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CONFIRMED - Virgil Van Dijk joins on Five Year Deal


Brizzie Saints

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On Celtic players being rubbish, I think we have successfully disproved that with Wanyama. The only position that comes with a false representation from Celtic would be strikers, as it is too easy to score goals in Scotland.

 

Look at Gary Hooper, I remember when we were gutted not to get him, but he has been largely pants for Norwich both in the Premier League and the Championship.

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Exactly, and that Henrik Larsson guy never did noteworthy after leaving Celtic either. ;-)

 

When buying players from Scotland (or similar leagues like the Dutch or Belgian league) you have to look for players that are so dominant that they can be considered too good for the league. Just playing well for a top team in one of these leagues isn't that much of a challenge. The other thing you look for is good performances in Europe against better opposition. Something that both Forster and Wanyama had done.

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I think VVD would have a similar impact as Wanyama. He will take a while to adjust and in that time will make mistakes. But when he finds his feet he'll be a top quality PL defender.

 

Obviously we'll have the knee jerk reaction from some of our more simple fans, as we did with Wanyama,

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I think VVD would have a similar impact as Wanyama. He will take a while to adjust and in that time will make mistakes. But when he finds his feet he'll be a top quality PL defender.

 

Obviously we'll have the knee jerk reaction from some of our more simple fans, as we did with Wanyama,

 

Can't remember any people slagging off Wanyama.

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surely van dijk must now have the highest ratio of saints web posts : substantial transfer rumours !

 

I can find very very little out there on him linked with saints that's really ITK sources, other than the fact Koeman likes him and he was one of many people last year we were 'interested' in

 

I think the fact is he is dutch, comes from a club we've bought from before, wouldn't mind playing elsewhere, we've looked at him before and he fills an obvious gap.

 

I think he'd be excellent, really top quality, but he's no more likely to sign than a number of other CBs who don't have their own thread

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surely van dijk must now have the highest ratio of saints web posts : substantial transfer rumours !

 

I can find very very little out there on him linked with saints that's really ITK sources, other than the fact Koeman likes him and he was one of many people last year we were 'interested' in

 

I think the fact is he is dutch, comes from a club we've bought from before, wouldn't mind playing elsewhere, we've looked at him before and he fills an obvious gap.

 

I think he'd be excellent, really top quality, but he's no more likely to sign than a number of other CBs who don't have their own thread

 

So you didn't see the link in the Scottish paper then saying we enquired? It was posted above a few times.

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So you didn't see the link in the Scottish paper then saying we enquired? It was posted above a few times.

 

hm, that's interesting, no I completely missed that! Which newspaper?

 

I know that a year ago we apparently 'enquired', though I'm not concretely sure what that means in terms of likelihood to sign in the future.

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He wasnt comfortable with ball at feet under Poch which is why he split opinion in his first year. His passing and composure on the ball has come on leaps and bounds under Koeman. Much better player now.

 

All I remember was people not being sure about him when he had a really poor spell in his first year (and it was poor.) It later transpired that this had partly to do with the Kenyan shootings which he said affected him mentally. Other than that I can't really remember him splitting opinions. He had his weaknesses but from what I recall it was generally agreed that his positives far outweighed the negatives.

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All I remember was people not being sure about him when he had a really poor spell in his first year (and it was poor.) It later transpired that this had partly to do with the Kenyan shootings which he said affected him mentally. Other than that I can't really remember him splitting opinions. He had his weaknesses but from what I recall it was generally agreed that his positives far outweighed the negatives.

 

In his first year right from day one I always felt a sense of unease whenever he had the ball in tight situations a bit like the Paul Wotton days :)

 

Anyway the point is he has improved massively under Koeman imo although obviously he wasnt ever a bad player given we paid £12m for him.

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Is anything really happening on the CB front ? not a lot of rumours out there.

 

It feels a bit frustrating, I expected the club zoom right back with a signing after the Toby debacle.

 

Even the Echo is saying its the last (but fairly significant) piece of the jigsaw missing...

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Is anything really happening on the CB front ? not a lot of rumours out there.

 

It feels a bit frustrating, I expected the club zoom right back with a signing after the Toby debacle.

 

Even the Echo is saying its the last (but fairly significant) piece of the jigsaw missing...

 

The club have also consistently said that we don't do our transfers in the public domain. The Juanmi and Soares signings were both only rumoured very close to when they were completed. Wouldn't be surprised if the club were working on a deal with someone and we don't know about it. I'd start to get a bit worried / frustrated if we don't have someone in by the Newcastle game, but not yet...

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Is anything really happening on the CB front ? not a lot of rumours out there.

 

It feels a bit frustrating, I expected the club zoom right back with a signing after the Toby debacle.

 

Even the Echo is saying its the last (but fairly significant) piece of the jigsaw missing...

 

Nothing. Annoying isn't. You'd think we'd be all over this position trying to find someone, anyone will do just so we can announce a signing. It's the half arsed complacent attitude to the transfer market you've drawn out attention to every summer since 2009. You can change the board, change the divison, change the manager but we're still run like a crappy seaside B&B. I strongly believe unless we see somwthing happening on a centre back from NOW we are adrift in the brown stuff without a paddle. I'm not just saying it because it's you but i'm really disapointed in our transfer activity this summer and if people arent worried they should be.

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Nothing. Annoying isn't. You'd think we'd be all over this position trying to find someone, anyone will do just so we can announce a signing. It's the half arsed complacent attitude to the transfer market you've drawn out attention to every summer since 2009. You can change the board, change the divison, change the manager but we're still run like a crappy seaside B&B. I strongly believe unless we see somwthing happening on a centre back from NOW we are adrift in the brown stuff without a paddle. I'm not just saying it because it's you but i'm really disapointed in our transfer activity this summer and if people arent worried they should be.

 

Go ahead and take the p*ss; but in my opinion anyone who is not concerned with only Fonte from last seasons back 5 remaining for the Toon game, and doesnt want to see the injection of a bit more quality, is a mug.

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Go ahead and take the p*ss; but in my opinion anyone who is not concerned with only Fonte from last seasons back 5 remaining for the Toon game, and doesnt want to see the injection of a bit more quality, is a mug.

 

sure we want to see that. none of us would be happy with fonte and yoshida for the whole season, just we've got time. realistically we couldn't have hoped for much earlier, if this is the most important signing. we waited until it didn't work out with toby, now we're giving it thought and serious consideration for the one key remaining position through July. Wouldn't be surprised at all if early-mid august something's been announced.

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sure we want to see that. none of us would be happy with fonte and yoshida for the whole season, just we've got time. realistically we couldn't have hoped for much earlier, if this is the most important signing. we waited until it didn't work out with toby, now we're giving it thought and serious consideration for the one key remaining position through July. Wouldn't be surprised at all if early-mid august something's been announced.

 

Apart from possibly GK, I reckon CB is the most difficult position on the pitch to recruit real quality for, and we arent exactly top of the food chain... :(

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I see the stalker-with-no-opinion-of-his-own is back..

 

I do have an opinion Alpine, it is that you are the biggest bed wetter on here by far. There is still time to sign a centre half and if you don't think that things are going on behind the scenes then you are a bigger fool than we give you credit for. Worry about it if nothing happens and the transfer window closes. Is that enough opinion for you? :D

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Apart from possibly GK, I reckon CB is the most difficult position on the pitch to recruit real quality for, and we arent exactly top of the food chain... :(

 

Just thinking in terms of who could compete with saints for cb signings. would be interesting to map out where other, 'bigger' PL clubs are at with their back lines (especially CB...). I know spurs are fairly sorted with vertongen and toby, I suppose arsenal will look to play paulista now this season so can't see any signings there. of the others, I'd say less so with city/chelsea (though chelsea I think will get stones probably, not that we're in for him so it doesn't really count), but I could definitely see man U going in for a centre half this summer as none of those three have made any real additions to that area of the pitch. Liverpool may also.

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Just thinking in terms of who could compete with saints for cb signings. would be interesting to map out where other, 'bigger' PL clubs are at with their back lines (especially CB...). I know spurs are fairly sorted with vertongen and toby, I suppose arsenal will look to play paulista now this season so can't see any signings there. of the others, I'd say less so with city/chelsea (though chelsea I think will get stones probably, not that we're in for him so it doesn't really count), but I could definitely see man U going in for a centre half this summer as none of those three have made any real additions to that area of the pitch. Liverpool may also.

 

Everton will be after a CB. Regardless of what happens to stones. If Stones goes, they will after someone good big time

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Les has already come out and says he doesn't like to do business through the press so that would be why there aren't loads of rumours. Also clubs are also looking to fill various positions and whether Everton are after a CH or not is not the problem. It is finding the player you want who is available and at the price you want. It will happen eventually.

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We are an attractive proposition to players who still need to prove themselves at the top level in the Prem. Players that have already shown real quality in a top league or CL are in the main, a little out of our reach, but there's a lot of top players in waiting who'd be keen to sign for us.

 

Up to the transfer team then to pick out the potential stars from the "will never make its", which by and large, we've been good at.

 

VVD definitely fits that category for me, and with the Dutch connections on top of that, i feel we'd certainly be a front-runner if we are interested.

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Apart from possibly GK, I reckon CB is the most difficult position on the pitch to recruit real quality for, and we arent exactly top of the food chain... :(

 

It has all gone very quiet on the 'rumour mill' and my take on that is that we have all of our ducks lined up neatly in a row. If Les and co were crapping themselves and scrabbling around for a CB then news would be leaking out from players/clubs/agents where we had registered an interest and - in turn - from clubs/agents trying to get on our radar even when we didn't have an interest. I suspect it's the case that (for example) we have an understanding with Celtic and VVD, but we have to wait for them to pass/fail to pass a certain stage in their European games.

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It has all gone very quiet on the 'rumour mill' and my take on that is that we have all of our ducks lined up neatly in a row. If Les and co were crapping themselves and scrabbling around for a CB then news would be leaking out from players/clubs/agents where we had registered an interest and - in turn - from clubs/agents trying to get on our radar even when we didn't have an interest. I suspect it's the case that (for example) we have an understanding with Celtic and VVD, but we have to wait for them to pass/fail to pass a certain stage in their European games.

 

I hope you are right. My problem is that with such an "understanding" needing to lie dormant for a while, there is always the risk of being gazumped; something similar happened with Toby.

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Oaky Alps, I give in. Life is too short. And I am sure you are right, the club are doing nothing about finding a replacement for Toby and we are all going to hell in a handcart.

 

NEWS JUST IN ...

Sky Sports News understands from its sources that "Southampton Football Club are doing nothing about finding a replacement for Toby and that they are all going to hell in a handcart". We have a reporter at St Mary's. Chris, what can you tell us?

 

:)

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I hope you are right. My problem is that with such an "understanding" needing to lie dormant for a while, there is always the risk of being gazumped; something similar happened with Toby.

 

The alternative strategy being to rush out and pay over the odds for someone who a club are keen to get rid of... I'm glad you're not in charge of our transfers alps. Though I suspect you are far too busy laundering bed linen...

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NEWS JUST IN ...

Sky Sports News understands from its sources that "Southampton Football Club are doing nothing about finding a replacement for Toby and that they are all going to hell in a handcart". We have a reporter at St Mary's. Chris, what can you tell us?

 

:)

 

:lol: ..

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Is anything really happening on the CB front ? not a lot of rumours out there.

 

It feels a bit frustrating, I expected the club zoom right back with a signing after the Toby debacle.

 

Even the Echo is saying its the last (but fairly significant) piece of the jigsaw missing...

 

Hmm. What a fuss being made. Its not as if I even really accused the club of doing nothing in this post. I asked if anything was happening and expressed my frustration (which is actually partly caused by being shafted by AM and Toby).

 

As usual, complete over-reaction in these parts...

 

:facepalm:

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Things have gone very quiet...

 

It may well be that we have a deal agreed somewhere just awaiting some trigger for the contracts to be signed. Personally I dont like that arrangement, because it allows other teams to come in, and I reckon we were caught napping like that with Toby.

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Can't remember any people slagging off Wanyama.

 

Nah, the worst he got was me taking the p155 out of his insistence on trying to hit 45 yard passes to the left winger which he was not equipped to do. His strengths were pretty much immediately evident defensively and he was more sound on the ball once he'd sorted his feet out.

 

As far as the "is there any evidence we're interested in Van Dijk" question goes - well he plays in a position we need a player, there have been rumours for over a year, and he also fits our general profiling in that he's he's young, Dutch, and guaranteed to improve... :D

Edited by The9
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Is anything really happening on the CB front ? not a lot of rumours out there.

 

It feels a bit frustrating, I expected the club zoom right back with a signing after the Toby debacle.

 

Even the Echo is saying its the last (but fairly significant) piece of the jigsaw missing...

 

You expected that immediately after being knocked back for our self-stated primary target that we'd just be able to switch to another player? Pretty sure there was an element of eggs in one basket with Alderweireld, and why wouldn't there be if we thought we had a deal already? There's a big difference between monitoring potential targets and the amount of detail and research that goes into actually signing a player.

 

I'd rather we took our time to get the target right, the chances of all of our possible targets signing for other clubs in the meantime is pretty small.

 

There's also the possibility we do what we did last year, and sign a big player on loan - and that will take that player becoming available first.

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Why are people so impatient? The selling club may want to get a replacement in first, they may be holding out for more money or even trying to encourage an auction for their player. The player could be holding out for a better deal or a bigger club.

 

Do people really believe we're so incompetent we haven't got a short list of 4 or 5 and we're not working on something. What do people want, Les ringing Celtic 5 times a day and getting himself arrested for stalking?

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Why are people so impatient? The selling club may want to get a replacement in first, they may be holding out for more money or even trying to encourage an auction for their player. The player could be holding out for a better deal or a bigger club.

 

Do people really believe we're so incompetent we haven't got a short list of 4 or 5 and we're not working on something. What do people want, Les ringing Celtic 5 times a day and getting himself arrested for stalking?

 

You don't seem to understand. We want this player who most of us know next to nothing about,and we want him NOW. Not tomorrow, not this evening, but right now.

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NEWS JUST IN ...

Sky Sports News understands from its sources that "Southampton Football Club are doing nothing about finding a replacement for Toby and that they are all going to hell in a handcart". We have a reporter at St Mary's. Chris, what can you tell us?

 

:)

This is Chris reporting from St Marys, I can cofirm the handcart is in the car park and the supporter who has the pleasure of pushing it has thrown his and his sons season tickets back telling the the club to stick them because of the Cortese tax to get the handcart out of the car park, more information as it comes in.

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