Baird of the land

Its a rock and a hard place. England camp seems a malign place where players of the top 4 tap up and unsettle any new internationals. Yet on the other hand as a Saints fan i want our players to be playing well and if they play well there's a chance for call ups.

Well fox was utterly useless, so getting rid was a no brainier.

Wonder if tosic is true is it because we want someone to provide competition for targett but not someone who will stand in his way or cost a fortune.

14 m certainly seems very high to me. I was expecting him to go for 6/7 m. Guess others may view our sales as high.

Disappointing if true that he's already got one foot out the door. Just makes the lack of a new contract for cork all the more annoying in my eyes. We could easily go from having one of strongest centre mid options to mediocre.

Guess we'll let his contract run out and hopefully Stephens can then step into gap.

Agree, would be a massive blow to lose cork IMO.

Hoping with Lallana gone and Koeman in that Gaston will step up and be a creative force for us(as he's clearly got bags of talent), rather than the spluttering underachiever with occasional brilliance he's been since he signed.

Disappointing news, would have hoped our performances last year would have warranted more televised games. Strange that we're on less than Stoke, Swansea, WBA etc.

Damn, i was happy believing rumours Cork was about to sign new deal and now that tweet has cast them into doubt.

Pretty much on the fence regarding this. At his age 4m isn't a bad price. Good servant who was very solid last year for the most part. Cardiff may be happy offering him the length of contract that we may not be happy doing considering his age. Of the two players with contracts rolling down, Cork is the one i desperately want to see sign a new one. If he signs a new deal great, if he goes, he goes with my best wishes.

I'd expect a keeper at some point, ideally a good young backup to Boruc. Replacement centre back if lovren or fonte go. A left back with targett acting as backup Replacement centre mid if Morgan goes otherwise not. Cover for Jrod while he's out. Replacement for osvaldo if he leaves. Counting the current 2 signings I'd say between 5-8.

Yeah I don't see the need at all but then I'm a massive cork fan & think jwp can really push on this season too.

I have to say Cork news has me over the moon, one of my favourite players. More excited by this than the Pelle announcement personally. Not sure about Marshall either.

I doubt he can be a success. He's got pre-season to prove to Koeman different.

A few people including me have spoken highly of him and viewed him as ideal purchase. Keeping my fingers crossed that the club will turn their attention his way.

If true i'd hope we'd go for him. He's an excellent young british centre back imo.

It's ok. I loved last seasons black strip so nothing was likely to match that IMO.

Some good news. Looking forward to seeing how he adapts to premiership. Wonder if he'll get the number 7 shirt.

Slightly disappointed he's not going to get first team opportunities with us this season. Swindon seem to be team that plays right way so decent option in loan.

1) up and coming deputy such as McCarthy for me all day long.

No most teams have an out an out first choice keeper and a back up. Liverpool didn't keep reina not because he wasn't better than Jones etc but because he wouldn't have been happy sitting on the bench all season. If people believe Boruc would be happy as a reserve, that's their opinion. Personally i don't believe for a minute he would be. That's not to say we shouldn't bring in a replacement for Gazzanigga who is more capable, but more the case that we shouldn't be shopping for individuals who would expect to be first choice.

If we are planning to ship Boruc out and money is no object then Forster is good. Not overly a fan of Marshall, very highly priced and overperformed last season imo. As i've said repeatedly i've been highly impressed by Alex Mccarthy of reading everytime i've seen him & think he'd be very good value for money and a decent age to boot.

I agree Personally i'd prefer to keep Boruc(who looked good last season), not buy Marshall(who seems way over priced to me too) & instead go after someone slightly younger like Alex Mccarthy who might be happier spending a season as understudy to Boruc.

Hardly, if Saints sign a keeper for 8-12m, that keeper will be first choice. Just as Liverpool signed Mignolet and shipped out Reina. Just as Chelsea have loaned out Courtois repeatedly because they had Cech.