ErwinK1961

WTF?! Looking forward to speaking to the resident Everton fan at work tomorrow.

No chance Forster is on £130k a week by the way. I swear his rumoured wage seems to get larger every year.

Sounds like he was on the verge of a loan to Bournemouth, but Newcastle have kept him as Dubravka needs surgery. If FF is off, then I suspect AM will be number one and we’ll sign an understudy (maybe the lad at Accrington?) - didn’t one of the Saints kitmen congratulate him on Twitter after his MOM performance against the Skates? Possible tenuous link.

But what have Ings and PEH actually done though? Other than honour their contract? (Admittedly PEH saying he’d only join Spurs wasn’t helpful). The fact they have one year left isn’t their problem, it’s the clubs. If we wanted “full value” we should have sold them earlier.

This. If a player wants to honour his contract and not sign a new one, that’s his prerogative. Can’t moan about it, that’s the term of his deal. If he doesn’t want to extend, that’s his call, down to the club then to either sell or release on a free. Players that sign 5/6 year deals, then want to leave 6-12 months later and act like they’ve been detained in a North Korean labour camp is another matter (I’m looking at you Virgil).

I know Palace need players, but they are linked with EVERYBODY.

Could only imagine it would be a loan. We aren't forking out £20m on a CM.

Maybe they were established at the outset and we're trying to negotiate? Or perhaps Utd have chucked this in at the last minute? Who knows. I'm not sure walking away from a deal that doesn't seem financially sound is a shambles. Also no offence, but if anyone was riding the PR train of Brandon Williams on loan as a deal breaker to renew their season ticket (or any of our other summer transfer links), then I would suggest supporting Saints isn't for them.

I'd take 5.. beats Djenepo, Redmond, Tella, Walcott, Minamino - ties with Armstrong.

This is the way I see it - covering all his wages fair enough, but paying another £2m on top to develop another teams player, they can forget it - unless it's a down payment on a buy option at the end of the loan.

Would suggest that's N'lundulu off - hopefully a permanent as I can't see him making it here. Obafemi will either need to go too, or sign a new deal as only a year left.

Not a surprise - I guess we'll see in a few years time whether we come to regret it.

Lemsgacy? Fcking hell.

Yep, that one was a bit short too!

Really? I don't think it's any different at all to be honest - since Les Reed left, the only notable departures have been PEH (1 year left on his contract and made it clear he would only go to Spurs) and Targett (£15m for our back up LB). We even got someone to pay £4m for Austin FFS. We got shite fee's for both Clyne and Wanyama under Les' stewardship, because they also 1 year left on their contracts.

I don't believe that was saying he was on £1m a month, it was saying that you can subscribe to the athletic for £1 per month.

That's just talk for me. I just don't see us letting that size of fee walk out the door for free. Agree with SS, £20m would do it.

Sorry, the main point I was trying to make was that we spend what we receive. The wider issue from there is you then have to get the incomings spot on. When I say wasted, I guess I primarily mean the VVD cash - Carillo - £19m, Lemina £17m, Hoedt £15m, Gunn £10m, Moi £16m - that's £77m, plus wages we couldn't / can't shift. If nitpicking, in my opinion I'd say of those listed only Ings, Armstrong and KWP have been outright successes (Adams nearly there, Bendarek solid for the fee paid). Salisu and Diallo jury's still out but they weren't starters when everyone was fit. JV has been ok, but for the fee paid I'd have expected more since he's been here. Djenepo has done very little, still cost £14m. It has got better the last couple of years though for sure. Either way, my point was that we spend what we make.

We 1000% need to replace JV with a first choice defender. He has arguably been our best defender since project restart and that's really not saying much considering how pants our defence has been the last 2 seasons. You were saying on another thread how we need to improve defensively, starting Bednarek and Salisu next season with a cheap or loan signing to replace JV is not the way to do that.

As has been mentioned many times, since Gao has come in we have re-invested what we have received in fee's. If you look at every season since he's been here, we have spent what we have made. He doesn't put anything in, but he doesn't take anything out. The issue has been we have wasted most of it.

Can't see it at all - imagine we let him run his contract down on the basis his goals are not worth the fee. Then he gets injured for several months, which let's be honest isn't against the realms of possibility. Would be a complete waste of money. Plus, if he is running his contract down, do you think (with his injury problems) he'll be busting a gut for the last few months of the season? Not a chance. Not a sleight on Ings, but anyone would do the same knowing they won't be here. If he's made his choice, sell him to the highest bidder and move on.

I dunno, the more I think about it the more I'd be tempted to cash in if someone offers us £50m for JWP (if Ben White can command that fee, then so can JWP). The squad needs surgery, it's far too stale and has been for a number of years. With the way Ralph wants to play (and rightly or wrongly, he isn't going anywhere), we need an injection of energy, pace, athleticism. £20m for Ings, £15m for Vestergaard, £50m for JWP - £85m to re-invest. This year more than ever, with the pandemic after effects on finances, seemingly a lot more players with 1 year left on deals, the TV deal collapsing in France, there's the potential to get some bargains or good value signings. That money could get us a GK, CB, CM, CAM, STx2 (plus maybe some loan cover). Could be a summer 2014 all over again. Of course, it means recruitment has to be spot on and could leave us up the creek if we get it wrong. But we're heading up the creek anyway, so may as well try something to change the tide.

No chance we'll get £30m. We'll be low-balled all summer and probably deal at £20m.

Would suggest this is probably the situation.