UpweySaint

I remember when we signed Larin being underwhelmed but I thought at least he added the type of physicality we needed. After seeing the difference when we were able to start with Stewart my hope was he worked well with those around him and contributed a few goals. My feelings around Mubama are much the same. He has physical presence and looks to have decent acceleration making him a handful for opponents and getting us up the pitch. I can see him creating space for others to play in. If he can manage a decent strike rate too it’s brilliant. Adding the likes of Mubama and Dobbin also adds to our tactical flexibility. Plenty of games last season we were able to change and drag results from (post Still of course!) and it may be the same this year. With the squad as is we could arguably line up in a 4-2-3-1, 4-4-2, 4-3-3, 5-3-2 all without having to shoehorn players.

Some won’t ever warm to it. Fair. For me it’s a good idea but hasn’t been effective yet. I have felt for a long time we need to be creative to get a competitive edge as we can’t compete financially, on current terms, with a large number of top flight teams. Anyway, back to transfers - any rumblings on a Charles replacement? Was the lad at Hibs mooted for that type of role?

I completely missed this: Daouda Traoré FRA Midfielder Southampton to Le Mans Box-to-box midfielder, 20, joins Ligue 1 newcomers on loan with option to buy after previous stints at Valenciennes, Betis and Bari

Take the point but Jay is younger and there is, in theory, more competition in the wide positions.

I’m interested to see how Charles does in the Prem, just a shame it’s not with us. He has lots of potential and had a great habit of being a difference maker last season. The fee sounds about right and it’s one of those deals that seems to make sense for all involved. I don’t necessarily think comparing him and Jander directly is fair as they have different attributes but of the two I would say Jander is more important to how we play so if anybody has to go for a good fee I’m comfortable with it being Charles.

I don’t buy that as a reason. I expect it may be something the clubs know but won’t share publicly 🤷‍♂️

I’m not suggesting we’ve handed over a ready made star or that Juan would thrive as a Southampton player. I genuinely don’t understand why the transfer was structured the way it was. It’s odd. As you suggested the fee was not a large one so I don’t get why he didn’t just go directly to you without signing for us 🤷‍♂️

It does beg the question why you didn’t. I’m broadly pro multi club model in theory but I don’t understand the way the Juan deal worked. Sharing players, expertise, networks etc I’m on board with but the Juan deal felt odd.

The article has Fulham as being managed by Marco Silva still so that undermines the credibility a little.

Fair to a point but Goztepe have seen some of their Brazilians move on for decent fees. I expect the model would be better if there was a stable premier league club as a possible end point for some of the talent identified. Speculative on my part but I would suggest a fair assumption. I caveat this with knowing I’m a bit of a champion for the model in principle (if not always in practice!) which I know is not universally popular.

While it’s likely better than him having been on a genuine holiday there is a lot of sport science specificity (beyond me) that goes into a preseason. Ross in particular would need careful management and fine tuning to see the best of him. Perhaps he is doing some of that without a club, perhaps not. The situation isn’t ideal for anyone involved at this point. That’s not even thinking about the dynamics and tactical side of things that’s being missed. I’m very much “Stewart in” but would much rather it happen sooner rather than later if it is going to happen.

It’s a fair reflection. The context is important as it’s a long way from a competitive championship game but there is no need to deride him. The hope is it can translate. If he can add composure and utilise his physicality he could be a useful part of the squad. All “ifs” though but I suppose a big part of preseason is players like Downs being given a chance to demonstrate to Tonda if they are worth persevering with as a squad option for the season.

Good for Tonda to get a look at BBD and, to some extent, Downs to see if either are players he feels he can work with.

Could Tonda be punished by being sent on a speed awareness course? They are enough to bore anybody half to death - punishment enough in my book 😅

Interesting to see how they do. They’ve lost Hackney and Fry so two pretty big holes to fill. Shame we didn’t get Lankshear, he may well prove his worth but it’s a big gamble at that price tag.

I thought Ipswich would. I expected an Ipswich Leicester one two before a balls was kicked. West Ham should have enough about them to win this time around but I guess they may need to add to their squad. I’m not 100% sold on Nuno but he did amazing with Forest so it’s probably my own bias. All that being said I think we’ll be in the mix. My only major worry is losing/struggling to replace THB and the Stewart shaped hole up top - may resolve soon!

QPR have signed Lamptey on a free, he did his ACL last year so hard to know how he has recovered but he looked good at Brighton. If he’s fit that’s a good bit of business for QPR - on the whole they do seem to be getting some good value in their dealings.

Very much this. Styling ourselves as a place for those sort of players to get first team minutes and develop was a sound idea especially when we had Shields who had knowledge of, and relationships with, the players we were targeting. There were always going to be hits and misses. The problem comes when you put too much weight on them coming good. If they force their way into an established side, brilliant. The way our side is now I wouldn’t be opposed to us getting one or two of that ilk in should we go up.

I expect we could find some deep level stats that break down his impact on our attacking play to give us more definitive answers. Short of that happy to go by eye. I don’t think you’re alone in questioning the end product but my sense is he contributes a lot to the overall build up play and our attack seems much more potent when he plays (for the most part). I’m hoping with a Tonda preseason we could see even more from him next season.

It’s not the end of the world and we could pull another rabbit out of the hat but there are no guarantees the next ‘can off the rank’ has the same impact as Leo. He must have a good length of time on his contract so I don’t see why we would be selling unless the offer was too good to turn down and/or we have any sense he would down tools if we didn’t accept - he doesn’t seem like that sort of character though.

I get a bit narky about player values. They have a pure accountancy book value but beyond that value is wholly subjective. I’m not digging you out because I think your point is more 30-35 mil does not reflect ‘market value’ given things like Leo’s age and limited top level experience - which is fair. My big however is, his value is absolutely defined by at what price we are willing to sell and somebody meeting it. If I were a Como fan and the club spent £30mil or more on Leo I would be concerned. But from a Saints perspective Leo may genuinely be so important to us we would only want to sell for a fee that is above a perceived ‘market value’. IMO Leo has X factor on the pitch that is really hard to replace especially without the offer of premier league football. His attitude off the pitch is also brilliant and I would suggest contributes to the strength of character the team showed in our run last season. He’s also well loved by the fans - I think a fan connection with the team is important and helps though it’s a hard one to quantify. if the club sold Leo for £25 mil I would be disappointed but understand. Though I can see a world where we refuse to sell this year unless the money is OTT.

It depends on finances for me. if Wellington attracted a reasonable fee and Targett was up for joining to compete with Manning without wanting top whack then yeah, sure. Manning has his moments but he was an important part of the way we played under Tonda, Wellington I’m still not sure about either way.

Impressive stats in a middling side. The summary is helpful, thank you.

It’s one of those where we were both probably right. He clearly needed first team minutes to see if he could cut it and he wasn’t getting them with us. Can’t blame us for wanting to keep him on the books with a loan or him for wanting some permanency.

Here you go https://www.theguardian.com/football/ng-interactive/2026/jun/08/mens-transfer-window-summer-2026-all-deals-from-europes-top-five-leagues scroll down to 30th June, he’s gone to Venezia