DuncanRG

For information which the club want out it's possible - the club would never make a song and dance about stuff like this but it might be helpful for somebody to put it out there. Otherwise, Sibley is far too media-savvy to leak things I would imagine.

I suppose. I wouldn't be worried about floodgates flying open though, if he compromises once it doesn't mean he has to again.

I don't understand the point of this post

I would imagine every transfer deal has compromises on both sides. Him signing for us doesn't necessarily mean Cortese has paid a small fortune to an agent - it doesn't necessarily mean he's even paid more than the usual. We don't really know.

Wow Who are we going to outperform out of United, City, Chelsea, Arsenal, Spurs and Liverpool, then?

Interesting!

The New Saints? Better hope they don't have any vision or a squad of young, hungry players guaranteed to improve. Wanyama might get ideas!

Precisely. It is completely and utterly ludicrous for fans to expect players from other countries to have loyalty to a club they have absolutely no reason to be loyal to. What feeling does a young man from Kenya hold for Southampton? All that matters is how he would act if he did sign, and I'm confident he'd be thoroughly professional. It means wait and see - it might happen, it might not.

I firmly believe that once he finds his club Wanyama will give everything for them. He seems a very composed and intelligent young man - certainly pays Celtic the respect they're due. Why would a player be loyal to a club before they've signed? Do you see Gaston Ramirez as loyal? He's 21 years old and you think we should be looking for the 'next Wanyama'? That's looking at academy level. Believe me, this guy is the real deal. A player with experience in a top European side: 1. Is no more likely to come here - especially if you don't want players coming for money 2. Will, presumably, be older than Wanyama if experience is required 2a. Will not have anywhere near the same sell-on value should we go down that route. If Wanyama fulfils his potential and a big club come calling we could command £25m+ for him.

Didn't we agree Horton Heath Saint was a Pompey fan?

Obviously, but generally speaking clubs don't waste their time talking to players they don't think would sign for them and vice versa. We've already captured two players who many considered to be above our level. Don't get me wrong, I'm not sat here foaming at the mouth, it just says a lot about how far the club's come since 2009.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/southampton-transfers-dejan-lovren-joins-1953718

Not in ways other than the ones I mentioned, no. Point is they've used inverted commas instead, so it may have been changed a little more. Doubt it's a big deal though.

Who? It baffles me that people are angry at these players for turning us down - we should be excited that they're even talking to us, and incredibly excited if they actually sign. These are good, good players and we are not the Premier League powerhouse some people seem to think we are. Wanyama in particular seems like a good young lad.

Do you not think he might end up playing for Arsenal? Because it suggests that's not exactly what he said. Generally journalists, even within quotation marks, can take a bit of license and cut sentences, fix grammar etc so long as the meaning's not changed. Chances are it's just because it was a phone interview and a lot of what he said was broken up by questions but it could be heavily paraphrased. Maybe it's Mail style that I've just missed.

Interesting that they've put it in inverted commas rather than quotation marks.

There you go. Whoever was on the Celtic forums yesterday giving them it needs a smack round the ears - Southampton dream of nights like that and may always be dreaming.

He was 20 at the start of that cycle - I would agree with you if he was going to play in tournaments next summer and the summer afterwards, but not as it is.

They're all much older! A lot of the Spanish youth playing at tournament level are in the reserves for big Spanish teams and don't play every week. Agreed.

I know he's been awful. I'm not defending his performances, just expressing what I think would be best for him at Saints now. I assume he was at the Olympics for some of Bologna's preseason, as Cork was for ours, but what I meant was he didn't have any Saints preseason so couldn't meet the players, gel, be coached, learn the language etc before he was put into action. Wiki says he played 33 games for Bologna. Suarez was a couple of years older when he went to Liverpool, not a 'young player' as such. It's the amount of work he's doing as a young kid that worries me, must have been fatigued at times.

A year and a half - full Serie A season, Olympics, full Premier League season with no preseason, Confederations Cup. Obviously he hasn't played every possible game without any breaks but that's an awful lot for a young player before you add in moving across the globe, learning a new language, his family issues etc. Always a lot of talk about young Englishmen like Jack Wilshere being overworked and I think Ramirez has been through a lot as well. Rest and a full preseason will do him good.

I hope he's dropped for the next game and Uruguay go out. Poor guy needs a rest, he's been playing for two years straight.

My take on this:

He's a 17 year-old lad in the Premier League. I wouldn't be bothered if he gets knocked around a little bit, he's incredibly strong for his age.

Nonsense. If it weren't for my natural attachment to our academy players and desire to keep them here I'd trade Shaw for Lukaku in a heartbeat. Attacking players cost more because goals are worth their weight in gold. Players who score goals are more valuable than players who defend wide areas and put crosses in. Defenders often stay at clubs longer but that doesn't mean teams are built around them - Barca build around Messi, Real around Ronaldo, United around Van Nistelrooy, Rooney and now Van Persie. Having a strong, stable leader at the back is highly valuable but that's not what Shaw is. Anyway, it's a moot point because Chelsea will not sell Lukaku permanently. The best we can hope for is another loan if Mourinho doesn't think he's ready for their first team yet.