Toon Saint

Not good, hopefully just a minor tweak and not a tear. Guessing Yoshi will come in given Gardos' lack of playing time, and probably Big Vic as well to firm up the back four. Should be a close game, I'm going 2-2.

You don't fork out £10m+ without having a good idea if Work Permit conditions will be met or not. Different region, but Rojo's took about a fortnight to sort. It doesn't just happen to us.

Because when he scores goals, we'll sing together Same name as the best footballer ever Southampton's goal machine, Get's a chance, sticks it on in the net Now he's scoring more than ever, 6 foot 4, what a handsome fella, His name is Graziano Pelle His name is Graziano Pelle (Pelle, Pelle, eh eh eh) Graziano Pelle (Pelle, Pelle, eh eh eh) Graziano Pelle x repeat ad nauseam

The 'why' was referring to your 'that will be that' logic not the reasons City might look to sign him.

Why? He's not even an established international and won't be given much time to adjust to City's level if he went there. Given the struggles of Sinclair, Johnson and to a lesser extent Richards and Lescott, they've hardly got a good track record of helping English players come through. He might rake the £ in but from a footballing point of view it would be a poor move IMO. Spurs is about the right step up for him at this moment in time, but hoping that we do well enough between now and Jan to convince him to sign a new contract. Massive show of faith from the board to offer him a 5 year deal given nature of his injury, so I hope either way it gets sorted quickly and we don't get played again like with Poch.

-------- Forster -------- Clyne - Toby - Fonte - Bertrand ----Big Vic---Morgan------ --Mane---Davis---Tadic--- ----------Pelle ---------- Bench: Boruc Cork JWP Long Gardos Isgrove Yoshi Forward options on the bench will look far better when J-Rod is back from injury. From where we were at the start of July, much better than I would have expected.

Alongside Tadic probably our smartest signing of the summer, very impressed.

Too many false dawns with Gaston. This suits all involved. Hopefully he will come back from his purgatory at Hull a more experienced and committed player. Has obvious talent but still very much a luxury player given his meagre contribution last season.

HugoScheckter ‏@HugoScheckter 5m Haven't even started yet and there are already fat jokes on a #saintsfc forum about me… They haven't hired me for my pace down the wing haha

Embarrassing, especially given how much the signing was talked up by those at the club. Didn't we pay a loan fee of 1m euro or something, what happens to that money?

Luke used to scoff down a Burger King after he played and was in Nando's every other day. No surprise his buttocks aren't as taut as they could be.

Welcome aboard Hugo. Glad to see our recruitment department are still spotting the up-and-coming talent. Should slot nicely into the gaping chasm between Les in his ivory tower and the rest of playing squad. He looks and sounds like a posh-boy schmoozer, so should fulfill his duties to a tee. Fantastic signing. #sainthugo

Has goal.com ever been right about a transfer with us? Sounds like boll^cks to me.

Looks good to me. Glad I'm off to the Dordogne this weekend and that I'll miss the mad scramble. We need three more IMO (RW, RB/CB cover, and another striker) but reckon it will be a bit of an anti-climax. Doesn't sound like we are close to anyone, and a bit deflating that Sunderland appear to be in pole position for a couple of our targets. Would have hoped that Koeman's reputation would have helped secure any decent prospects from the Low Countries.

Losing out to Sunderland is grim. Would have been a great addition.

Great young player, hopefully that means Alderweireld is a no-go for them. Can we fight the glamour of Sunderland though? Probably not.

£16m keeps getting bandied about but we received £11m for him, with the rest in add-ons.

Carphone warehouse in Southampton are said to be devastated with the news.

Alright, tough guy!

But who will sort our new signings out with phones and cars?

Rejoice! :cool:

I'm ambivalent about him leaving (in terms of the qualities he offers the team) but pointless to do sanction a move if we don't have a replacement lined up. Lack of creativity in the team is a real worry. Koeman has so few options on the bench apart from switching up his central midfield players, that we'll be something of a blunt instrument should Tadic or S. Davis suffer an injury.

If Tadic or S. Davis pick up a significant injury, we are really going to be in trouble in terms of creating chances. West Brom game suggests we aren't exactly bossing it in that department anyway.

Ambivalent if Ramirez stays or goes. Technically a very good player, but never quite happened for him and tired of waiting for him to show what he can do on a consistent or regular basis. There have been too many false dawns that I suspect it is just not going to work out for him. I hope we would replace him though. If he is to leave and we get only one more in, as Guan suggests, then can't help but feel we have failed to deepen the 'roster' with the money the board have raked in. With the squad as it is, Koeman is going to have very few options on the bench to change games, and we are always going to be a couple of injuries away from a crisis.