UpweySaint

It doesn’t mean he made a choice not to play and you know that.

Do you honestly believe THB won’t be replaced?

Very true but I wouldn’t be surprised if one or more of those has a wobble this season - European football and losing Iraola could be tricky for Bournemouth to navigate. If (and if is doing a lot of heavy lifting here) we can get back up I would back Spors and Tonda to make us looking much more competitive than last time we went up. There is a lot of pressure on us to get this window right.

I can see why you would say that but I really rate TBH. Seeing England’s relative lack of depth at CB over the summer I genuinely wondered how far away TBH would be from selection if he can have a decent season in the prem.

Clearly slacking! Also being a cheapskate and rationed to three posts a day 😅 I agree about standing firm. Some clever stuff with add ons etc to make it more palatable to both parties is likely but IMO £30 mil for THB is about right. Then again I keep seeing some of the prices Chelsea are apparently slapping on players who haven’t pulled up trees and nearly fall over so bugger what I know! Benfica should fancy themselves to get past Aarhus though I can’t pretend to know much about either side a the moment. I guess the pain for us is the second leg isn’t until 27th August. I won’t do the “man shouts at clouds” bit about the window being open after the season starts but clearly if he is going to go we want everything sorted sooner than rather than later so we can get a replacement in and up to speed asap.

Good spot. I think this makes it that much trickier for them to try lowball tactics. We value TBH at £30mil, they can’t exactly say all that convincingly that they can’t afford that now 😅 If THB does go for that sort of fee I’m hopeful we can do some decent business our end. £60 mil for him and Charles is good money. I would have ideally kept both but this was always likely when we didn’t go back up. Even if we can’t spend all of it you would hope there is enough to get quality replacements, it will be time for Spors to earn his money again …

I don’t recall anyone saying that but could be wrong. I don’t fancy trawling back through and I imagine you don’t either! In certain circumstances I expect Downes and Bragg could work but it’s not ideal and shouldn’t be the default pairing - I expect most can agree ok that. We are light in centre mid and need a different profile for sure. I’m not sure on physicality but I spotted a tenuous Celtic link to Matt O’Reilly going back. I remember him being a player we targeted previously. Probably unrealistic but he adds goals and creativity from midfield, I THINK he could play as an 8. A loan with an option to buy if we go up maybe?

Fair enough. Hopefully he proves you wrong throughout the season 🤷‍♂️

He’s played about 30 mins of football for us and barely trained with the team. He came into a game with us struggling to break a team down who were working hard to hold a lead. What did you expect from him?!

Without wanting to go into MLG mode correlation does not necessarily equal correlation. It’s hard to prove or disprove the benefits to the national team either way. I appreciate the top down system isn’t going to change. We’re a part of it too. I do think the way teams are compensated needs looking at though to ensure academies remain sustainable lower down the pyramid.

All in all it’s quite dispiriting, we’ve lost a few over the last few years with a lot of hype. Alleyne and Jimmy-Jay Morgan would probably be in and around the first team by now. Do we actually get compensation for a player moving this young? You can see why some clubs have folded their academies. I’m not suggesting we do similar but it’s a significant outlay if you see your brightest poached for buttons. If you were lower down the chain I guess the temptation is to scrap the academy and just rotate a scout around City, Chelsea etc and wait to see who doesn’t get offered a pro contract.

It feels like good value, sensible from Wolves - the manager gamble aside Wolves seem to be making sensible decisions this summer. I can see why Wolves may be ahead of us in the queue for him too so fair enough really. Hopefully Spors can find somebody else more Jander than Downs.

Cheating, rule breaking. Yhep, sure. Can’t argue - I find it odd people are trying to do otherwise. The general point about the sanctimonious bullshit around it that’s been pedalled is perhaps more relevant. We’ve been caught out and punished. I’m bored of people in the media spouting hypocritical hyperbolic nonsense as if the offence was akin to the Calciopoli scandal or something worse. Hopefully we can stick two fingers up to the lot of them and get promoted all the same. Minus four who gives a f*ck …

Open training session, has me stumped for a moment too.

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.