Someone who spoke to Jake personally confirmed it on twitter a few days ago.

No way we will let him go for £15M. Sporting have a 15% sell-on fee too, so that has to be factored in. If he has a good season, his value will increase.

Liverlol providing us with more laughs than the skates these days

I made that mistake, but he's proven himself to be correct on a number of occasions now. Scepticism is a good thing though.

McCarthy IS alive then! Interesting to see how Targett and Hoj do

Oh god Lee Mason is the referee

If he only made the Brazil squad last week, then he won't qualify for a work permit.

RAWK desperately clutching at straws, says that us being taken over is good news for them and means VVD is definitely joining them now.

Number 1 investment priority should be the area around St. Mary's

I think you need to learn how to read. No idea why you're obsessed with this idea that he would come in coaching with the first team.

GAO

I better be quick then! There's a new thread, titled 'Eisner Strategy Thread' The general consensus is they want significant investment in the training ground and academy, as well as developing FP. Most of them want promotion to the Championship within 5 years. One fan suggests copying the 'Brighton model' - they have it all apparently. Another wants heavy investment in the first team - 'we have a billionaire tho'. Most fans though are against this type of reckless spending: So in summary: it seems that the majority advocate a sensible approach and one which invests in infrastructure first rather than players. Which is rather boring for us, I was hoping for Corporate Ho to come back and lord us with tales of Maradona and Riquelme

The person who made the first reference to the first team was Duckhunter. I disagreed with his comments that Gabbiadini, for example, wouldn't find his advice useful, and reducing him as some sort of lower-league journeyman who has nothing to offer couldn't be further from reality. Nevertheless, when I said 'get him in as a coach', I never said in what capacity he'd be coaching. If he was to come as a coach, of course it would be with the youth team/U23s, so I'm glad we're on the same wavelength there.

Correct. My post was tongue in cheek anyway, if it wasn't obvious.

I refer back to my earlier point - Stam coached here whilst earning his badges. I never said that Lambert is an excellent coach - nobody knows whether he would be successful or not. Why did we appoint Radhi Jaidi as a coach? He was untested too. I think it's evident who the real idiots are here.

Why do we have the former Barnsley goalkeeper coaching our goalkeepers then? Your argument doesn't add up.

Goalkeepers develop later than other positions - many come into their prime in their late twenties. Working with the England goalkeeper coach and at a bigger club, with better training facilities, could do wonders for him, and untap his potential.

Seeing as we can't finish for toffee at the moment, he'd be a terrific addition. Jaap Stam was coaching here whilst earning his badges under Ronald Koeman, no doubt Yoshida and VVD were looking at this defender thinking 'who's this fecker, what's he done in his career' because he had no badges

Just had a look on RAWK. Some of the latest comments: Les Reed is effectively 'cock-blocking' VVD Because Saints haven't publicly responded to the transfer request, it de facto becomes accepted and that green lights Liverpool to make a bid

In schadenfreude news, Coutinho has been left out of Liverpool's Champions League squad. Presumably he has a virus, or something like that.