Saints risk losing Puncheon - West Ham and Newcastle United circle

Dont think he'll be here next season either way.

Mixed feelings here. He's done brilliantly this season - perhaps our best performer, but if we're looking upwards then I still think we could do better. Sign him up, by all means, and I'd be chuffed, but if we lost him I wouldn't have sleepless nights as he's replaceable, albeit for a bit of bunce.

After all he's been through with Cortese, I wonder whether he'd sign a contract should it be offered to him anyway...

Given how important he's been this season, there clearly is some kind of situation going on behind the scenes here. Cortese, whatever you think of him, ain't stupid, and if he's to let Punch go it will be because he has better ideas.

For the record, I've always liked and rated Puncheon.

The trouble with stories like this is that they are writen to try and give the impression that the Saints managemnent are a bunch of indecisive amature baffoons. Where as I think recent events show that Cortese is anything but indecisive. So far all of Saints transfer business has gone on behind closed doors and I do not see any reason why this situation would be any different. I certainly dont believe there is any 'dithering' involved. Of course West Ham and Newcastle are interested, he is a good player!

Maybe we need a 'summer transfer rumour' thread. :-)

Should keep him. No question at all

Even to have around the squad. To replace what he brings would cost over £5-7m

And we already have him

I suspect NC is letting MP asses what he has before making any decisons on contracts or new players rather than waiting to see if we stay up. I would give it a few more weeks and we will probably see some developments! (Newcastle are hardly safer than us and even Westham look ropey at the moment)!

at the moment punch has no real competition in the squad. he is playing well and his attitude seems good.

i suspect the management are concerned that should we sign a player in the summer who puts some pressure on him amd possibly gets in ahead of him that he will again throw his toys out of the pram.

for that reason i would certainly consider very carefully whether to keep or release

Hope he's with us next season.

I think we are keeping our powder dry. Based on his previous performances - hold off giving him a new contract until the season ends. If we do something before then his form may just drop off...certainly happened in the past!

Wait. No rush as they can't talk to him until a month before his contract finishes. So would secure our status in the premiership and then offer him a new deal.

at the moment punch has no real competition in the squad. he is playing well and his attitude seems good.

 

i suspect the management are concerned that should we sign a player in the summer who puts some pressure on him amd possibly gets in ahead of him that he will again throw his toys out of the pram.

 

for that reason i would certainly consider very carefully whether to keep or release

He already has competition

Puncheon

Davis

Lallana

Ramirez

Rodriguez

All can't play

And it is hard to argue against the thought that puncheon has been the best of the lot

Probably his Agent trying to speed things up. If we want him he will stay. If not he will have his pick of 7 or 8 Prem teams I reckon.

 

Puncheon

Davis

Lallana

Ramirez

Rodriguez

 

All can't play

a bit harsh

Story is a fact - he has not yet discussed a new deal... but the way its implied is comical... 'its believed' , and the quote from Punch is copied from other interviews...

I think we are keepinassert powder dry. Based on his previous performances - hold off giving him a new contract until the season ends. If we do something before then his form may just drop off...certainly happened in the past!

Yep agree with this fully. I think he's an asset but there could be better available to MP in the summer.

Yep agree with this fully. I think he's an asset but there could be better available to MP in the summer.

Surely having him in the squad and bringing in better is what we should be doing?

If he stays, he'll be up against stronger competition on the right next season if we stay up. Worries me that he won't accept that like when AOC took his place.

What evidence does the Mirror reporter have for claiming that Wham and Ncastle have any 'interest'? There's none in the report which is as weak a piece of speculative writing as you co0uld ever see. If sFC wants to keep Puncheon they will make him an offer when the time is right, which will probably be before the end of the season. If they don't, they won't. In the meantime, no club in the Prem can make an offer and none can approach him without SFC permision. Maybe Cortese should file a complaint against the Mirror for trying to unsettle a saints' player by naming specific clubs. If Punch were to be available its fairly certain there would be wider interest than just the two mentooned, who might not even be in next year's Prem anyway. We've become so used to a badly run press that people just shrug off the dishonesty of newspapers but when there is proper regulation, things might change.

Of course clubs would have made "contact" via other clients and employees

I have no doubt that if he does not re sign for us (which would be criminal)

Then 6-8 teams will be fighting over him

Its only the Mirror guys

The mirror has pretty good track record with us to be fair

It's simple. Punch has stated to the club that he does not want to play in the Champioship. Naturally both parties want to see if we will stay up this year as the last thing we want is to have a player sulking again. Likewise Punch is in the strongest position of his career to demand Premiership football.

I also believe that deep down Cortese still thinks we could do better and hasn't forgotten the previous spat that went on.

Bottom line is, even if NC has someone else in mind for RM, he aint going to bring in 2, and Punch is the best back-up available.

Struggling to understand why no offer at all has been made.

Given how important he's been this season, there clearly is some kind of situation going on behind the scenes here. Cortese, whatever you think of him, ain't stupid, and if he's to let Punch go it will be because he has better ideas.

 

For the record, I've always liked and rated Puncheon.

Gotta agree with this. Cortese hasn't made a wrong decision yet.

Bottom line is, even if NC has someone else in mind for RM, he aint going to bring in 2, and Punch is the best back-up available.

 

Struggling to understand why no offer at all has been made.

How do you know he doesn't want to bring in two? We have absolutely no idea what he does or doesn't want to do or the exact amount of funds he has access to.

How do you know he doesn't want to bring in two? We have absolutely no idea what he does or doesn't want to do or the exact amount of funds he has access to.

That is plain b*ll*cks. We arent going to strengthen one position twice whilst other positions go ignored. And we dont need 2 with the ink drying on a Punch contract.

Old story regurgitated and its the mirror yet again . They have nothing good to say so promote negativity and unrest at the club as a story

Agree with Alps...Ink drying on contract..

Punch is one of our star players......

Should never have been disgarded in the first place....

Top footballer and one of the boyz:)

Neither club or player will say anything on this until it happens so it is just speculation.

we simply cannot afford to get big enough toilet paper supplies for him & so he will be offloaded in the summer

I suspect NC is letting MP asses what he has before making any decisons on contracts or new players rather than waiting to see if we stay up. I would give it a few more weeks and we will probably see some developments! (Newcastle are hardly safer than us and even Westham look ropey at the moment)!

West Ham are as likely as Man Utd to go down.

It is suggested that we are waiting to see what the position will be regarding whether we will stay up or not. Expert authorities on these things haven't yet declared that Saints are as likely as Man Utd to be relegated, so presumably there is still some reasonable doubt as to the situation.

But otherwise there is no real hurry to get Puncheon to sign a new contract. He has done really well this season and must be one of the first names on the team sheet currently. If as I expect, we bring in an even better player to the right wing in the Summer, then he would still be valuable cover. And he has expressed his happiness at being here at the moment, whereas his past career has been blighted with stories of him being unable to settle and disputes with other clubs, as indeed there were problems with us too.

He might get a better offer from some other Premiership club, but at the moment West Ham and even Newcastle don't look to be particularly good career moves. Providing that he isn't pushed too far down the rankings by new signings, or emerging starlets from our academy, then he might well decide that his personal happiness with us counts for more than a higher salary and a fresh start elsewhere which could carry the risk of him being unsettled again.

The mirror has pretty good track record with us to be fair

The Mirror, to my knowledge, his posted more Saints stories than anyone recently, and almost all of them have been wrong so far. Plus they were miles off with all the January transfer speculation.

It seems to happen more often now and one wonders whether the clubs have got together and decided to force wages down to fall in line with FFP. By not offering contracts to players who clearly want to stay the clubs are saying , "OK, we'd like to sign you too but not at the price you're asking. We'll tell you what we think your worth and what we'll pay"

Lampard is in the same boat as Puncheon and it'll be good for football if the clubs gamble and win. Jason can be good but he's not world-class by any means and we can easily find somebody younger and more skilful in the summer if he runs away.

West Ham are as likely as Man Utd to go down.

 

It is suggested that we are waiting to see what the position will be regarding whether we will stay up or not. Expert authorities on these things haven't yet declared that Saints are as likely as Man Utd to be relegated, so presumably there is still some reasonable doubt as to the situation.

 

But otherwise there is no real hurry to get Puncheon to sign a new contract. He has done really well this season and must be one of the first names on the team sheet currently. If as I expect, we bring in an even better player to the right wing in the Summer, then he would still be valuable cover. And he has expressed his happiness at being here at the moment, whereas his past career has been blighted with stories of him being unable to settle and disputes with other clubs, as indeed there were problems with us too.

 

He might get a better offer from some other Premiership club, but at the moment West Ham and even Newcastle don't look to be particularly good career moves. Providing that he isn't pushed too far down the rankings by new signings, or emerging starlets from our academy, then he might well decide that his personal happiness with us counts for more than a higher salary and a fresh start elsewhere which could carry the risk of him being unsettled again.

ooops thanks for reminding me, I had forgotten that it had already been declared on this site that Westham were as likely to be relegated as Manchester United! We had better catch up with them soon so that we also will be as likely to go down as Man U! (wonder when the bookies will catch on to the wisdom expressed on this site).

Bottom line is, even if NC has someone else in mind for RM, he aint going to bring in 2, and Punch is the best back-up available.

 

Struggling to understand why no offer at all has been made.

Probably, because as ever you underestimate the entire scenario.

You also confuse a lack of information in the public domain as a lack of action.

There is nothing to say absolutely that no contact has been made, or that an offer has or hasn't been made.

Still don't think he will stay personally, I dont really know why, I just have a feeling he will leave. Could be totally wrong of course, last January I thought he'd never play for Saints again.

I've always wondered whether there's been some form of gentleman's agreement between Punch & NC that he could go at the end of his contract for free, earning himself a nice big signing on fee, if he came back to the club and applied himself properly, such was the amazing turnaround when he came back into the fold, following his twitter outburst. Hence no deal will ever be in the offing. Total guesswork from me & I'd be disappointed if he left, such has been his transformation.

He's played well but we could have someone better lined up so happy to trust the club on this one.

I've always wondered whether there's been some form of gentleman's agreement between Punch & NC that he could go at the end of his contract for free' date=' earning himself a nice big signing on fee, if he came back to the club and applied himself properly, such was the amazing turnaround when he came back into the fold, following his twitter outburst. Hence no deal will ever be in the offing. Total guesswork from me & I'd be disappointed if he left, such has been his transformation.[/quote']

 

The same has been through my mind also.

 

I can't help but feel that perhaps just too much has happened, and that perhaps both parties would prefer something new.

I've always wondered whether there's been some form of gentleman's agreement between Punch & NC that he could go at the end of his contract for free' date=' earning himself a nice big signing on fee, if he came back to the club and applied himself properly, such was the amazing turnaround when he came back into the fold, following his twitter outburst. Hence no deal will ever be in the offing. Total guesswork from me & I'd be disappointed if he left, such has been his transformation.[/quote']

 

I'm not sure what you mean, there is nothing Cortese could do to stop any player seeing out their contract and going on a free.

He's played well but we could have someone better lined up so happy to trust the club on this one.

Puncheon could probably earn himself a £4-5million signing on fee by moving and still at least match whatever wages Saints would offer. Saints arent going to offer £4m to stay or silly wages to compensate - so he's more likely to go imo.

why cant we get someone better and keep puncheon...he wont cost a fee and by staying (and adding someone better) we improve the squad dramatically

Depends on Punch. It was obvious that his attitude changed dramatically once Ox took his place in the side. I am under the impression he can be pretty negative once his place in the starting 11 is not secure. If we keep him, we have to play him. He could cause us problems in the dressing room if he is second choice.

I suspect Puncheon is holding out on a better offer, probably wanting what Ramirez is on !!

Lazy, lying, media journo scumbags at it again I see.

Even if he is given a contract, offers could still be coming in. All depends on the fee IMO. Anything equal to or higher than ~£5m and he'll be gone. Can't see the club resisting an offer like that, even if he has been one of our best this season.

I'm not sure what you mean, there is nothing Cortese could do to stop any player seeing out their contract and going on a free.

True but to Punch there is a massive difference between being farmed out on loan, getting the odd game here and there & then moving on with a few Champ clubs to pick from and being given the chance to play really well for your club in the top flight, showing what you can really do and getting a large signing on fee for another Prem side. He gets the chance to earn a good move and NC gets some value for money from a player performing well until the end of his contract.

West ham and Newcastle linked to saints player, shocker.

The only way he will leave is if we bring in someone better, but of course if he does not sign, then he will just leave for nothing. If this happens we will replace him with someone better.

Remember we will be looking to improve, if we are to get into Europe.

i feel deep down in my ballsack that if we give punch a bumper 3 year contract he'll be gash next season. Possibly me and cortese have got similar mystic balls in this regard.