HarvSFC

Same initials as Gaston Ramirez, South American, appears to be highly rated. This is the 2024 version.

Don't know too much about Sugawara, but we have dodged a bullet in Max Aarons, who is really poor defensively.

The Delap stories are coming from a reputable source in Ornstein, but I'm not going to lose much sleep around missing out on him. He's a punt with the hope of turning a profit due to his age and nationality. We've made two similar punts in Edwards and Wood at centre-back, but we have Stephens, Bednarek and THB already at the club. Upfront we have barely anything with Adams gone, Armstrong struggling in the Championship as a centre-forward, Stewart picking up knocks whenever he steps out onto the pitch and the failed punt in Mara. Meaning we'd be over reliant on Delap, like we were Broja when he was on loan. I know most signings are punts, but since the initial links to Delap two summers ago he has had three loans in the Championship which haven't exactly been eye catching in terms of goal output. Stoke and Preston considered two failed loans. Last summer was the time to bring Delap in, on a loan deal, giving him a season long trial in the team and seeing if he can be the success those at the club clearly believe him to be, but we went for the more experienced and a better scoring record in Stewart. Hopefully we now do the same this summer as Delap's too much of a risk, especially at £20m, his value hasn't dropped since we last decided not to spend that on him.

Has links to Barcelona and was linked to Everton earlier in the window. Could be a coup, or could be an agent trying to speed up a Barca move, who will play all the tricks in the book if they do want him.

Trained on his own last summer too, if I'm remembering correctly.

Not good enough for the Turkish league, so not good enough for the Premier League anymore. Hopefully not true.

They give us a £50m loan fee.

Could be one we send out to Goztepe/Valenciennes. We have loads of left-backs with the signing of Taylor and can't see us discarding Manning even if it is the right thing to do.

Hojbjerg's passing is atrocious, so hope it isn't him. He's a Jose Mourinho style player, disruptor in the middle. Not a Martin midfielder. He's been linked with Saudi Arabia in the last two transfer windows, anyway.

If we sandwich a defence of THB - Bendarek - Stephens between the right personnel then it is serviceable in the Premier League. I think the team has three more important concerns, where the majority of the budget needs to go, so I'm not wholly against some cheap development centre-backs. Key areas to improve this summer are goalkeeper, CDM (Downes, or Downes equivalent) and a striker. If we were relying on Adams, A. Armstrong, Mara and Stewart who picks up a knock every time he steps on the pitch for goals then I don't think that's workable in this league and we'd be relegated. I believe the same would/will happen if we're relying on McCarthy, Lumley and eventually Bazunu to keep the goals out as they simply aren't good enough. Downes is also key as we saw how open our team was without him in the second tier. The three centre-backs however have at least played a part in keeping us and Stephens helped keep Bournemouth in the league last time he was up here. They just need a quality stopper and a defensive midfielder helping them so that their limitations aren't also picked up on by having a weak defence around them. On O'Reilly, he'd have been a luxury signing, but we need to spread the budget elsewhere. Lets see what today has in store for us.

Braithwaite threw his toys out of the pram last summer. Knuckled down after not getting a move, but not the type of character profile we should be looking at.

Another fun day. 62 to go. Wood, as I mentioned yesterday is a bit underwhelming, but a good price, so in a sense risk free and still got room for development. Hopefully allows us to free up funds for the three main positions - Goalkeeper, Downes and a striker. Could even allow us to go a bit higher for O'Reilly too. Never seen Ronnie Edwards play, but his name has been mentioned on here for a few years now. So was Caleta-Car's and he was crap, but again, hopefully an English mentality and team spirit at the club makes up for any lack of talent. Again, a good price also with room for development. A couple of young England internationals, not too bad and THB as well, we could have the future England backline in the making. Recreate the Rodriguez, Shaw, Lallana, JWP and Lambert picture. Shame to see the two youngsters go. But, there's a food chain at the youth level, like the seniors now and anyone who looks decent will get snapped up, like the seniors. Unfortunate we hadn't tied them down to their first pro deals, as the market values them at £15m+ these days. The rest of the Premier League must be wishing they were us this summer. Shows you don't have to be one of the big six to get deals in early like we were told for so many years.

What a fun day. Only 63 more to go. This time two years ago we had already signed Bazunu, Lis and ABK, so we're currently 3-3 on senior signings with THB, Lallana and Taylor. 3-0 up on last summer with the first senior signing coming in the form of Ryan Manning on July 11th. The days of us spending all summer waiting for a signing under Gao are well and truly done.

I was intrigued by what our transfer strategy was going to be this summer, as always. No doubt Martin had a big influence on transfers last summer with him having managed Manning and Downes previously, Fraser being a former teammate and apparently he tried to sign Stewart at MK Dons, also got the Scottish link. Worked at Championship level and we also clearly targeted British players with no one joining from overseas. Now, at Premier League level, it doesn't look as glamorous. Wood's a bit of a worry for me in that he didn't standout for the right reasons at the level below. The Premier League is ruthless and won't allow for him to learn on the job. But, we have also thrown a lot of money on foreign flops in recent years, especially in the CB position. ABK, DCC, Lyanco, Hoedt and Vestergaard to name but a few. You would at least hope Wood has the mentality to make up for a possible lack of talent with a bit of graft and fight, which the former five didn't have as when the going got tough a lot of the time they went missing and into hiding and they were meant to be our back line. Now, ideally we would have a good recruitment team, but who knows with that anymore. At the very least you'd hope we have a more focussed plan this summer than Joe Shields' scattergun mess, which he has continued at Chelsea. Up the Brexit Saints?

I don't think there's actually any credible links between us and Delap, but if we were to hypothetically sign him, the only way we should be signing him is on loan. We've thrown away too much money on the Manchester City academy and can't keep throwing money down on "potential". Would be stupid from the club to spend a good amount of money on a player we wouldn't have taken any notice of if he wasn't connected to Manchester City and wasn't a relation of one of our former players. Loan spots are also a premium in the Premier League, so even that may be wasted on Delap. Even his record in the England youth set up above Under-17 level is pretty mediocre.

Very reminiscent of us under Selles. A lot of pointless passing between the backline, a lot of aimless punts being soaked up by the opposition defence when it does go forward. Only real threat looks from a set-piece and nobody's working hard to put pressure on the opposition when we don't have the ball. 0 shots on target and nothing clear cut being created. Only this England team is a lot more talented than that Saints one, which makes it all the more impressive from Southgate.

Sorry guys, I jinxed it. Second time he's played well with the end of his contract nearing and we've given him a brand new deal. All the more absurd considering he wasn't good enough to be on our bench last season until the final few games. Should have gone out on a high, but if he plays like he did the last time we were up here he'll receive pelters and the club will deserve a lot of criticism if we're going into the season with him as our first choice until Bazunu, another poor goalkeeper for the level recovers.

West Ham play their first league game outside of London on November 2nd, their 10th game.

I put him in the same bracket as Bertrand and Clyne. Really good full-backs, perhaps too good for us, but not good enough to consistently start for a top six side. There were moments last season in the Championship where KWP was caught defensively, for example and that wouldn't be forgiven in the top six. Should do what Bertrand done and see his contract out with us until he's past it. I'd also be disappointed if he went to a Brighton, or one of the other mid-table sides who we should now again be looking to compete with.

We can bring back our Japanese Twitter page at this rate. https://x.com/SouthamptonFC/status/249187374775549952

I'm not opposed to Rodon and it could set up a good partnership with THB for years to come. However, with the club now targeting experienced players, I think the best position we could fill with an experienced player would be the centre-back position to mentor THB. Similar to how Fonte assisted Lovren, Alderweireld and Van Dijk on their way up. Craig Dawson at West Ham and Wolves is an example as he was/has also been impressive and he's a less glamourous, yet experienced head in the back line. I know we sort of have Stephens and Bednarek to fill that criteria, but we all know Stephens has his limitations while Bednarek isn't the greatest of leaders.

Torino fans didn't speak too highly of Lyanco either.

Not Saints, but youth players are now costing £19m. : https://x.com/David_Ornstein/status/1804450276557959354

Thought Lima to Chelsea may have put to bed the KWP links, they already have James and Gusto anyway, but looks like Wolves have hijacked the deal.

Never expected to see him back in a Southampton shirt until a few weeks ago, so this still feels weird. I grew up with the League One double promotion and JPT team, so when Lallana left after all his talk, it did hurt, but he was also a hero for a few years. I'm doubting whether he's any good now, especially for the Premier League, but it's now up to the club to either answer or confirm those doubts, as it is with all transfers.