DuncanRG

When does he get time to eat? You're probably right that he has something to do with the change to plain red, but I wouldn't be so hasty to blame him for the sleeves, quality of stitching on the badge etc.

12th of July. I'd be very surprised if he didn't sign on the day, it'll make for great PR.

Ha, touche.

Now I know we'd have songs like this in our arsenal, I will now be inconsolable if he doesn't sign for us. No idea where this one's come from, but he's been linked with moves all around Europe for the last 3 or 4 windows. Would certainly be good.

It's just over a week til Luke's birthday so I'd imagine a contract is being drawn up now, ready for him to sign on the day.

What do you know about what's happened in Egypt tonight?

I suppose it's still a confidence issue, then. The whole reason he's using an interpreter is because he doesn't want to accidentally say something he doesn't mean, but it's different with in-house coverage because he can record things as many times as he likes.

A bad feeling?! What are we going to do?

Note the word 'try'. They will have tried. That's okay, and they know it isn't easy to do deals this early on.

Mayuka or Rodriguez I'd imagine. Morgan probably covers the most ground. It hardly matters, we are one of the fitter sides in the league.

It's not surprising that distance covered doesn't correlate with success. You cover more distance when you're out of possession and chasing the ball, ask anyone who's played against Spain in the last 5 years. More interesting is the sprint speed stat.

An awful lot of journalists don't like Cortese - he's no great friend of the trade and word of the Echo affair spread quite quickly.

So in other words, he has contacts? Why on earth is it a bad thing that he has stories 'fed to him' by Premier League managers?

Are you sure that's what it involves? There are often vocal minorities involved in this kind of thing and last season's kit supposedly sold very well. Certainly shouldn't be a surprise that you risk facing stagnating sales if you don't make any changes. Also, why does everyone assume Cortese that has anything to do with deciding the colour of the kit? If he had particularly strong feelings I'm sure he would get his way, as Tan has at Cardiff, but it's possible that other staff at the club make these decisions and Cortese just lets them get on with it.

I don't know the player well at all but if he's in the Catalan mould then you would expect he can play the ball well, which might be what Hughes is looking for.

I agree - I'm not suggesting that a new player could walk into the club and instantly shaft Lambert onto the bench or into midfield. But a player like Leandro Damiao, if he performs to his ability, would have to be the first name on the teamsheet. He'd be one of the best players Southampton have had in the Premier League era.

On Muniesa, more impressive than coming from the Barcelona academy is the fact that he's played for Spain at every youth level. That is not easy.

Do Adidas do priest's robes as well?

Because reports don't say 'this is now a done deal and will happen' - they say Player X is talking to Club Y, or Club Z has had a bid accepted. All of these things may be true but that doesn't mean that the transfers concerned will go through, and we will never know what happened if not. This is why it's silly to judge media organisations on how many of their stories actually end up leading to transfers - it doesn't make their stories any more or less true unless they say 'this player will sign'. When stories say that they are almost always right; when they report on preliminary negotiations etc it is purely down to chance whether or not the transfer actually happens. But this is about professional journalists rather than trolls and bored kids who make stuff up - and this is an interesting article on that subject.

Second point still stands, then. Players who want to play in Europe have to perform their way there, be that with the team they're at or by attracting a bid from a bigger club.

The players have to be happy before they sign, and if they want to move onto a Champions League club within a couple of years then they will have to perform to that standard, which suits us just fine.

What's the average rate? EDIT: Hmm, Southampton have the 8th highest crossing accuracy in the Premier League.

I'm not sure players get much smarter between the ages of 31 and 32. The question isn't his fitness generally, it's his ability to play in a more physically demanding role. He's fit enough to lead the line but couldn't play at full back, for example. Pochettino confirmed he had a back niggle that he carried for the last few games of last season.

Fred's a great player and at £1.7m he's worth a punt but I'm not sure he wants to leave Brazil.

There's been some talk about Rickie possibly moving down the pecking order if we bring in a big money striker this summer, but I wonder if he might be able to perform a number 10 or (very) offensive midfield role for us. Last season he struggled to be the hub of our play and act as a number 9 at the same time because most Premier League defences will nullify one or the other of those functions. Do we think he - as a great hold-up player with awareness, vision, and the best crossing ability in the team - could play a little further back and allow a new striker to lead the line? What would that mean for players like Jay Rodriguez? [Disclaimer: I don't think we'll sign Leandro Damiao, but that's the type of player that would have to displace Lambert as no. 9]