Pound for pound - best/worst players

[Crab Lungs]

Just to add some weight behind the pound for pound stuff, Anders Svensson today would cost £1.275m with inflation. 

[Toussaint]

14 minutes ago, Tom & Gerry said:

At this stage if his Saints career Peter Crouch was rated about the same.

Funny thing is, when I saw him at Chelsea he reminded me a lot of Peter Crouch.

[Turkish]

11 minutes ago, Crab Lungs said:

Just to add some weight behind the pound for pound stuff, Anders Svensson today would cost £1.275m with inflation. 

I always felt he was much better than he showed for us. Classy player but never really delivered consistently. 

[The Left Back]

Looking at the post L1 era signings, for me it has to be Steven Davis at £1m I think.

Obviously the maths answer is Van Dijk but where’s the fun in that?

[david in sweden]

18 hours ago, Turkish said:

Fonte was a brilliant signing. He was quality in the lower leagues and whilst in the premier league he was pretty much always the second best in the central defensive partnership he was the leader at the back every team needs. We've never replaced him.

even that is an understatement. During his sojourn with Saints he partnered 6 other CB's and we looked better and better as time went by.

Our big mistake was letting him go when he was still in good form. After we bought VvD, Claude Puel decided he was surplus to

requirements and let him go, only for VvD to get crocked (by Jamie Vardy) a month later,  and we were left with Yoshida and Stephens as CB's.  

His eventual move to LIlle reignited his international career, AND he won a French title and a French " Cup"  and is still in their start side (aged 39). 

Edited 30 March, 2023 by david in sweden

[david in sweden]

1 hour ago, Dark Munster said:

Um, no Clown's donkey?

Surely pound for pound our worst signing ever.

Think some of you have missed Gaston Ramirez.  When asked why he signed ( for Saints) he said .." I couldn't believe how much they would pay me".

Rumoured to have been on 65K / week ...in 2013:    The 12 million fee + a 4 year contract cost Saints about 25 million in the end, much the same deal as Osvaldo.

.........another piece of " brilliant dealing " from Nicola Cortese, who almost denied Alan Pardew the 2 million required to sign .....Rickie Lambert.

[benjii]

The whole Fonte departure thing was weird. Freezing him out of the Europa League the way we did was bizarre. One of the things I'm most annoyed about was how we fucked up two Europa campaigns so badly. We should have been making QF / SF at least.

[Hodgey]

1 hour ago, Dark Munster said:

Um, no Clown's donkey?

Surely pound for pound our worst signing ever.

Yeah mentally I must have forgotten about him! - he’d be there all right - although like Tall Paul some mitigation in that he was bought by another manager / style.

[SW5 SAINT]

3 hours ago, Hodgey said:

 

Best - Case, Adams, Flowers, Hall,  Katchoul, Richards, Clyde, Beattie, Schneiderlin, Marsden, Lambert, Mane, VVD, Tadic, Svenssonsx2, 

Worst: Delap, McLaughlin, Osvaldo, Delgado and his mate, Van dam, Crainey, Moi, A Armstrong, Forren, Marshall, Dixon, Speedie, Quashie, Bernard

No Carillo…..?

[Berkshire Saint]

1 hour ago, Turkish said:

I always felt he was much better than he showed for us. Classy player but never really delivered consistently. 

Flattered to deceive really for most of his time with us. I think in the current era he'd have been a really good Premier League player but 20 years ago most teams played a pretty standard 4-4-2 with box-to-box central midfielders which didn't really suit his style. 

[egg]

1 hour ago, Turkish said:

I always felt he was much better than he showed for us. Classy player but never really delivered consistently. 

Yep. One of those players who could have been really good for us with a bit more luck and a following wind. Tadic was the same, very good, but the potential for so much more. Dare I say it, I think Ramirez fits in the same category - one hell of a player in there, I'm just unsure if it was the wrong time or just the wrong league. 

[egg]

44 minutes ago, benjii said:

The whole Fonte departure thing was weird. Freezing him out of the Europa League the way we did was bizarre. One of the things I'm most annoyed about was how we fucked up two Europa campaigns so badly. We should have been making QF / SF at least.

Yep, various rumours about him, but he never should have been frozen out or allowed to leave. The squads we had at that time had the potential to do very well. They were good times. 

[Crab Lungs]

2 hours ago, Turkish said:

I always felt he was much better than he showed for us. Classy player but never really delivered consistently. 

Agree at his worst he was 6/10 performer but showed elevated flashes of brilliances sometimes which made him 8/10 in some games, but never consistently. Way above some of the rubbish we’ve had in recent times.

[Lighthouse]

1 hour ago, benjii said:

The whole Fonte departure thing was weird. Freezing him out of the Europa League the way we did was bizarre. One of the things I'm most annoyed about was how we fucked up two Europa campaigns so badly. We should have been making QF / SF at least.

 

41 minutes ago, egg said:

but he never should have been frozen out or allowed to leave.

He was never frozen out, it was simple squad rotation. To me it seems perfectly sensible not to expect a 33 year old to play every league and European game. I’ve criticised Puel for a lot but I think he had this one right. You may disagree with that choice but it wasn’t a case of ‘freezing’ Fonte out.

Likewise with his contract, it was a choice between selling him for £8m or letting him leave for free in summer.

[Archers Road Stand]

5 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

 

He was never frozen out, it was simple squad rotation. To me it seems perfectly sensible not to expect a 33 year old to play every league and European game. I’ve criticised Puel for a lot but I think he had this one right. You may disagree with that choice but it wasn’t a case of ‘freezing’ Fonte out.

Likewise with his contract, it was a choice between selling him for £8m or letting him leave for free in summer.

He still had 18 months on his contract when we sold him. 

[Turkish]

5 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

 

He was never frozen out, it was simple squad rotation. To me it seems perfectly sensible not to expect a 33 year old to play every league and European game. I’ve criticised Puel for a lot but I think he had this one right. You may disagree with that choice but it wasn’t a case of ‘freezing’ Fonte out.

Likewise with his contract, it was a choice between selling him for £8m or letting him leave for free in summer.

No it wasn't he signed a 3 year extension the season before in summer 2015. His contract expired in Summer of 2018. The issue at the time was he had signed a new contract then came back from Euro 2016 a year later and supposedly wanted a new one. 

There were rumours circulating that he had come back from the Euros the big i am but that seemed out of character, it was probably more likely a case of he felt he was in a strong position as European champion and senior centre half and captain at the club to negotiate a longer deal to secure his future, Les thought otherwise. 

[Turkish]

17 minutes ago, Crab Lungs said:

Agree at his worst he was 6/10 performer but showed elevated flashes of brilliances sometimes which made him 8/10 in some games, but never consistently. Way above some of the rubbish we’ve had in recent times.

He did indeed. I thought we could have got a lot more out of him, as someone else said would probably suit the premier league better now than then.

[Lighthouse]

12 minutes ago, Archers Road Stand said:

He still had 18 months on his contract when we sold him. 

 

9 minutes ago, Turkish said:

No it wasn't he signed a 3 year extension the season before in summer 2015. His contract expired in Summer of 2018. The issue at the time was he had signed a new contract then came back from Euro 2016 a year later and supposedly wanted a new one. 

There were rumours circulating that he had come back from the Euros the big i am but that seemed out of character, it was probably more likely a case of he felt he was in a strong position as European champion and senior centre half and captain at the club to negotiate a longer deal to secure his future, Les thought otherwise. 

The last reference I can find to him signing a contract was this.

 

[saintquin]

Think all you need to do is look at the quality Mcmenemy signed. 

Alan Ball, Jimmy Case, Mick Mills, kevin Keegan, Peter Shilton, Chris  Nicholl, Peter Osgood, Ivan Golac, Steve Williams, Mark Wright, Phil Boyer,Jim  McCalliog, Ted MacDougall, Dave Watson,Charlie George, Dave Peach and that's just a quick think about it.

Those of us of a certain age have been quite lucky to have seen these play in a Saints shirt! 

[Turkish]

15 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

 

The last reference I can find to him signing a contract was this.

 

you couldnt have looked very hard, google Fonte signs new contract and this was the first thing that came up. Oct 2015.

Jose Fonte signs new Southampton deal | Football News | Sky Sports

 

below about a dozen other links saying the same thing is the offical club one

Fonte signs new deal until 2018 | Southampton FC

Edited 30 March, 2023 by Turkish

[badgerx16]

20 hours ago, Lighthouse said:

They saw us coming:

Gunn

Nilsson Powell* Hoedt Van Damme

Elyounoussi Delap Clasie

Onuachu Delgado Carrillo

*I know he was free. I consider this to be overpriced.

What is confusing is that Hoedt, Van Damme, Elyounoussi, Clasie, Onuachu, and Delgado were/are full internationals, and 2 have played in World Cup finals tournaments, with Tall Paul having appeared at the AFCON finals.

[egg]

47 minutes ago, Turkish said:

No it wasn't he signed a 3 year extension the season before in summer 2015. His contract expired in Summer of 2018. The issue at the time was he had signed a new contract then came back from Euro 2016 a year later and supposedly wanted a new one. 

There were rumours circulating that he had come back from the Euros the big i am but that seemed out of character, it was probably more likely a case of he felt he was in a strong position as European champion and senior centre half and captain at the club to negotiate a longer deal to secure his future, Les thought otherwise. 

Yep, that's my understanding. He was plenty good enough for yes, and under contract. His not playing, then being sold, did not feel like 'rotation' or a even football related decision. 

[Turkish]

32 minutes ago, badgerx16 said:

What is confusing is that Hoedt, Van Damme, Elyounoussi, Clasie, Onuachu, and Delgado were/are full internationals, and 2 have played in World Cup finals tournaments, with Tall Paul having appeared at the AFCON finals.

So did Mayuka.

[Turkish]

22 minutes ago, egg said:

Yep, that's my understanding. He was plenty good enough for yes, and under contract. His not playing, then being sold, did not feel like 'rotation' or an even football related decision. 

Wasn’t it also inevitable that Van Dijk would get injured as soon as the window shut. I’m sure we’d have won the cup that season if we’d had those two instead of Stephens and yoshida 

Edited 30 March, 2023 by Turkish

[badgerx16]

17 minutes ago, Turkish said:

So did Mayuka.

It just goes to show that our "dross" may well have not been, but just didn't fit Saints or the PL. ( Doesn't explain Hoedt though ).

[Lighthouse]

1 hour ago, Turkish said:

you couldnt have looked very hard, google Fonte signs new contract and this was the first thing that came up. Oct 2015.

Jose Fonte signs new Southampton deal | Football News | Sky Sports

 

below about a dozen other links saying the same thing is the offical club one

Fonte signs new deal until 2018 | Southampton FC

Fair enough, although in the grand scheme of things it doesn’t change all that much. We rotated our squad in Europe and he left because he wanted to leave.

[Harry_SFC]

2 hours ago, Turkish said:

No it wasn't he signed a 3 year extension the season before in summer 2015. His contract expired in Summer of 2018. The issue at the time was he had signed a new contract then came back from Euro 2016 a year later and supposedly wanted a new one. 

There were rumours circulating that he had come back from the Euros the big i am but that seemed out of character, it was probably more likely a case of he felt he was in a strong position as European champion and senior centre half and captain at the club to negotiate a longer deal to secure his future, Les thought otherwise. 

To be fair the guy is is still starting in Ligue 1 at 39. Pretty incredible really. Obviously we don't know the full details of what happened but personally feel the situation should have been handled better. Wish we'd kept him for longer!

[bangkoksaint]

23 hours ago, Yorkshire Saint said:

Alan McClochlin 

 

I’m sure I recall reading in one of the Saints books I’ve read how it would be a long time before another Saints manager would be trusted with £1M again.

 

RIP Alan

[Dusic]

Recently, Lavia and Livramento both extremely good value pound for pound, especially Lavia who is probably a CL quality player already and cost what you would expect a very good Championship midfielder to be touted for.

Aside from the often stated ones, Angus Gunn was a big waste of money.

[Paulwantsapint81]

Does Terry Paine count, signed from Winchester?

[Dan Johnson]

Best 

Rickie Lambert, a talisman only topped by Le Tissier in my lifetime, £1m we paid for him, Averaged a goal every other game. Sensational signing.

Steven Davies, hugely underrated in my opinion and the glue that made us tick during the most exciting era of being a Saints fan over the last 40 years. I think we paid £250k set at a tribunal. 

VVD, how other teams overlooked him is an absolute mystery he looked world class the very first minute he stepped onto the pitch. Probably the most technically gifted player I’ve ever seen in a saints shirt. A bargin at £12m and a £63m profit 

Bertrand - Selling shaw for £30m and buying Bertrand for £10m was a master stroke. There was a period were Bertrand was probably the best left back in the country for 2 seasons. Should have played more for England, could easily of found himself at a bigger club.

Pahars - without him we’d have gone down.

[HnycS]

On 29/03/2023 at 16:24, Gingeletiss said:

MLT, cost nothing.

Sure scouting, academy u14, u16, 17, u21 &  B-team all cost nothing. If we divide the cost of all that by the number of players produced you get the "Brentford solution" do not bother and buy the right players at the point you need them for the first team. Exaggerated by loads of % I know but that's the principle.

Edited 31 March, 2023 by HnycS
Removed unintended pun.

[HnycS]

14 hours ago, Toussaint said:

Not sure why people are so down on tall Paul. 

• He's had limited opportunities
• He's had zero service when he has played
• He hasn't been tried up front in a pair with Che

So, on that basis, my jury is still out. If the criticism is he doesn't fit our crappy narrow system, that's a different discussion, and he can't be blamed for that.

 

Sadly my jury has come in and is willing to go down in digital history.  But before passing judgement would like to ask a few questions before passing judgement. 

• 1. Does tall Paul have the innate physical ability to last a whole game at premier league pace?
• 2. Why has tall Paul not previously been snapped up at earlier points in his career by goal hungry teams?
• 3. Why did tall Paul accept the challenge that other strikers declined?

Yes I agree he could turn out to be height for goals the best striker Southampton ever brought and in that case will end up the first Southampton billion dollar sale, early signs are however not positive. 

[HnycS]

12 hours ago, Toussaint said:

Funny thing is, when I saw him at Chelsea he reminded me a lot of Peter Crouch.

Some small differences here apart from the similarity in height, Peter Crouch "was capped 42 times by the England national team between 2005 and 2010, scoring 22 goals for his country during that time, and appearing at two FIFA World Cup tournaments.^[2] He is one of 33 players to have scored 100 or more Premier League goals, and holds the record for the most headed goals in Premier League history.^"

So how much did he remind you of Peter Crouch, bearing in mind when Peter Crouch played for Southampton he was five or so years younger than Paul?

[Yorkshire Saint]

11 hours ago, bangkoksaint said:

I’m sure I recall reading in one of the Saints books I’ve read how it would be a long time before another Saints manager would be trusted with £1M again.

 

RIP Alan

I wonder who was the 2nd million pound player we signed and who the chosen manager was ? Souness and Richard Hall ?

[Fabrice Fernandes no.1 fan]

7 hours ago, HnycS said:

Some small differences here apart from the similarity in height, Peter Crouch "was capped 42 times by the England national team between 2005 and 2010, scoring 22 goals for his country during that time, and appearing at two FIFA World Cup tournaments.^[2] He is one of 33 players to have scored 100 or more Premier League goals, and holds the record for the most headed goals in Premier League history.^"

So how much did he remind you of Peter Crouch, bearing in mind when Peter Crouch played for Southampton he was five or so years younger than Paul?

Also worth noting that Crouch scored in his second appearance for us (both of the bench) and his goals per game has only really been bettered by Ings since we've been back in the PL. A striker like 04/05 Crouch would be keeping us up this season easily. 

[Chez]

On 29/03/2023 at 20:13, Lighthouse said:

Bargain team (not including academy and loans)

Boruc

Clyne Fonte Richards Bertrand

Morgan Marsden

Kachloul Davis Pahars

Beattie

 

They saw us coming:

Gunn

Nilsson Powell* Hoedt Van Damme

Elyounoussi Delap Clasie

Onuachu Delgado Carrillo

*I know he was free. I consider this to be overpriced.

Lambert makes my Bargain side at the expense of Kachloul. It was a big fee for league 1, but it still makes me smile that we sold McGoldrick for about £1m to Forrest in June and roughly the same amount was spent on Sir Rickie in August. What a fucking upgrade that was. I'd like to squeeze Jimmy Case in there that side too somehow, maybe Romeu too.

Boruc
Clyne Fonte Richards Bertrand
Morgan Davis Marsden
Beattie Lambert Pahars

Good shout, especially Powell. Although Wayne Thomas would replace him in my Saw us coming side. £1.2m we didn't really have spent on a really poor CB because we were desperate. We paid £850,000 for Lee Todd in 1997. As bad a signing as Van Damme was, Todd takes the left back spot for me. I'm going McCann and Juanmi. Very tempted to go Prutton because it was a big is fee for us at that time, I had high hopes, but he was such a disappointment in the end. I'd like to get Dixon and Vestegaard in there too.

Gunn
Nilsson Thomas Hoedt Todd
Juanmi Delap McCant
Onuachu Delgado Carrillo

 

[Turkish]

1 hour ago, Chez said:

Lambert makes my Bargain side at the expense of Kachloul. It was a big fee for league 1, but it still makes me smile that we sold McGoldrick for about £1m to Forrest in June and roughly the same amount was spent on Sir Rickie in August. What a fucking upgrade that was. I'd like to squeeze Jimmy Case in there that side too somehow, maybe Romeu too.

Boruc
Clyne Fonte Richards Bertrand
Morgan Davis Marsden
Beattie Lambert Pahars

Good shout, especially Powell. Although Wayne Thomas would replace him in my Saw us coming side. £1.2m we didn't really have spent on a really poor CB because we were desperate. We paid £850,000 for Lee Todd in 1997. As bad a signing as Van Damme was, Todd takes the left back spot for me. I'm going McCann and Juanmi. Very tempted to go Prutton because it was a big is fee for us at that time, I had high hopes, but he was such a disappointment in the end. I'd like to get Dixon and Vestegaard in there too.

Gunn
Nilsson Thomas Hoedt Todd
Juanmi Delap McCant
Onuachu Delgado Carrillo

 

I think i heard at the time that Burnley would have taken £300k for Thomas and saints came in with £1.2m as out opening bid. 

 

I always thought Paul Jones was a bit of waste of money, not because he was a bad keeper, he was okay but we had not long before signed Maik Taylor for a decent fee who IMO Was a better keeper.

 

Perry Groves and John Beresford both expensive signings for us at the time but struggled with injuries and i remember we sold Jon Gittens for £60k, signed him back for £600k a couple of years later and he was just as bad.

Edited 31 March, 2023 by Turkish

[The Kraken]

19 minutes ago, Turkish said:

I always thought Paul Jones was a bit of waste of money, not because he was a bad keeper, he was okay but we had not long before signed Maik Taylor for a decent fee who IMO Was a better keeper.

I remember I played at a charity golf event shortly after Jones signed, and MLT was there and gave a little speech and Q&A (thankfully then just about football). He was polite about it but said the Paul Jones signing really surprised him as he thought that we already had an extremely capable keeper. Always remember that. Like you say, Jones was OK but Taylor was highly rated. Just the Dave Jones new manager thing, wanted players with him that he know hence P Jones and Lee flipping Todd.

[Turkish]

6 minutes ago, The Kraken said:

I remember I played at a charity golf event shortly after Jones signed, and MLT was there and gave a little speech and Q&A (thankfully then just about football). He was polite about it but said the Paul Jones signing really surprised him as he thought that we already had an extremely capable keeper. Always remember that. Like you say, Jones was OK but Taylor was highly rated. Just the Dave Jones new manager thing, wanted players with him that he know hence P Jones and Lee flipping Todd.

Remember this fella? Stig Johansen | SaintsPlayers.co.uk

 

He was Jones signing as well, in hindsight we made some terrible signings under Jones.

the only time i saw him play was away at Man United we lost 1-0 it was Jones first season and him and Lee Todd played. i think he only played about 5 or 6 times for us. 

[The Kraken]

Just now, Turkish said:

Remember this fella? Stig Johansen | SaintsPlayers.co.uk

 

He was Jones signing as well, in hindsight we made some terrible signings under Jones.

the only time i saw him play was away at Man United we lost 1-0 it was Jones first season and him and Lee Todd played. i think he only played about 5 or 6 times for us. 

I do.

He also confuses me, I think I must be having a Mandela Effect moment with my memory. I was sure that there used to be a Saints chant that went “2 Johansens, there’s only 2 Johnasens…” as we had another fella called Johansen. Fucked if I can find him though.

[Lighthouse]

2 hours ago, Chez said:

Lambert makes my Bargain side at the expense of Kachloul. It was a big fee for league 1, but it still makes me smile that we sold McGoldrick for about £1m to Forrest in June and roughly the same amount was spent on Sir Rickie in August. What a fucking upgrade that was. I'd like to squeeze Jimmy Case in there that side too somehow, maybe Romeu too.

Boruc
Clyne Fonte Richards Bertrand
Morgan Davis Marsden
Beattie Lambert Pahars

Good shout, especially Powell. Although Wayne Thomas would replace him in my Saw us coming side. £1.2m we didn't really have spent on a really poor CB because we were desperate. We paid £850,000 for Lee Todd in 1997. As bad a signing as Van Damme was, Todd takes the left back spot for me. I'm going McCann and Juanmi. Very tempted to go Prutton because it was a big is fee for us at that time, I had high hopes, but he was such a disappointment in the end. I'd like to get Dixon and Vestegaard in there too.

Gunn
Nilsson Thomas Hoedt Todd
Juanmi Delap McCant
Onuachu Delgado Carrillo

 

Vest gets disqualified immediately because Leicester paid slightly more than we bought him for, IIRC. Truly ludicrous that we made a profit on a player who manoeuvres at the pace of moss growing across some damp pebbles.

Prutton never really delivered but was okay at times, I can’t say he was all that bad for £2.5m. Certainly better than players we signed for similar amounts at a similar time - Tin Man, Delap, JVD and Jakobsson spring to mind. McCann… I can’t say he was that expensive at £1.5m, just such an underwhelming, anticlimax of a signing after we’d just played in a cup final, finished 8th and sold Bridge for a massive fee.

Juanmi I’d put in a bracket with Yahia, Mayuka and a handful of others. Cheap, foreign unknown. Worth a punt but hardly devastating financially.

[Dark Munster]

8 hours ago, Fabrice Fernandes no.1 fan said:

Also worth noting that Crouch scored in his second appearance for us (both of the bench) and his goals per game has only really been bettered by Ings since we've been back in the PL. A striker like 04/05 Crouch would be keeping us up this season easily. 

Crouch and not hiring the Welsh wanker. 

[hackedoff]

On 30/03/2023 at 16:54, saintquin said:

Think all you need to do is look at the quality Mcmenemy signed. 

Alan Ball, Jimmy Case, Mick Mills, kevin Keegan, Peter Shilton, Chris  Nicholl, Peter Osgood, Ivan Golac, Steve Williams, Mark Wright, Phil Boyer,Jim  McCalliog, Ted MacDougall, Dave Watson,Charlie George, Dave Peach and that's just a quick think about it.

Those of us of a certain age have been quite lucky to have seen these play in a Saints shirt! 

What the hell would that lot cost in today's market ?

Proper players playing proper football in a proper,entertaining environment.

Those days are long gone.

[woodsaint1]

On 30/03/2023 at 14:43, david in sweden said:

even that is an understatement. During his sojourn with Saints he partnered 6 other CB's and we looked better and better as time went by.

Our big mistake was letting him go when he was still in good form. After we bought VvD, Claude Puel decided he was surplus to

requirements and let him go, only for VvD to get crocked (by Jamie Vardy) a month later,  and we were left with Yoshida and Stephens as CB's.  

His eventual move to LIlle reignited his international career, AND he won a French title and a French " Cup"  and is still in their start side (aged 39). 

If either VVD or Fonte had been fit then we would have won the league cup

[saint1977]

If it’s the value of appearances and quality vs transfer fee, step forward Jason Dodd. What was it, £5k from Bath City? Great debut at QPR, winning 4-1 and home debut was the famous 4-1 v Liverpool. Remember his cross led to one of the goals.

[Roo1976]

On 29/03/2023 at 20:45, West end Saints said:

Think there are some good contenders for both good and bad in this post and below. 

I know Mohamed Elyounoussi is not great and fans love to slag him off, but objectively think he was about 15m?? Not fortune at the time, and has played 71 times for us in prem. More than pelle, lallana, cork, mane etc. (albeit not as well!!) but for a player with some value still, not a waste of money

I know, and he still manages to work at being a top professional for us right ,still airport plane taxi operators need to wave their arms about ,maybe thats his next job? this is just exercise.

[Turkish]

On 29/03/2023 at 20:45, West end Saints said:

Think there are some good contenders for both good and bad in this post and below. 

I know Mohamed Elyounoussi is not great and fans love to slag him off, but objectively think he was about 15m?? Not fortune at the time, and has played 71 times for us in prem. More than pelle, lallana, cork, mane etc. (albeit not as well!!) but for a player with some value still, not a waste of money

How many good games had he had in that time? 2 or 3? His first season was atrocious and looked like he’d never played football before. 2 years out on loan and back. Whilst I get systems and formations and keeping shape I find it incredible that any footballer that is paid for a living has a biggest attribute that they’re good when they don’t have the ball. Can you imagine a doctors who biggest strength is when they’re not working with patients, or a fireman who’s great until They have to put out a fire or a sales guy that the unreal until he has to speak to a customer. Its nuts. 

[bpsaint]

On 30/03/2023 at 17:47, Turkish said:

Wasn’t it also inevitable that Van Dijk would get injured as soon as the window shut. I’m sure we’d have won the cup that season if we’d had those two instead of Stephens and yoshida 

I often wonder how that final would have gone if we’d made use of Martin Cáceres instead of playing Stephens. Such a weird signing, had a half decent CV too.

Edit: just adding to the theme of crap signings, Patrick Colleter is one that always stands out for me.

Edited 1 April, 2023 by bpsaint

[The Kraken]

Sergei Gostsmanov didn’t quite live up to his high billing.