Summer Transfer Window 2023

[qwertyell]

44 minutes ago, HarvSFC said:

Neves leaving Wolves for Saudi Arabia is a bit of a surprise.

Footballers love money. It's like when China were throwing around huge contracts - it'll mostly be over-the-hill players getting a nice final pay day, but there'll be the odd mercenary still in their prime that'll sign up for a few years and probably never be heard of again.

It was Oscar from Chelsea back then.

[Wade Garrett]

12 minutes ago, Saint Garrett said:

Nothing is a surprise when it comes to Saudi Arabia. 💰

I do wonder how the premier league and other major leagues can deal with this situation that's arising though.  Ultimately money talks, but this is becoming a problem for the other major leagues.  Ronaldo was the start, but when you start seeing players in their prime going there it's a concern.

I hope they all go and play in the Sportswashing League.  Hopefully none of them speak out about the Human Rights abuses and gets murdered by command of the Prince.

 

[redkeith]

Never to Saudi is bizarre. But maybe we can offload some of our duffers there if they are trying to fill the league with Europeans.

[Saint_clark]

20 minutes ago, Saint Garrett said:

Nothing is a surprise when it comes to Saudi Arabia. 💰

I do wonder how the premier league and other major leagues can deal with this situation that's arising though.  Ultimately money talks, but this is becoming a problem for the other major leagues.  Ronaldo was the start, but when you start seeing players in their prime going there it's a concern.

Not really. There's a limit to how many players can go there and no shortage of players who want to play in the Premier League.

[Lighthouse]

5 minutes ago, Wade Garrett said:

I hope they all go and play in the Sportswashing League.  Hopefully none of them speak out about the Human Rights abuses and gets murdered by command of the Prince.

 

TBH I’m quite happy with all the Saudi sports washing. Being corrupted by western capitalism is quite an improvement on being corrupted by bronze age religious fundamentalism. 

[The Curse of St Mary's]

53 minutes ago, Saint Garrett said:

Nothing is a surprise when it comes to Saudi Arabia. 💰

I do wonder how the premier league and other major leagues can deal with this situation that's arising though.  Ultimately money talks, but this is becoming a problem for the other major leagues.  Ronaldo was the start, but when you start seeing players in their prime going there it's a concern.

No matter who they sign the Saudi league will have very little interest from the outside. It's like the MLS just with more money. 

[John B]

6 hours ago, Lighthouse said:

Because our top first team players can go to mediocre Premier League teams for a moderate pay rise. If anything our younger players will have a better chance at first team football now that we’ve been relegated, as the calibre of player they’ll need to displace will be lower.

I would have thought that players like Ballard would want to develop in a PL academy rather than playing regularly in the Championship where their workload would have to be managed

[Saint86]

3 hours ago, Saint Garrett said:

Nothing is a surprise when it comes to Saudi Arabia. 💰

I do wonder how the premier league and other major leagues can deal with this situation that's arising though.  Ultimately money talks, but this is becoming a problem for the other major leagues.  Ronaldo was the start, but when you start seeing players in their prime going there it's a concern.

What? Its a total non issue imo 😅. I can't see any real danger of a Saudi Arabian league threatening the established European competitions - its just like china and the MLS before them with the exception that they very likely corrupted a world cup to get help launch their initial PR. Fact of the matter is that they are paying huge sums to lure aged players into a league with no meaningful competition/pedigree/prestige, and into a country where players are unlikely to ever move their families or settle for any meaningful amount of time. And okay, money talks... but they aren't going to take out champions league and EPL tv monies by having a low standard leave with geriatric players and no established fanbases / brand names. The whole thing is frankly quite weird, football isn't golf, i cannot see what they're trying to achieve.

[SambaMaverick]

Is it not a bit weird that we've had zero movement so far? Less than two weeks until pre-season starts, is anyone going to be there?

[SNSUN]

32 minutes ago, SambaMaverick said:

Is it not a bit weird that we've had zero movement so far? Less than two weeks until pre-season starts, is anyone going to be there?

We haven't sold anyone so far so we're no worse off than last season. (Actually as we're releasing Moi and Theo we're probably better off, fiscally and in squad terms). I assume KWP, JWP, Lavia etc will all be there at the start of pre-season training unless sold in the next fortnight.

I'm not worried... yet. The only thing that concerns me longer term (until the end of the window) is that we might lose too many players and become cash rich and talent poor. We need to keep at least some of our better players. We will want automatic promotion but a complete rebuild of our side could be risky (although I do appreciate we were SO crap last year it wouldn't be the worst thing).

 

 

[Bad Wolf]

6 hours ago, qwertyell said:

Footballers love money. It's like when China were throwing around huge contracts - it'll mostly be over-the-hill players getting a nice final pay day, but there'll be the odd mercenary still in their prime that'll sign up for a few years and probably never be heard of again.

It was Oscar from Chelsea back then.

Don't most of us do our jobs for money?

[SaintZamboni]

19 minutes ago, Bad Wolf said:

Don't most of us do our jobs for money?

Only if you’re extrinsically motivated and don’t care for what you do. We’re all different and so I don’t care what floats anybody’s boat but I love what I do and I that’s where I place value. One can only assume talk of ‘champions league’ and ‘competing’ is utter bullshit for footballers, who would’ve guessed?

The Neves deal is bizarre and I’d happily wager he’ll be at Newcastle shortly for a fee less than what he’d have commanded in a premier league to premier league transfer.

[hypochondriac]

14 hours ago, qwertyell said:

Footballers love money. It's like when China were throwing around huge contracts - it'll mostly be over-the-hill players getting a nice final pay day, but there'll be the odd mercenary still in their prime that'll sign up for a few years and probably never be heard of again.

It was Oscar from Chelsea back then.

I always think of Asamoah Gyan who basically gave up a promising prem career in his 20s to get ridiculous contracts in places no one has heard of. Nice work if you can get it I suppose. 

[Bad Wolf]

7 hours ago, SaintZamboni said:

Only if you’re extrinsically motivated and don’t care for what you do. We’re all different and so I don’t care what floats anybody’s boat but I love what I do and I that’s where I place value. One can only assume talk of ‘champions league’ and ‘competing’ is utter bullshit for footballers, who would’ve guessed?

The Neves deal is bizarre and I’d happily wager he’ll be at Newcastle shortly for a fee less than what he’d have commanded in a premier league to premier league transfer.

I love my job too but I wouldn't do it for free and if someone offered me a less enjoyable job for 4x the money I'm on now I'd probably take it.

[david in sweden]

I thought that this thread had something to do with Saints,(?)  and not over-rated, overpaid imports coming into the top tier.

Taking a long look at what maybe left of our Prem. squad, I'd guess that we'll be lucky to see even a handful of those who

played out the final games of last season to still be with the club come August.  Aside from those obvious talents who are already

being bandied about for moves,  our squad will be devoid of many names that we have been used to over the past 2-3 seasons.

Hopefully we will see some of the Academy graduates getting substantial game time, but many of us will repeatedly be uttering

to our selves.. ." WHO ?" ... when the new signings start to appear and berating their faults before they have even kicked a ball.

 

The reality is that we are unlikely to get any new  players who have any substantial experience of Prem. level football, but a

plethora of Championship / lower league signings in order to help guide us through the minefield of 46 games + various Cup games

that Championship sides have to contend with every season.

Having spent the last 11 seasons in  " the toughest League in the footballing World " , relegation means we have to come to terms 

a different brand of football, sometimes playing on surfaces that may be more " agricultural " and against opponents with "other skills".

 

It will be a " game-changer " of a different sort for many of us to view, and learn to live with but regardless of that I hope to see some 

arrivals with experience of scoring goals - at any level - will be a real challenge, as when looking at last season's Championship table

we can see that champions Burnley scored over 80 league goals,  as did MIddlesboro'.... (but who failed to get promotion).

In many ways this will be one of the most significant transfer windows for Saints in the last decade ....let's hope we get it right. 

 

[Convict Colony]

Interesting to see how lavia, JWP, stu Armstrong, Aribo and Moi rate

[Weston Super Saint]

9 minutes ago, Convict Colony said:

Interesting to see how lavia, JWP, stu Armstrong, Aribo and Moi rate

Aribo and useless in a class of their own!

[SotonianWill]

1 hour ago, Convict Colony said:

Interesting to see how lavia, JWP, stu Armstrong, Aribo and Moi rate

pressistantly shit

[SaintsFan86]

 

[FarehamSaintJames]

I can’t wait to see Joe Aribo offered £100K a week out in the Saudi league. Or Moussa Djenepo. Or Alex McCarthy.

We joke, but worse players have gone for those extortionate fees to leagues that like to piss away a few $$$.

[Wade Garrett]

23 hours ago, Lighthouse said:

TBH I’m quite happy with all the Saudi sports washing. Being corrupted by western capitalism is quite an improvement on being corrupted by bronze age religious fundamentalism. 

Nice that you can have a laugh about State sponsored murders.

[Dusic]

18 minutes ago, FarehamSaintJames said:

I can’t wait to see Joe Aribo offered £100K a week out in the Saudi league. Or Moussa Djenepo. Or Alex McCarthy.

We joke, but worse players have gone for those extortionate fees to leagues that like to piss away a few $$$.

Just an opinion but I think Aribo could still have a big role for us. He started last season quite well before the whole team became awful and he was always playing in different positions and clearly lost confidence.

He built his reputation in the EFL, is more suited to a style with more of the ball and from the Coaches Voice video I could see him suiting Martin's attacking shape quite well.

He clearly has ability and has a record that suggests in the right team he can add goals from midfield.

Edited 19 June, 2023 by Dusic

[SuperSAINT]

55 minutes ago, SaintsFan86 said:

 

The bad news:  I want him to stay.

The good news: They are in the prem so we will get paid decent money and his wages won’t be subsidised at all.

#CentreBackExodusWatch

Edited 19 June, 2023 by SuperSAINT
Added the #

[SaintsFan86]

Just now, SuperSAINT said:

The bad news:  I want him to stay.

The good news: They are in the prem so we will get paid decent money and his wages won’t be subsidised at all.

I'd hoped we would keep him, But hopefully we can get 8/10 Million for him. Will comfortably afford us a replacement.

[Lighthouse]

48 minutes ago, Wade Garrett said:

Nice that you can have a laugh about State sponsored murders.

Mmmmm…. Wasn’t really a joke, or the point I was making.

[niceandfriendly]

Stephens would do a great job for us in the Champ, shame if he leaves 

[Fabrice29]

The desire to keep Jack Stephens, who has found himself out of the side and not good enough shortly after every chance he's been given, is baffling. 

[SuperSAINT]

4 minutes ago, Fabrice29 said:

The desire to keep Jack Stephens, who has found himself out of the side and not good enough shortly after every chance he's been given, is baffling. 

Different set of tools needed now though.

[OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint]

8 minutes ago, Fabrice29 said:

The desire to keep Jack Stephens, who has found himself out of the side and not good enough shortly after every chance he's been given, is baffling. 

Wouldn't be too much of a surprise if ABK, Salisu & Bednerek all leave in the next month or two. I'd like to keep Stephens. At least he shows character while not being quite so OTT as Lyanco.

[Fabrice29]

15 minutes ago, SuperSAINT said:

Different set of tools needed now though.

Not really though is it? Same game, same fundamentals. What are his best qualities that we desperately need now? He's really bad in the air and lacks concentration. Bit of a talker though eh and home grown (barely).

Honestly, part of the fun of this club is the hope, the feeling we might be watching a class act in the making. That's all gone with this guy, he's 29 and consistently proven to be lacking. If he can get a move to somewhere he'll be rated for another 6 months maximum then he should go.

9 minutes ago, OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint said:

Wouldn't be too much of a surprise if ABK, Salisu & Bednerek all leave in the next month or two. I'd like to keep Stephens. At least he shows character while not being quite so OTT as Lyanco.

Good. This is the perfect chance we'll have to reset. Apart from ABK aren't we all bored of watching these guys consistently fail to keep clean sheets? Character ffs. They're all decent on their day, but please let these people all go be decent once a month somewhere else. I think that people have just been watching some of these for so long they've found themselves having to actually rate one or two of them. There is much better players out there, lets recruit some and not have to argue about which of these 5 average CB's should be starting every two weeks.

Edited 19 June, 2023 by Fabrice29

[niceandfriendly]

24 minutes ago, Fabrice29 said:

The desire to keep Jack Stephens, who has found himself out of the side and not good enough shortly after every chance he's been given, is baffling. 

We’ve just been relegated. He’s an average Prem defender and would likely be a decent Championship defender. Baffling?

[Fabrice29]

1 minute ago, niceandfriendly said:

We’ve just been relegated. He’s an average Prem defender and would likely be a decent Championship defender. Baffling?

His inability to win headers, concentrate or effectively mark properly make him an average defender in whatever league you put him in in my opinion (within reason obviously). 

Have some ambition lad. Stop settling for something you know you don't want. 

[Toussaint]

22 minutes ago, Fabrice29 said:

His inability to win headers, concentrate or effectively mark properly make him an average defender in whatever league you put him in in my opinion (within reason obviously). 

Have some ambition lad. Stop settling for something you know you don't want. 

I don’t consider it settling, always had a lot of time for Jack, we would have benefited from his presence in the team last season, he’d have made a good captain. 

[Colinjb]

1 hour ago, Fabrice29 said:

The desire to keep Jack Stephens, who has found himself out of the side and not good enough shortly after every chance he's been given, is baffling. 

Hope he stays personally. We got promoted out of this league last time with Aaron Martin and post nightclub injury Danny Seaborne getting games. He is definitely better then those two.

[Chez]

20 minutes ago, Toussaint said:

I don’t consider it settling, always had a lot of time for Jack, we would have benefited from his presence in the team last season, he’d have made a good captain. 

I suspect his head is in Bournemouth now.

He isn't and hasn't ever bene the greatest, but I doubt we will have better playing for us next season at CB.

[Lee On Solent Saint]

22 minutes ago, Toussaint said:

I don’t consider it settling, always had a lot of time for Jack, we would have benefited from his presence in the team last season, he’d have made a good captain. 

Agree would have been more committed than Salisu and ABK. 

[Fabrice29]

27 minutes ago, Toussaint said:

I don’t consider it settling, always had a lot of time for Jack, we would have benefited from his presence in the team last season, he’d have made a good captain. 

Couldn't get in the team but yeah good captain. 

20 minutes ago, Colinjb said:

Hope he stays personally. We got promoted out of this league last time with Aaron Martin and post nightclub injury Danny Seaborne getting games. He is definitely better then those two.

Sold them both a year later didn't we? So that's something to look forward to if we do keep him. Half the price we could get now probably (below post suggests he's out of contract, even better).  Just buzzing to have somebody we know isn't very good to be playing for us just so we can lose him a year later. Can't wait!

 

 

Edited 19 June, 2023 by Fabrice29

[Harry_SFC]

I think Stephens would be decent back up next season but he just isn't good enough to be playing week in, week out. 

As Fabrice said, he lacks concentration, is slow and is actually quite poor in the air for CB.

He's got a year left on his contract, so he either signs a new one (can't see it happening) or we sell now. 

[Saint86]

5 hours ago, Convict Colony said:

Interesting to see how lavia, JWP, stu Armstrong, Aribo and Moi rate

That is Stu right? Can't be AA? 😄😅😄

I only ask as I'm regularly informed by this board that JWP is shit and not press resistant, so that chart must be nonsense. 

Obviously no surprise to see Ely and aribo where they are. Highlights what I think we can all see, on that Armstrong is one of our best 10s when fit. Hopefully he stays and gets fit as he'll do well for us in the champ. 

Edit. A real shame that alcaraz joined so late in the season and lavia was injured. That is a very solid midfield 3! 

Edited 19 June, 2023 by Saint86

[Colinjb]

Just now, Fabrice29 said:

Sold them both a year later didn't we? So that's something to look forward to if we do keep him. Half the price we could get now probably. Just buzzing to have somebody we know isn't very good to be playing for us just so we can lose him a year later. Can't wait!

If we got promoted back to the premier league with him at the heart of our defence then good luck to him on his next step! This 'isn't very good player' was key to one of our nearest rivals staying up, and it seems they want to keep him. That speaks volumes to me.

Our problems have come from poor coaching and a toxic dressing room environment, not just the abilities of the individual players. We need players of his experience and capability right now to help us.

[Holmes_and_Watson]

Previous target Quincy Primes continues to be unavailable. He got away from us, but not the law, as he's sentenced to 18 months.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/65948357

[waylander]

5 hours ago, SaintsFan86 said:

 

I wonder if this will be affected by the new manager coming in?

[Fabrice29]

1 hour ago, Colinjb said:

If we got promoted back to the premier league with him at the heart of our defence then good luck to him on his next step! This 'isn't very good player' was key to one of our nearest rivals staying up, and it seems they want to keep him. That speaks volumes to me.

Our problems have come from poor coaching and a toxic dressing room environment, not just the abilities of the individual players. We need players of his experience and capability right now to help us.

Not convinced he was ‘key’ and that Bournemouth side played in a very different way to we will and how they will next season but okay he did well for a few months but that’s the point I’m making isn’t it? Did well for a bit but we’ve had him for how ever many years now and guess what…there’s no evidence that continues beyond ‘doing well for a bit’. He consistently does well for a bit then doesn’t do well for a bit, then is drafted back in and does well for a bit before not doing well again for a bit. That speaks volumes to me. And it’s the same for all of them. It’s always the one out of the team whose reputation is improving. That also speaks volumes to me.

Whole heartedly agree with the 2nd point btw. Piss poor coaching is a fundamental issue over the past few years. 

Edited 19 June, 2023 by Fabrice29

[Colinjb]

11 minutes ago, Fabrice29 said:

Not convinced he was ‘key’ and that Bournemouth side played in a very different way to we will and how they will next season but okay he did well for a few months but that’s the point I’m making isn’t it? Did well for a bit but we’ve had him for how ever many years now and guess what…there’s no evidence that continues beyond ‘doing well for a bit’. He consistently does well for a bit then doesn’t do well for a bit, then is drafted back in and does well for a bit before not doing well again for a bit. That speaks volumes to me. And it’s the same for all of them. It’s always the one out of the team whose reputation is improving. That also speaks volumes to me.

And the one consistent factor in those points, the poor environment that all of our players have been training and working within. Take Stephens away from us, he got better. How we could have done with any of our defenders, regardless of if they were more naturally talented, to do as well as he did at Bournemouth this year. 

We should not be so complacent to let a player who can cut it in a league now above us go as gladly as you are seemingly happy to.

Edited 19 June, 2023 by Colinjb

[Colinjb]

38 minutes ago, Holmes_and_Watson said:

Previous target Quincy Primes continues to be unavailable. He got away from us, but not the law, as he's sentenced to 18 months.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/65948357

A shame he never got to work with Nathan Jones, there's your front footed aggression. 

[Fabrice29]

3 minutes ago, Colinjb said:

And the one consistent factor in those points, the poor environment that all of our players have been training and working within. Take Stephens away from us, he got better. How we could have done with any of our defenders, regardless if if they were more naturally talented, to do as well as he did at Bournemouth this year. 

We should not be so complacent to let a player who can cut it in a league now above us go as gladly as you are seemingly happy to.

He’s consistently not cut in a league now above us though hasn’t he? And in much better teams/environment than our current team or Bournemouth’s but he’s always been meh at best. But hey a good few months at Bournemouth and he’s suddenly PL alumni. 

Just a massive desperation to fill the squad with players we know are ‘fine’ at best. So exciting. 

[Holmes_and_Watson]

3 minutes ago, Colinjb said:

A shame he never got to work with Nathan Jones, there's your front footed aggression. 

A fine line between front footed aggression and attempted manslaughter.

[LaptopSaint]

11 minutes ago, Fabrice29 said:

He’s consistently not cut in a league now above us though hasn’t he? And in much better teams/environment than our current team or Bournemouth’s but he’s always been meh at best. But hey a good few months at Bournemouth and he’s suddenly PL alumni. 

Just a massive desperation to fill the squad with players we know are ‘fine’ at best. So exciting. 

Whoever we have at centre back, and I wouldn't be averse to losing all of them except ABK, the good news is that it is the one position that Russell Martin should be able to coach properly. 

[Colinjb]

14 minutes ago, Fabrice29 said:

He’s consistently not cut in a league now above us though hasn’t he? And in much better teams/environment than our current team or Bournemouth’s but he’s always been meh at best. But hey a good few months at Bournemouth and he’s suddenly PL alumni. 

Just a massive desperation to fill the squad with players we know are ‘fine’ at best. So exciting. 

More so then players that we know from recent experience were capable of getting us promoted. Jos Hooiveld, Aaron Martin, Danny Seaborne, Danny Fox, Danny Butterfield, Frazer Richardson. I would rather have Stephens in the side then any of those in their prime ahead of our next season. It's not desperation to fill the squad with mediocrity, it's understanding that players who may not have been the best in the PL but have shown to be useful will still be more then capable of doing a very good job in the second tier with the right management.

Edited 19 June, 2023 by Colinjb

[Dellman]

5 minutes ago, LaptopSaint said:

Whoever we have at centre back, and I wouldn't be averse to losing all of them except ABK, the good news is that it is the one position that Russell Martin should be able to coach properly. 

ABK is injury prone, how often was he match fit? Have to admit Bednarek did a better job than I ever expected.