Mario Lemina - Official: Signs for Nice

[Turkish]

24 minutes ago, Daft Kerplunk said:

Jeez, if he’s not part of the plans, get rid. Did we not turn down a bid years ago because we thought he was worth more? Ended up costing us a shed load more if so. Are we going to do the same thing again? Hopefully Crocker and Steele can match football and finance needs. 

Yes we dId, we also turned down a bid for Carrillo at the same time as we tried to make a profit! Mental at the time and mental in hindsight. 

[SuperSAINT]

38 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

It's probably a package which 'could', but is incredibly unlikely to reach those levels. 

4-5m is prob what we can expect staged over two payments I reckon. And that alone is a bonus as I thought we'd end up loaning him.

So...#unsellables wise....we have sold Hoedt (kind of), Lemina (almost), Carillo (Given away), Boufal (given away). Not sure if I've missed any, but that's some decent wedge off the wage bill over the last year or so - just a shame about the £50m+ loss we've had to make in the process. Cheers Les.

Just Elyonoussi from that group....but I think he's going to be given a first team chance.

He’s involved with the team, but FF gets an official #UnSellable hashtag from me.

[Daft Kerplunk]

36 minutes ago, Ex Lion Tamer said:

It's amazing that the club does some good, hard-nosed negotiating to get a bigger fee and people think that's a bad thing

Did it work? Nope. If it works, great. If not, not so much. Sometimes hard-nosed isn’t always so clever and doesn’t always work. If we had sold Lemina 2 years ago for 10 million, that have would surely have been better than a possible £8m after we’ve paid a proportion of his wages over the last few years and not been able to invest. Sometimes understanding the true and not imagined value of a player allows progress. 

[Ex Lion Tamer]

11 minutes ago, Daft Kerplunk said:

Did it work? Nope. If it works, great. If not, not so much. Sometimes hard-nosed isn’t always so clever and doesn’t always work. If we had sold Lemina 2 years ago for 10 million, that have would surely have been better than a possible £8m after we’ve paid a proportion of his wages over the last few years and not been able to invest. Sometimes understanding the true and not imagined value of a player allows progress. 

I can't remember the thing 2 years ago but let's just wait a few weeks before we judge whether we bargained too hard on him this summer

[FarehamSaintJames]

8 hours ago, Wimborne_saint said:

 

Would be happy with £8m to get him off the wage bill..

 

Ah confirmed at last that it’s not true. (Has this guy ever got anything right?)

Cheers Al 👍🏻

[SuperSAINT]

Southampton’s Mario Lemina is set to move to Nice after the two clubs agreed a fee of €5.5 million including bonuses for the 27-year-old midfielder.

 

Lemina joined Southampton in 2017 for just over £15 million and went on to play 52 times for the Premier League side.

 

Southampton had hoped to sell the former Juventus player for £8 million this summer, but in the end settled for less, with less than a year remaining on the player’s contract.

Was there interest from elsewhere?

Lemina had attracted Premier League interest from both Watford and Newcastle but will end his spell at St Mary’s with a switch to Ligue 1.

Why are Southampton letting him go?

Even though it was always expected he’d leave this summer, Lemina has impressed Ralph Hasenhuttl with his work ethic and commitment during the first two weeks of pre-season.

 

However, he has less than a year remaining on his Southampton contract after joining for over £15 million in August 2017.

 

The central midfielder spent last season on loan at Fulham and would have signed for them permanently had they avoided relegation to the Championship.

[Wade Garrett]

Cheers Jim.

[saint1977]

9 hours ago, SuperSAINT said:

He’s involved with the team, but FF gets an official #UnSellable hashtag from me.

Yep, hopefully the low contract renewal offer forces a move to Celtic and another Sanatogen special from Les gone. Still Ely, Long, Vesty and more recently Djenepo (post Les) and McCarthy to go. Bednarek and Redmond based on last season as well. Tbh bar the new Lb and fringe players like Tella, only established players good enough to wear an SFC jersey are KWP, Rom, JWP, Theo, Adams and Ings. Diallo and Salisu show the potential to do so.

[Charlie Wayman]

I like a lad with a bit of character and Mario seems to be quite the lad. Love that perma-smile. We need more of these and less creased brows and solemn stares this season.

I would love see a fairy tale ending to this saga with the lad suddenly coming good for Saints and becoming an outstanding midfielder.

Nice would be the best solution all round if he does leave, we have good relations with them and for Mario (arguably) Nice will be a somewhat more exciting place than Portswood or Shirley to shop in and go clubbing.

[Saint Garrett]

1 hour ago, Charlie Wayman said:

I like a lad with a bit of character and Mario seems to be quite the lad. Love that perma-smile. We need more of these and less creased brows and solemn stares this season.

I would love see a fairy tale ending to this saga with the lad suddenly coming good for Saints and becoming an outstanding midfielder.

 

I assume you're taking the piss. The guy has bled the club dry over the last few years (not directly his fault he got the contract he got), he's downed tools, especially in the semi final of the cup, which is one of the most pathetic displays I've seen from a footballer.

Unfortunately he's more interested in likes on instagram, and his brand, than actually playing football.  It's highly likely he will never change. 

He's averaged about 20 games played per season in his career, that's nowhere near enough of an impact given his talent.  It's between his ears is the problem, does not have the drive, ambition or desire to be a decent premier league footballer.

[Matthew Le God]

 

[Whitey Grandad]

That seems pretty definitive. One more off the books should allow some room for some coming in.

[Badger]

Glad he's gone at last, waste of talent.

Feel sorry for Schneiderlin who'll probably end up having to cover for him whenever Lem isn't in the mood for it.

[Sunglasses Ron]

Shocking player, truly shocking, had a shocking career with us.

[Suhari]

Shame he had such a shit attitude. Think he could've been a fantastic player.

Glad he's gone though.

Presumably we'll see a new signing pretty soon.

[Ivan Katalinic's 'tache]

1 hour ago, Matthew Le God said:

 

So Nice announce the signing of Lemina with a highlights reel that contains nothing from his time at Saints?! Says it all really...

[LiberalCommunist]

My only Mario regret is him showing us that there was a player in there somewhere in the Palace game. Other than that, a bag of shit.

Glad he's gone, he would have been utter trash this coming season. Infact, is he Wesley's twin?

[Lighthouse]

Still nothing from Saints on social media, I wonder if we’ll just never announce anything like we did with Safri.

[Hawkswood]

Good. Piss off

[SuperSAINT]

 

Edited 24 July, 2021 by SuperSAINT

[saint1977]

He is the one Reed/Wilson signing that I can see the sense of where he did have the attributes to kick on and be sold for £40-50m. He just doesn’t have the staying power oppress level of focus for the PL, did ok for Fulham but not the level to move to bigger things, should do OK again in Ligue One. Hoedt - free transfer and Lazio fringe player for £17m was lunatic territory by comparison and Carrillo rationale had all the business sense of George Best on an all dayer. Gunn - who knows what they were thinking of? 

[SFC Forever]

3 hours ago, Badger said:

Glad he's gone at last, waste of talent.

Feel sorry for Schneiderlin who'll probably end up having to cover for him whenever Lem isn't in the mood for it.

i agree he was a very poor player for us when he had talent to spare.

Schneiderlin might have regretted leaving us when he did as well. Pity because he was nexcellent for us.

[Baird of the land]

12 minutes ago, saint1977 said:

He is the one Reed/Wilson signing that I can see the sense of where he did have the attributes to kick on and be sold for £40-50m. He just doesn’t have the staying power oppress level of focus for the PL, did ok for Fulham but not the level to move to bigger things, should do OK again in Ligue One. Hoedt - free transfer and Lazio fringe player for £17m was lunatic territory by comparison and Carrillo rationale had all the business sense of George Best on an all dayer. Gunn - who knows what they were thinking of? 

While I can understand being interested from a talent perspective, you’d think there would have been red flags if there was background research done. I can’t believe his attitude just developed at his time here.

was reminding myself of the timeline of transfers. That Pellegrino time was something special, hoedt, lemina and Carrillo, what value we got from that.

Edited 24 July, 2021 by Baird of the land

[davefizzy14]

1 hour ago, SuperSAINT said:

 

Nice touch that from Mario. Dissapointed he's departed. I was hoping that he could have been another strong option in midfield next season. Good luck Mario

[Wade Garrett]

Good riddance.

Complete wanker.

[Ex Lion Tamer]

1 hour ago, Baird of the land said:

While I can understand being interested from a talent perspective, you’d think there would have been red flags if there was background research done. I can’t believe his attitude just developed at his time here.

was reminding myself of the timeline of transfers. That Pellegrino time was something special, hoedt, lemina and Carrillo, what value we got from that.

I think this sort of psychological profiling is really important but I'm wondering actually, how do you go about finding out if a player is a tosser?

[SuperSAINT]

29 minutes ago, Ex Lion Tamer said:

I think this sort of psychological profiling is really important but I'm wondering actually, how do you go about finding out if a player is a tosser?

Speak to previous managers/coaches/ex-teammates.

[Hawkswood]

10 hours ago, davefizzy14 said:

Nice touch that from Mario. Dissapointed he's departed. I was hoping that he could have been another strong option in midfield next season. Good luck Mario

Hi mate, really not having a dig at you but genuinely interested, how can you feel any warmth towards him ? He took the piss out of the club,  not just with 90% of his pathetic performances on the pitch, but perhaps even worse than that, didnt he mock us on social media ( I dont follow it avidly so maybe Im wrong) when Charlie Austin was leaving ? 

For me this is one player who doesnt deserve a fond farewell.  A complete pisstaker on many levels, but like I say maybe Ive missed something. 

[Far que]

Good riddance to the shower of shit

[Saint Billy]

35 minutes ago, Hawkswood said:

Hi mate, really not having a dig at you but genuinely interested, how can you feel any warmth towards him ? He took the piss out of the club,  not just with 90% of his pathetic performances on the pitch, but perhaps even worse than that, didnt he mock us on social media ( I dont follow it avidly so maybe Im wrong) when Charlie Austin was leaving ? 

For me this is one player who doesnt deserve a fond farewell.  A complete pisstaker on many levels, but like I say maybe Ive missed something. 

No you haven't missed something.

He was and is a bell end of the highest order who showed no respect to the club who paid big bucks for him. He uses social media to air his petty gripes and to show off his wealth. 

Glad to see the back of him. 

[Give it to Ron]

1 hour ago, Saint Billy said:

No you haven't missed something.

He was and is a bell end of the highest order who showed no respect to the club who paid big bucks for him. He uses social media to air his petty gripes and to show off his wealth. 

Glad to see the back of him. 

That non performance at Wembley will stick with me for a long time.

Glad I won’t have to watch that clown in the Prem again he will disappear to some lower league French team a complete waste of his talent and he has some.

Edited 25 July, 2021 by Give it to Ron

[stknowle]

12 hours ago, Ex Lion Tamer said:

I think this sort of psychological profiling is really important but I'm wondering actually, how do you go about finding out if a player is a tosser?

Look at their Instagram account

[Saint_clark]

23 hours ago, Lighthouse said:

Still nothing from Saints on social media, I wonder if we’ll just never announce anything like we did with Safri.

We sold Safri!? I thought he was working his way back to full fitness

[JRM]

11 hours ago, Give it to Ron said:

That non performance at Wembley will stick with me for a long time.

Glad I won’t have to watch that clown in the Prem again he will disappear to some lower league French team a complete waste of his talent and he has some.

That's the one, no idea what was happening behind the scenes but he just wasn't interested that day, considering it was a landmark game at Wembley you'd have thought it would be one that would appeal to him. 

[LiberalCommunist]

Two good performances in three years. And one of them was for Fulham. What a waste of money. 

[Saint Keef]

I was genuinely surprised to read that he played for us 52 times. Really? He must have been pretty anonymous in about 48 of those.

[Billy the Kidd]

8 hours ago, Saint Keef said:

I was genuinely surprised to read that he played for us 52 times. Really? He must have been pretty anonymous in about 48 of those.

I think that included training sessions.

We didnt want to put prospective buyers off.

[John Boy Saint]

Hoorah - no more midfielder threads with some loon posting what a mega star the wastrel could still be for us.

[Turkish]

46 minutes ago, John Boy Saint said:

Hoorah - no more midfielder threads with some loon posting what a mega star the wastrel could still be for us.

He'll have a couple of decent games for Nice and this thread will be full of we should have given him another chance/sold him to cheap posts instead.

[Lighthouse]

On 24/07/2021 at 17:32, Lighthouse said:

Still nothing from Saints on social media, I wonder if we’ll just never announce anything like we did with Safri.

Nice and Lemina announced this two days ago. Starting to think I might be right.

[SuperSAINT]

3 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

Nice and Lemina announced this two days ago. Starting to think I might be right.

We’re so weird sometimes.

[Miltonaggro]

I'm not going to believe this until #Lemexit confirmed on Insta.

[SuperSAINT]

 

[TWar]

11 minutes ago, SuperSAINT said:

 

Alright now that's done time to reinvest. If we know Ings is off we need to beat one of Watford or Brighton to Armstrong or Edouard.

[the saint in winchester]

13 minutes ago, TWar said:

Alright now that's done time to reinvest. If we know Ings is off we need to beat one of Watford or Brighton to Armstrong or Edouard.

What did we get for Lemina? £4M? We can't buy Armstrong or Edouard with that. I'm as frustrated as you. We should be finding a buyer for Ings as a matter of urgency, to get funds in so we can line up his replacement. Instead, the Club are determined to keep him into the season, effectively meaning we will have no money to buy a replacement, either in January or next July.

[TWar]

Just now, the saint in winchester said:

What did we get for Lemina? £4M? We can't buy Armstrong or Edouard with that. I'm as frustrated as you. We should be finding a buyer for Ings as a matter of urgency, to get funds in so we can line up his replacement. Instead, the Club are determined to keep him into the season, effectively meaning we will have no money to buy a replacement, either in January or next July.

Wages are a big deal I think and Lemina was on a fair chunk. We have shifted 7 players now I think including big earners in Lemina, Gunn, Hoedt, and Bertrand. That should clear some money on the wagebill. Plus I think we've made about £12-15m so far, so that should help a bit.

[Charlie Wayman]

1 hour ago, the saint in winchester said:

What did we get for Lemina? £4M? We can't buy Armstrong or Edouard with that. I'm as frustrated as you. We should be finding a buyer for Ings as a matter of urgency, to get funds in so we can line up his replacement. Instead, the Club are determined to keep him into the season, effectively meaning we will have no money to buy a replacement, either in January or next July.

Ralph has always insisted that Ings will be here next season. If he has been true to his word then the club has probably refused offers and insisted on him staying to see out his contract. Of course if he leaves on a free next summer but his goals keep us up this season then it's money well wasted. 

There is also an outside chance that Saints might defy the odds and compete within the top ten, in which case we become a far more attractive proposition for new players to join next summer. Not sure that would entice Ings to stay mind you, as we have said before he is probably looking for a pension top-up at a big club to see out his career.

[Norm]

3 hours ago, TWar said:

Wages are a big deal I think and Lemina was on a fair chunk. We have shifted 7 players now I think including big earners in Lemina, Gunn, Hoedt, and Bertrand. That should clear some money on the wagebill. Plus I think we've made about £12-15m so far, so that should help a bit.

Would you be kind and name the other 3 players, please. Haven’t paid much attention to much at all lately. Thank you.

[TWar]

Just now, Norm said:

Would you be kind and name the other 3 players, please. Haven’t paid much attention to much at all lately. Thank you.

Absolutely, happy to help. We have lost this summer:

Lemina - Nice - ~£4m
Gunn - Norwich - ~£5.5m
Bertrand - Leicester - Free
Hoedt - Anderlecht - Unknown (rumoured about £2m)
Jankewitz - BSC Young Boys - Unknown (Rumoured £1.5m rising to £4m with some unlikely bonuses)
Sims - No club yet, on trial at pompey - Free
Hesketh - No club yet, failed a trial at pompey - Free

Incomings:

Perraud - Stade Brest - £11m
Walcott - Everton - Free
Simeu (on the verge of signing) - Chelsea - ~£500k

[SuperSAINT]

4 minutes ago, TWar said:

Absolutely, happy to help. We have lost this summer:

Lemina - Nice - ~£4m
Gunn - Norwich - ~£5.5m
Bertrand - Leicester - Free
Hoedt - Anderlecht - Unknown (rumoured about £2m)
Jankewitz - BSC Young Boys - Unknown (Rumoured £1.5m rising to £4m with some unlikely bonuses)
Sims - No club yet, on trial at pompey - Free
Hesketh - No club yet, failed a trial at pompey - Free

Incomings:

Perraud - Stade Brest - £11m
Walcott - Everton - Free
Simeu (on the verge of signing) - Chelsea - ~£500k

Can add Slattery & Tchaptchet to this.