Saint86

We may not be owned by the saudi's, but that won't stop us snapping up youngster on the side and then shuffling them around...

He needs competition for sure, but i would expect him to get game time this year. Strikes me as remarkably strong mentally (all things considered) and he's got good distribution and positioning as a sweeper keeper. He was a great keeper for league 1 level, he's grown and developed since then, and had a year playing at a very high level. Provided his confidence / headspace is there, we really should be giving him a year to develop at the championship. He was always a development player. What are we going to do, not play him, then get promoted and loan him to another championship side even though we wouldn't use him ourselves? Far better to play him regularly, develop him at a level he should be ready for, and then take that into the prem if possible.

Now this just sounds like Wanyama to me...

I'm going to go out on limb and say we won't be signing 3 defenders from one of the worst defences in the championship last year. If that happens, then i can only assume Sports Republic's entire scouting network lives/eats/sleeps in south wales.

This keeps popping up. Nothing has been said about JWP having or not having a relegation wage clause. What was said was that he didn't have a relegation release clause. Entirely separate things. I think it was rumoured that he has a highest earner clause, and presumably (if he has a relegation wage clause) he'll have a promotion wage clause - so he'll likely be fairly well protected on the wages front whatever happens. Whether his lifestyle can accommodate a 20-40% drop in wages, who knows?!? Its been said before, unless he needs the money or is offered European football, i think he'll give saints another 6months-12months to see how we're doing in the champ. His england career is likely gone without joining a top club and playing regularly, so his choice might basically be between becoming a potential Southampton legend (staying and getting promotion) or playing in a lower half prem club he has no affinity to.

Apparently there are only 23 levels in the formal bleep test?

Signing of the summer if we keep him? 😛

A year playing regularly in a successful championship side might be the making of him to be fair. He's got the technical and physical ability as well as the passion, but he needs to learn a cooler head and improve his concentration - ultimately step up to become a defensive leader. There are plenty of players that have benefited by a step down and taking on a leading role at a lower level - even with saints. Look at the development of Morgan, Lallana, and Fonte as examples. ultimately, if we're going to get promoted with any of our current CB's, the reality is they are going to have to develop and mature this coming season. We currently have 6 on paper good CB's for the champ - Stephens (29), Bednarek (27), Lyanco (26), DCC (26), Salisu (24), ABK (21). I fancy we'll keep Stephens as he's always had the ability to carry the ball, Lyanco similar, and then one of the others - DCC was much hyped for his passing. ABK is an absolute athlete that would do very well for a year of regular playing at this level.

Nah, we'll be automatic. Runners up no doubt - we're the proverbial nearly men after all 😭

Its clear that the club want to keep him (and others) and are putting high prices on our players. This is a good thing. Remains to be seen whether we'll need to accept cheaper offers come the end of the window. But for anything less than £45M i'd keep JWP.

West ham could do a lot worse than Lavia to be honest - They're in Europe, flush with cash, and he should be able to step into their midfield and shine. We could also let him go there with a sell on fee knowing full well that there is a good chance of a profitable move in another 3-5 years. Ultimately we know that Lavia won't be at saints long term, whereas JWP might still end his career here - so out of the two i'd cash in on Lavia and keep Prowsey. Plus we also know that JWP is likely to play a lot more minutes than Lavia this season, and his free kicks may well prove invaluable.

Hard to imagine us getting him without giving them a central midfileder they want in return. We all know Lavia is leaving, so i would see if there is a possibility of selling them lavia with a nice sell on clause and take downes as part of the deal.

In fairness, what we need to sign will be linked to what we let go. We can ship out an awful lot of high wage squad fillers and not need to replace them with anything other than a smattering of academy players... our squad last season was bloated and full of shite.

I sense an undercurrent of panic behind these comments, certainly a lot of concern. We haven't wasted 2-3 months. 3 months ago was March and we were relegated in mid May. Since then we have restructured pretty much the entire management of the club. We've also had our manager identified pretty much since then, nailed on for well over a month, and we've likely had both him and the DoF planning the summer in the background whilst the players have also been on holiday. The transfer window isn't even open! Coady would be a decent championship player sure, agree. But he is also 30years old, couldn't get in a possession focused wolves side, didn't really do that well under Dyche at everton, and is only going to decline as a player. There are plenty of other players to be found, and many that will suit the style of play better - just because we don't sign Coady doesn't mean we'll have bad CB's. Piroe has 1 year left and knows Martin, if we are in for him and he wants to come here, he will come here. Swansea can't afford to let their star striker leave for free... Maresca is a gamble regardless. He's had 14 games as a manager abroad and it was a car crash. To now step up and turn around the mess that is Leicester in the championship (a very competitive league) is not guaranteed. Maresca's experience of english football is the upper echelons of the premier league with a very weighted deck of cards - he's only really had 2 years learning from pep, and they were sandwiched between time at Parma.

Yes, but I don't want diallo playing in the championship (do you?) so is this really saying much?

I want to see the club slapping high valuations on players - its basically a "hands off" unless clubs come in with silly offers. Bodes well if we actually stick to it. What doesn't align is the alleged £40M valuation of Lavia - unless the club are basically facilitating his sale to keep others. We should clearly be asking for more than £40M for lavia!

Its effectivley just the saudi's transferring a load of money between their two clubs whilst we get a nice bit on the side. Not that big a deal surely? And if it is an issue, can't they just top up Newcastle's kitty by signing a Newcastle player for one of their 4 Saudi domestic sides for like £20M... FFP is dead for the Saudi clubs 🤣

The media seem desperate to flog our players as cheaply as possible, and then to print mock outrage at how much we are asking. Makes me want to speculate that we are actually driving a hard bargain on the basis that otherwise we'd be reading a lot more stories about deals being accepted etc. Also ties in with the tough line we took with Swansea. The fans won't accept players being sold for perceived cheap prices. Equally this is something of a litmus test for SR's business model of trying to maximise player trading profit.

You don't understand Hypo... regrettably we've signed an agreement with all potential suitors of Lavia that his price is £40M and we cannot possibly ask for a penny more 🙄

Thanks Mozz, thats interesting. I knew there was an improved TV deal for the champ etc. this year, but didn't know the specifics. Might see quite a lot of saints on tv depending on how well we do.

Went to Gillingham / Medway twice for work. Accurate. 😄

He isn't moving to Fulham 😂

Maybe he isn't available? 🧐

Agree with this.

Surely you realise where you've gone wrong if your on here looking for this? Also yes, i agree with you.