Summer 2018 Transfer/HCDAJFU Thread

Worries me when Hughes says “Got a talented squad”. But my sources say we will make signings and agents have been contacted today.

Ha ha for **** sake grow up with the bull**** m8.

#TheSouthamptonWay

 

 

 

Absolute finger on the pulse recruitment.

It’s appalling if true. Escaped last year but big favourites for the drop next season if there isn’t a busy rest of June and July. You’d have to be looking through a seriously strong bottle of alcohol to think that first team is good enough to compete for anything other than a dire relegation battle. In which case, only just putting some effort in now - if true - to sort out transfer targets - would be astonishgly unprofessional. Tbh, even aim struggling to believe Les and Ross would be that bone idle.

#TheSouthamptonWay

 

Absolute finger on the pulse recruitment.

The club have made some howlers but there's no way we're that incompetent.

It's an easy thing to write, get fans all wound up and sell papers but it can't be true. There's no way Les has been sat with his thumb up his arse for an entire month.

Club are a bunch of jerks.

Source: Last 24 months

#believeinsaints

The club have made some howlers but there's no way we're that incompetent.

 

It's an easy thing to write, get fans all wound up and sell papers but it can't be true. There's no way Les has been sat with his thumb up his arse for an entire month.

No, it was probably his whole fist.

The club have made some howlers but there's no way we're that incompetent.

 

It's an easy thing to write, get fans all wound up and sell papers but it can't be true. There's no way Les has been sat with his thumb up his arse for an entire month.

No, he was in Kiev to watch Liverpool and I expect he'll be on his way to Russia to enjoy the Wrld Cup finals. He'll probably manage to squueze in another holday as well, like he did in January. Old Les knows how to enjoy life. You can see that from his ever expanding waistline.

They probably see it as saved wages if they don’t get someone in early.

We probably offer a club a fee then improve it to the amount we think they are worth and stick with that. If another club comes in then we look at another option.

 

All I want this transfer window are players that play regularly and not squad players at big clubs. The reason why they find themselves a squad player is because they have an attitude problem somewhere.

Gabby, Lemina and Boufal spring to mind.

Don't talk ****. Gabbi has a very good attitude.

 

The top 5 players for each position are then taken in to a meeting along with head of recruitment, Les, the financial director and the first team management.

 

I take it you mean a list of names rather than players themselves. Or do we kidnap them?

No, he was in Kiev to watch Liverpool and I expect he'll be on his way to Russia to enjoy the Wrld Cup finals. He'll probably manage to squueze in another holday as well, like he did in January. Old Les knows how to enjoy life. You can see that from his ever expanding waistline.

So that’s a couple of days in Ukraine, a bunch of assumptions you’ve made up, based on absolutely nothing and a pointless jibe about his weight.

Nice one.

We have one of the largest and best scouting networks in the league - a huge department.

 

Usually 5 players are scouted for each position all year round.

 

The top 5 players for each position are then taken in to a meeting along with head of recruitment, Les, the financial director and the first team management. Hughes, will ask for certain positions to be recruited in. Those positions are looked at statistically and financially. Between them they rank them in order of preference and their respective clubs are then approached.

 

We are pretty good at quietly going about our business. It’s constant. I really wouldn’t worry about the lack of signings at this stage. No news is excellent news.

Lovely in theory. Sometimes we end up with Carrillo.

It’s appalling if true. Escaped last year but big favourites for the drop next season if there isn’t a busy rest of June and July. You’d have to be looking through a seriously strong bottle of alcohol to think that first team is good enough to compete for anything other than a dire relegation battle. In which case, only just putting some effort in now - if true - to sort out transfer targets - would be astonishgly unprofessional. Tbh, even aim struggling to believe Les and Ross would be that bone idle.

Probably not bone idle, and I expect they believe they are keeping busy working hard. But - without any inside knowledge and judging by their achiecements over the last two years - I get the impression they are busy doing nothing (as the song goes). You can imagine them shuffling papers and compiling endless 'things to do', 'players to sign/scout' lists. Trouble is too much overthinking and planning, not enough achievement.

We have one of the largest and best scouting networks in the league - a huge department.

 

Usually 5 players are scouted for each position all year round.

 

The top 5 players for each position are then taken in to a meeting along with head of recruitment, Les, the financial director and the first team management. Hughes, will ask for certain positions to be recruited in. Those positions are looked at statistically and financially. Between them they rank them in order of preference and their respective clubs are then approached.

 

We are pretty good at quietly going about our business. It’s constant. I really wouldn’t worry about the lack of signings at this stage. No news is excellent news.

All true enough, but only after Les has the custard creams sorted.

We have one of the largest and best scouting networks in the league - a huge department.

 

Usually 5 players are scouted for each position all year round.

 

The top 5 players for each position are then taken in to a meeting along with head of recruitment, Les, the financial director and the first team management. Hughes, will ask for certain positions to be recruited in. Those positions are looked at statistically and financially. Between them they rank them in order of preference and their respective clubs are then approached.

 

We are pretty good at quietly going about our business. It’s constant. I really wouldn’t worry about the lack of signings at this stage. No news is excellent news.

Sounds s load of crap to me, who were the 4 worse than Carrillo, why have we the weakest cbs for some time, why have we a goal shy strike force, how can many fans on here or other forms of media come up with names that would be a cracking fit for us just by watching several games and doing our own research, we can see the positions we need but management can't, Les has gone stale after believing his own hype now it's time to go before another shambles next year

We have one of the largest and best scouting networks in the league - a huge department.

 

Who has repalced our Head Scout, Bill Green, who passed away?

Perhaps this is another role Les Reed has absorbed into his portfolio of duties.

Sounds s load of crap to me, who were the 4 worse than Carrillo, why have we the weakest cbs for some time, why have we a goal shy strike force, how can many fans on here or other forms of media come up with names that would be a cracking fit for us just by watching several games and doing our own research, we can see the positions we need but management can't, Les has gone stale after believing his own hype now it's time to go before another shambles next year

4 worse than Carrillo?

Can only think they had four of snow whites dwarfs on the list?

Brighton linked with Alireza Jahanbakhsh, mentioned on here before. When we let Boufal go we have to go in for him, especially for the 30m odd euros that AZ want

We have one of the largest and best scouting networks in the league - a huge department.

 

Usually 5 players are scouted for each position all year round.

 

The top 5 players for each position are then taken in to a meeting along with head of recruitment, Les, the financial director and the first team management. Hughes, will ask for certain positions to be recruited in. Those positions are looked at statistically and financially. Between them they rank them in order of preference and their respective clubs are then approached.

 

We are pretty good at quietly going about our business. It’s constant. I really wouldn’t worry about the lack of signings at this stage. No news is excellent news.

Carillo

Pied

Pele

Osvaldo

Clasie

Stekelenburg

Were they all in the top 5 list of scouted players for their position?

Truly amazing just what people create. It's like the zero information and end of a football season drives them insane. Endless conspiracies. Always negative, always multi-million pound businesses being run far worse than they could do it.

 

Imagine how stupid I feel, I thought you were just a generic online forum ****wit, not the saviour of premier league football.

What is your problem?

you have become (by some distance) the most depressing drip on this forum

The top 5 players for each position are then taken in to a meeting along with head of recruitment, Les, the financial director and the first team management. Hughes, will ask for certain positions to be recruited in. Those positions are looked at statistically and financially.

Ah, so those few people on the forum steadfastly insisting that Carrillo was going to be a great signing because, if you total up his goals as a late substitute against heavily beaten teams in the lower leagues of France, he's basically a goal every other game man; they were plants from the club's scouting and analysis department preemptively defending their work. Got it.

If only they'd ignored their own statistical horse crap and just watched how rubbish he was at football, we might've saved a fortune. Or spent it all on the number two target on their list, who may or many not have had a full complement of legs.

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We have one of the largest and best scouting networks in the league - a huge department.

 

Usually 5 players are scouted for each position all year round.

 

The top 5 players for each position are then taken in to a meeting along with head of recruitment, Les, the financial director and the first team management. Hughes, will ask for certain positions to be recruited in. Those positions are looked at statistically and financially. Between them they rank them in order of preference and their respective clubs are then approached.

 

We are pretty good at quietly going about our business. It’s constant. I really wouldn’t worry about the lack of signings at this stage. No news is excellent news.

Sorry, we have utterly fu cked up three, some say four, consecutive transfer windows, with even the manager saying we were too slow to react and land our targets last January.

Last January, last summer and the January before that were total car crashes. The summer before that, yes we made signings but of players that markedly did not improve the squad. Missed targets, panic buys, awful selections, boneheaded contract extensions.

At points last season we had a subs bench crammed with £10-£20m signings which was farcical.

We are not "pretty good at quietly going about our business" we are utterly hopeless at player recruitment these days.

Sorry, we have utterly fu cked up three, some say four, consecutive transfer windows, with even the manager saying we were too slow to react and land our targets last January.

 

Last January, last summer and the January before that were total car crashes. The summer before that, yes we made signings but of players that markedly did not improve the squad. Missed targets, panic buys, awful selections, boneheaded contract extensions.

 

We are not "pretty good at quietly going about our business" we are utterly hopeless at player recruitment these days.

be interesting to see how we quietly go about adding real quality at CB. Given how the club love a bit of PR (despite us going quietly about our business), we have 3 defenders at the World Cup........

Sorry, we have utterly fu cked up three, some say four, consecutive transfer windows, with even the manager saying we were too slow to react and land our targets last January.

 

Last January, last summer and the January before that were total car crashes. The summer before that, yes we made signings but of players that markedly did not improve the squad. Missed targets, panic buys, awful selections, boneheaded contract extensions.

 

At points last season we had a subs bench crammed with £10-£20m signings which was farcical.

 

We are not "pretty good at quietly going about our business" we are utterly hopeless at player recruitment these days.

Our success was largely due to our former Head of Recruitment, Paul 'Black Box' Mitchell, wo brought us the likes of Mane, Wanyama, Pelle, Bertrand, Lovren and Alderweireld and although van Dijk signed after Mitchell left, we'd already been linked with him. Mitchell's replacement, Ross Wilson, has been a failure. It goes to show that recruitment is largely determined by the appropriately named Head of Recruitment, not by Les Reed, who was happy to take the credit for Mitchell's work but has hidden to let Ralph take the flak for Wilson's failure.

It will be interesting to see who RB Leipzig sign this summer as that's where Paul Mitchell and his black box work now.

Carillo

Pied

Pele

Osvaldo

Clasie

Stekelenburg

 

Were they all in the top 5 list of scouted players for their position?

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Our success was largely due to our former Head of Recruitment, Paul 'Black Box' Mitchell, wo brought us the likes of Mane, Wanyama, Pelle, Bertrand, Lovren and Alderweireld and although van Dijk signed after Mitchell left, we'd already been linked with him. Mitchell's replacement, Ross Wilson, has been a failure. It goes to show that recruitment is largely determined by the appropriately named Head of Recruitment, not by Les Reed, who was happy to take the credit for Mitchell's work but has hidden to let Ralph take the flak for Wilson's failure.

 

It will be interesting to see who RB Leipzig sign this summer as that's where Paul Mitchell and his black box work now.

Was Forren a Mitchell special?

We have one of the largest and best scouting networks in the league - a huge department.

 

Usually 5 players are scouted for each position all year round.

 

The top 5 players for each position are then taken in to a meeting along with head of recruitment, Les, the financial director and the first team management. Hughes, will ask for certain positions to be recruited in. Those positions are looked at statistically and financially. Between them they rank them in order of preference and their respective clubs are then approached.

 

We are pretty good at quietly going about our business. It’s constant. I really wouldn’t worry about the lack of signings at this stage. No news is excellent news.

Bedanarek surprised me but he is no VVD replacement.

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Sorry, we have utterly fu cked up three, some say four, consecutive transfer windows, with even the manager saying we were too slow to react and land our targets last January.

 

Last January, last summer and the January before that were total car crashes. The summer before that, yes we made signings but of players that markedly did not improve the squad. Missed targets, panic buys, awful selections, boneheaded contract extensions.

 

At points last season we had a subs bench crammed with £10-£20m signings which was farcical.

 

We are not "pretty good at quietly going about our business" we are utterly hopeless at player recruitment these days.

This, unfortunately. Thanks for the info LeG but it just doesn’t correlate with the last 4 transfer windows which have been gross misconduct poor. The money wasted on Forster’s contract extension should have ensured Reed’s retirement alone. That DT article post Swansea took any gloss off the window for me and as for trying to justify keeping someone clearly severely suffering in the managers seat until March when he was the worst in PL history!

2014 and Mane, Pelle, Bertrand and co has been and gone, and Reed now has no trust left with the fanbase. He needs to get this window right for Hughes. What I find frightening is that recruitment is a huge department - what the f uck are they doing with their time? Not productive, successful work as in the rest of the world know it.

I'm pretty sure managers have been given some freedom to get their own people in that hasn't involved the black box... Which probably explains some of the dross we've had to put up with e.g. Martina, pied, Elia, carillo, ... from your list I'm pretty sure Pelle and clasie would have been black box signings, but I hardly think Pelle was a disaster.

 

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I wasn't suggesting Pelle was a disaster, simply making the point that this recruitment policy we have is theoretical and in reality that isn't what we are doing. As those (and I'm sure there are others) I think prove

Les and Ross have been too busy texting fans asking them to shell out ST money to even check on potential signings.

 

Maybe do it the other way around!

 

*Edit: Think Ross also had a couple of weddings to attend

I see Ross has been getting stuck into Love Island as well. The black box is great for wide-screen viewings. Ralphy brings the popcorn.

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We have one of the largest and best scouting networks in the league - a huge department.

 

Usually 5 players are scouted for each position all year round.

 

The top 5 players for each position are then taken in to a meeting along with head of recruitment, Les, the financial director and the first team management. Hughes, will ask for certain positions to be recruited in. Those positions are looked at statistically and financially. Between them they rank them in order of preference and their respective clubs are then approached.

 

We are pretty good at quietly going about our business. It’s constant. I really wouldn’t worry about the lack of signings at this stage. No news is excellent news.

If true then that is simply appalling.

Five? Five players in each position? Your average, well-read/well-listened football fan who is capable of a modicum of structured, rational and critical thinking could come up with a list of five names for each position within a single 8 hour day's worth of effort. There is *so much* information available now about football internationally, you almost have to make an intentional effort not to pick up on it.

We should have suitably knowledgeable and competent individuals embedded in every country/region globally, whose entire role is to identify players. Not only 'scouting' in the old fashioned sense, but holistically - by being part of the local footballing culture and absorbing the background noise, and using well established analytical techniques that are employed in any other major business sector. Those people should feed in to regional coordinators, who have oversight and autonomy, act as a second pair of eyes, and who then make the necessary recommendations to the centre. The centre's responsibility should be assessing the 'cultural fit' of the player (by this point, their footballing ability should not be a variable). Crucially, assessment should be a continuous, ongoing process - the impact of ephemera either positively or negatively can be huge. Managed in this way, I would expect a 'living list' of at least 50 potential candidates for each position, with 10 or so being 'signed off' for approach and negotiation at any one time.

The cost of implementing a worldwide, systematic network would obviously be significant - but when you consider the costs of getting it wrong (eg Carillo, who all told is likely to cost the club in the region of £40million over 3.5 years, and will likely have an amortized value of almost nothing), it's peanuts.

It continues to amaze me how, for businesses who turnover in excess of £150million a year, Premier League clubs are so incompetent at actually being businesses. Their commercial acumen has stood still from the days when they were making less than a tenth of that.

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http://www.gazzamercato.it/sampdoria/samp-folla-per-zapata-dopo-latalanta-ecco-west-ham-e-saints-torreira/

Striker, 27...nice to have a rumour atleast (barely)

Our success was largely due to our former Head of Recruitment, Paul 'Black Box' Mitchell, wo brought us the likes of Mane, Wanyama, Pelle, Bertrand, Lovren and Alderweireld and although van Dijk signed after Mitchell left, we'd already been linked with him. Mitchell's replacement, Ross Wilson, has been a failure. It goes to show that recruitment is largely determined by the appropriately named Head of Recruitment, not by Les Reed, who was happy to take the credit for Mitchell's work but has hidden to let Ralph take the flak for Wilson's failure.

 

It will be interesting to see who RB Leipzig sign this summer as that's where Paul Mitchell and his black box work now.

Although Mitchell gets the credit, having a manager of Koeman's status helped immensely in bringing players in, and before that we were seen as an ambitious club with a young team who was on the up. Compare that with the lure of Puel, Pellegrino, and to a similar extent Mark Hughes.

Not looking to detract from Mitchell's contribution though, and I'd gladly have him back at St Mary's ahead of the current set up which doesn't appear to be in the same league for either identifying players, or 'getting deals done'.

Was Forren a Mitchell special?

Or Mayuka ?

But .. more successes than flops whilst Mitchell was here.

In my opinion the club wrongly believe we have a good squad, and the selection of Bedernark in the world cup squad justifies their position. I'm sure the club will be looking at Bedernak, Hoedt, Stephens and Yoshida and thinking it's enough.

 

That's also not forgetting the car crash in attack. We genuinely seem very underprepared for transfers these days, which was alarmingly shown up in January with the single signing of Carrillo for a ridiculous fee.

I genuinely think this about the size of it. Hughes seems , at least outwardly, happy with the squad. I think there is a disconnect between the clubs view of the squad, and its quality, and that of the fans view of the squad.

I think Hughes will get more out of this squad than MoPe but unless we have a big clear out and get in some real quality I can see us being a rather boring lower mid table side for some time to come.

I genuinely think this about the size of it. Hughes seems , at least outwardly, happy with the squad. I think there is a disconnect between the clubs view of the squad, and its quality, and that of the fans view of the squad.

 

I think Hughes will get more out of this squad than MoPe but unless we have a big clear out and get in some real quality I can see us being a rather boring lower mid table side for some time to come.

I agree with you I think the main problem is that players are inconsistent Lemina Boufal and Hoedt have played really well at times.

Most are of a similar quality and the team continually changed from match to match which does not help.

A decent striker and CB would help a lot and McCarthy if his form continues to be good will help us to gain more points than last season

Need to make some proper decisions re some of the homegrown players this summer:

JWP

Targett

Stephens

Sims

Gallagher

Who is good enough, who isn't. No room for passengers.

Need to make some proper decisions re some of the homegrown players this summer:

 

JWP

Targett

Stephens

Sims

Gallagher

 

Who is good enough, who isn't. No room for passengers.

They're all good enough to be squad players and surely cheaper to have these as squad players than pricey transfers. You could also add Reed and McQueen into that list. Reed I think i'd probably try and sell if he's not going to be 4th choice...and sell one of McQueen / Targett depending on Bertrand situation

Need to make some proper decisions re some of the homegrown players this summer:

 

JWP

Targett

Stephens

Sims

Gallagher

 

Who is good enough, who isn't. No room for passengers.

Haven't really had a chance to see enough of the last two to make an informed decision. The other three aren't really good enough imo.

I genuinely think this about the size of it. Hughes seems , at least outwardly, happy with the squad. I think there is a disconnect between the clubs view of the squad, and its quality, and that of the fans view of the squad.

 

I think Hughes will get more out of this squad than MoPe but unless we have a big clear out and get in some real quality I can see us being a rather boring lower mid table side for some time to come.

The club see survival as justification that this squad is good enough - IMO. Given how long they took to sack MPe and how slow they have been to bring in additions (not now, but in January and the summer too), it does suggest that they do have a slightly increased view of our squad than we do on the outside.

We'll see articles bigging up Stephens during pre-season I'd expect. Good lad, but he is nowhere near a PL centre back and someone at the club needs to show some balls and realise that. How we have gone from finishing 5th/6th to where we are now is nothing other than club incompetence and a belief internally that we are better than anyone else, and we will always be better than anyone else.

Money shouldn't be an issue. We are in the richest league in the world, we have bumper TV monies, we recieved the largest fee in the world for a CB. There is no reason why we shouldn't be going out into the market and spending £25/30m on players, as we see the likes of Burnley, Everton, Wolves and WHU start to do.

Arrogance rules by the sounds of it and that is one of the reasons why my season ticket money is still in my back pocket. I had hoped that last season was a huge wakeup call and a re-adjustment for everyone after the last two disasterous seasons, but the early signs is that nothing is changing any time soon.

Haven't really had a chance to see enough of the last two to make an informed decision. The other three aren't really good enough imo.

Good enough for what?

They are good enough for a mid table PL team I would have thought it is not as though they are regulars in the team.

JWP

Targett

Stephens

Sims

Gallagher

Keep

Keep

Maybe- Reckon we will keep, but rather we didn't

Keep

Get Rid

Need to make some proper decisions re some of the homegrown players this summer:

 

JWP

Targett

Stephens

Sims

Gallagher

 

Who is good enough, who isn't. No room for passengers.

If you give them good players to play alongside then it would help.

Look at Alexander-Arnold for Liverpool.

Put him in our back four then he would be in and out of our team. I would go as far as saying put Stephens in Liverpool’s team he would be in the England squad today.

Think we need to make sure we use Targett now. He was excellent for Fulham, he's ready to play at this level. He'll only develop further with games now and he did well when Koeman switch to wing backs.

 

I think we could solve two problems for free here. Bertrand to left centre back, adds pace, experience and balance to the back 3. Targett to left wing back, keeps the balance, adds energy and decent delivery still. Really hope Hughes looks at that. We'd still be looking to get a new CB, but Bednarek/Hoedt/Bertrand wouldn't be that bad.

I like Targett but am not convinced by his pace to get high enough up the pitch to deliver the telling cross and

feel he may be forced to cross earlier from deeper because of that

Need to make some proper decisions re some of the homegrown players this summer:

 

JWP

Targett

Stephens

Sims

Gallagher

 

Who is good enough, who isn't. No room for passengers.

Hesketh aswell.

I would keep JWP, Targett, Sims, and Hesketh, try to loan out Gallagher and Stephens.

Would like to see alot more of Sims and Hesketh next season.

Something like this

McCarthy

Cedric, (Yosh, Bednarek, Hoedt), New, Bertrand

Höjbjerg lemina

Sims Hesketh Tadic

Gabbiadini

Probably a relegation battle setup, but one i would be okay with.

Need to make some proper decisions re some of the homegrown players this summer:

 

JWP

Targett

Stephens

Sims

Gallagher

 

Who is good enough, who isn't. No room for passengers.

Keep

Let go but very reluctantly

Let go but only if we find better. Stephens will do for now but I honestly do not think he is PL quality.

Keep obviously

Let go

I'd also like to see Hesketh get more game time.

Good enough for what?

 

They are good enough for a mid table PL team I would have thought it is not as though they are regulars in the team.

They are not otherwise why has no mid-table PL side come in for any of them. Targett went on loan to a Championship side?

They are not otherwise why has no mid-table PL side come in for any of them. Targett went on loan to a Championship side?

How do you know they haven't? Plus even if they had, why would that mean they'd leave?

BREAKING NEWS

Newcastle are prepared to sell Aleksandar Mitrovic this summer and want £20m for the striker, according to Sky sources.

Mitrovic spent the second half of last season on loan at Fulham and scored 12 goals in 20 matches as they secured promotion to the Premier League via the Sky Bet Championship play-offs.

The 23-year-old, who is currently preparing for the World Cup with Serbia, has two years remaining on his contract at St James’ Park.

Get in there, Saints!!!

BREAKING NEWS

Newcastle are prepared to sell Aleksandar Mitrovic this summer and want £20m for the striker, according to Sky sources.

Mitrovic spent the second half of last season on loan at Fulham and scored 12 goals in 20 matches as they secured promotion to the Premier League via the Sky Bet Championship play-offs.

The 23-year-old, who is currently preparing for the World Cup with Serbia, has two years remaining on his contract at St James’ Park.

 

Get in there, Saints!!!

Unless we sell a couple of strikers, I can't see it happening.

Clearly it isn't 5. Clubs scout hundreds of players. Some troll on a forum saying 5 doesn't change that.

I assume he means we maintain a shortlist of five players for each position all year round. They are watched closely and are considered our top targets, but this list can change on an ongoing basis if other players are identified as better

This thread does make me laugh.......

Its like we should buy everyone...