January Transfer Window

[saintant]

18 minutes ago, tdmickey3 said:

Russell Martin

Agree he was the main cause of our problems. However, we failed miserably to identify the fact that you need a big, physical side to give you any chance of surviving in the Premier league. Sure, you need some players with stand out ability but you have to be physically equipped to compete and we were miles off so were very easy to play against. If we go up again I hope lessons have been learned. We are at last introducing more strength and power into the side but it's been neglected for far too long.

[Saint86]

3 hours ago, wild-saint said:

Agree with this post. Too play 4 at the back with 2 wingers we absolutely need a Physical striker with some height / aerial ability. Larin and his record looks unremarkable but how many unremarkable target men are there in the championship that have done a job for teams to reach the playoffs. He may not get the goals but his physical presence suits us more than archer and armstrong's game. Clearly we will want Stewart to stay fit but we will need to be really careful with his minutes. 

Ill probably be proved wrong but im fairly confident that we create enough chances for a him to grab a few but its his physical presence that will be the real benefit.  

The post you quoted has incorrect goals/penalty stats.

The last time we played 4 at the back in the championship, Armstrong was the top player in the league for combined goals and assists in a side that was one of the most effective attacking units in championship history... so he very clearly does fit a 4-2-3-1 formation, and no amount of posters trying to reinvent history by saying he doesn't will change that... 🤦‍♂️ The reality is that he has been misused this season, and him playing as the lone striker in what has essentially been a 5-2-2-1 all season is on the manager(s)/recruitment, not Armstrong..

He's gone regardless, but let's not do the guy dirty with this weird revisionism.

Edited Tuesday at 13:02 by Saint86

[Chez]

4 hours ago, for_heaven's_Saint said:

Which game do we think Stewart will get injured in, leaving us having to start Larin or change system to fit in Archer? I’m going Leicester away. 

I'm going for the play off final, but actually it's just cramp due to an overelaborate and elongated 96th minute winning goal celebration.  

Edited Tuesday at 13:12 by Chez

[Chez]

3 hours ago, lumuah said:

No, 21 weren't penalties. It was 11 - I think 21 is every penalty for every club he has played for. Hi missed/had saved 3 pens.

Goal Breakdown by Competition

The following table reflects his total career statistics for Southampton across all formats:

 

Competition	Appearances	Total Goals	Penalty Goals
EFL Championship	78	35	8
Premier League	73	6	1
FA Cup	10	1	0
EFL Cup	13	1	2
Total	174	43	11

(Data current as of 3 February 2026) 

 

 

Who is our penalty taker now? It's time we had someone as reliable as MLT-Beattie-Lambert

[Chez]

5 hours ago, Willo of Whiteley said:

I find it incredible Sam Edozie is still here.

I agree. If the parties have fallen out, why hasn't he gone out on loan? I don't buy the line that we wont loan to another English side. Sounds stupid when we have loaned others. If we got a better offer from abroad, why didn't he take - he was fine going to Anderlecht. Was it from Turkey perhaps and he didn't fancy it? The club has bene very good at shifting unwanted players (how much of their wages they are paying I don't know), so don't understand why he hasn't gone. Weird.

[leesaint88]

3 minutes ago, Chez said:

I agree. If the parties have fallen out, why hasn't he gone out on loan? I don't buy the line that we wont loan to another English side. Sounds stupid when we have loaned others. If we got a better offer from abroad, why didn't he take - he was fine going to Anderlecht. Was it from Turkey perhaps and he didn't fancy it? The club has bene very good at shifting unwanted players (how much of their wages they are paying I don't know), so don't understand why he hasn't gone. Weird.

Wasn't there rumours the club didn't want to move him on to an English club? I can only assume there is a fitness issue which hasn't been published and it's holding off any move.

[lambtiss]

15 minutes ago, Chez said:

Who is our penalty taker now? It's time we had someone as reliable as MLT-Beattie-Lambert

I think it should be Scienza as he strikes the ball better than any other. 

[EBS1980]

7 minutes ago, lambtiss said:

I think it should be Scienza as he strikes the ball better than any other. 

I assumed him, or maybe  Azaz ?

[Chez]

8 minutes ago, leesaint88 said:

Wasn't there rumours the club didn't want to move him on to an English club? I can only assume there is a fitness issue which hasn't been published and it's holding off any move.

yes, but I don't believe that. It makes no sense. My guess is the english clubs offered buttons while an oversees club would pay most or all his wages, so SFC `turned down' those English offers. Edozie perhaps didn't fancy the oversees move or preferred the UK clubs, so there was a stalemate.

[Chez]

1 minute ago, EBS1980 said:

I assumed him, or maybe  Azaz ?

both feels like an upgrade on AA, but we shall see.

[Midfield_General]

31 minutes ago, Chez said:

Who is our penalty taker now? It's time we had someone as reliable as MLT-Beattie-Lambert

Got to be Leo. Make him penalty taker, captain, manager and give him the keys to Cortese's private shitter. 

 

Edited Tuesday at 13:47 by Midfield_General

[revolution saint]

30 minutes ago, Chez said:

Who is our penalty taker now? It's time we had someone as reliable as MLT-Beattie-Lambert

Ross Stewart?  Transfer Markt has him down as 22 scored and 3 missed.  Definitely scored a few for Sunderland anyway. 

[BarberSaint]

Wonder if he's part of a Cyle to work scheme.

[notnowcato]

4 hours ago, saintant said:

Where did we go wrong then?

We didn’t replace Jason Wilcox when we needed a Director of Football the most. 

[sadoldgit]

2 hours ago, lambtiss said:

I think it should be Scienza as he strikes the ball better than any other. 

Not sure about that. He seems to waft the ball rather than get real power behind it.

It’s a shame we can’t just bring a player off the bench to take penalties. Manning looks like he could take a good pen.

Edited Tuesday at 16:11 by sadoldgit

[Paul_B]

1 hour ago, Midfield_General said:

Got to be Leo. Make him penalty taker, captain, manager and give him the keys to Cortese's private shitter. 

 

Matey in the black puffer/beige beanie hat/crutches is either an undercover Saints fan or knows where Scienza lives and is meticulously planning in his head how he is going to kill Scienza and eat his testicles.

[Midfield_General]

10 minutes ago, Paul_B said:

Matey in the black puffer/beige beanie hat/crutches is either an undercover Saints fan or knows where Scienza lives and is meticulously planning in his head how he is going to kill Scienza and eat his testicles.

Him and the lady next to him just look delighted to have been allowed out for a day out, bless them

Orange jacket fella looks pretty happy too, reckon there's a few covert scummers in there 

Edited Tuesday at 15:57 by Midfield_General

[Doctoroncall]

16 minutes ago, Paul_B said:

Matey in the black puffer/beige beanie hat/crutches is either an undercover Saints fan or knows where Scienza lives and is meticulously planning in his head how he is going to kill Scienza and eat his testicles.

That’s a £55 beanie from Canadian company Arc’teryx!

[Tommy Mulgrew]

Cyle’s brother

[SNSUN]

1 hour ago, BarberSaint said:

Wonder if he's part of a Cyle to work scheme.

Nah, he drives a McLarin.

[Whitey Grandad]

11 minutes ago, SNSUN said:

Nah, he drives a McLarin.

Where's that facepalm emoji when you need it ?

[Holmes_and_Watson]

4 hours ago, Chez said:

Who is our penalty taker now? It's time we had someone as reliable as MLT-Beattie-Lambert

Ah. SR were thinking about keeping our penalty success rate as it was with...

[lambtiss]

3 hours ago, sadoldgit said:

Not sure about that. He seems to waft the ball rather than get real power behind it.

It’s a shame we can’t just bring a player off the bench to take penalties. Manning looks like he could take a good pen.

You'd rate Manning on penalties over Scienza?

😲 

[Sheaf Saint]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cwyr9pgnl20o

BBC have got us down as one of the transfer window's losers. The last paragraph is pretty damning...

Success, of sorts, did come with Taylor Harwood-Bellis remaining at St Mary's amid significant Premier League interest.

Losing the defender and striker Adam Armstrong, who joined Wolverhampton Wanderers, would have been considerably damaging, irrespective of the financial compensation because Southampton still seem to be fixed on a run at the play-offs.

But it is hard to square that particular circle when the simple equation is that they have subtracted their top goalscorer, who went into the window requiring support, to replace him with 30-year-old Cyle Larin, who has never played in England and last scored in double figures in the 2020-21 season for Besiktas.

Daniel Peretz has addressed issues between the posts, while fees for peripheral figures Ronnie Edwards and Armel Bella-Kotchap were good business decisions and trim a bloated squad to an extent, but does any of it speak of obvious improvement with reference to trying to reach the top six?

If Larin is a bona fide hit, these words will prove irrelevant, but for a club that once upon a time wrote the rule book for measured but also progressive recruitment, it is a slightly wild swing of the bat which feels like it could go drastically wrong, more so than it could go right.

[Midfield_General]

2 hours ago, Sheaf Saint said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cwyr9pgnl20o

BBC have got us down as one of the transfer window's losers. The last paragraph is pretty damning...

Success, of sorts, did come with Taylor Harwood-Bellis remaining at St Mary's amid significant Premier League interest.

Losing the defender and striker Adam Armstrong, who joined Wolverhampton Wanderers, would have been considerably damaging, irrespective of the financial compensation because Southampton still seem to be fixed on a run at the play-offs.

But it is hard to square that particular circle when the simple equation is that they have subtracted their top goalscorer, who went into the window requiring support, to replace him with 30-year-old Cyle Larin, who has never played in England and last scored in double figures in the 2020-21 season for Besiktas.

Daniel Peretz has addressed issues between the posts, while fees for peripheral figures Ronnie Edwards and Armel Bella-Kotchap were good business decisions and trim a bloated squad to an extent, but does any of it speak of obvious improvement with reference to trying to reach the top six?

If Larin is a bona fide hit, these words will prove irrelevant, but for a club that once upon a time wrote the rule book for measured but also progressive recruitment, it is a slightly wild swing of the bat which feels like it could go drastically wrong, more so than it could go right.

That last paragraph could have been written about pretty much any of our signings over the last three years, with the exception of Ramsdale. 

[spyinthesky]

13 minutes ago, Midfield_General said:

That last paragraph could have been written about pretty much any of our signings over the last three years, with the exception of Ramsdale. 

Fernandes was a good signing.
Scienza is OK too.
Its up top where there has been a significant lack of judgement.

[Sheaf Saint]

27 minutes ago, Midfield_General said:

That last paragraph could have been written about pretty much any of our signings over the last three years, with the exception of Ramsdale. 

Yep. Wild swings of the bat are SR's specialty.

[VectisSaint]

23 hours ago, Saint86 said:

A summary of our business...

I guess ultimately we've done good work to thin the squad/wage bill, and have strengthened in the GK department (which truthfully is probably worth more than AA's goals Vs Stewart/cerin's for the rest of the season).

Presumably now we will see edozie reintegrated as an option on the wing (which is badly needed), and I guess we all hope that either Stewart can stay fit and firing for 19 more games this season, or that Cerin does...

In - Bree, return from loan

[Saint86]

3 hours ago, Sheaf Saint said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cwyr9pgnl20o

BBC have got us down as one of the transfer window's losers. The last paragraph is pretty damning...

Success, of sorts, did come with Taylor Harwood-Bellis remaining at St Mary's amid significant Premier League interest.

Losing the defender and striker Adam Armstrong, who joined Wolverhampton Wanderers, would have been considerably damaging, irrespective of the financial compensation because Southampton still seem to be fixed on a run at the play-offs.

But it is hard to square that particular circle when the simple equation is that they have subtracted their top goalscorer, who went into the window requiring support, to replace him with 30-year-old Cyle Larin, who has never played in England and last scored in double figures in the 2020-21 season for Besiktas.

Daniel Peretz has addressed issues between the posts, while fees for peripheral figures Ronnie Edwards and Armel Bella-Kotchap were good business decisions and trim a bloated squad to an extent, but does any of it speak of obvious improvement with reference to trying to reach the top six?

If Larin is a bona fide hit, these words will prove irrelevant, but for a club that once upon a time wrote the rule book for measured but also progressive recruitment, it is a slightly wild swing of the bat which feels like it could go drastically wrong, more so than it could go right.

Ignores the fact that, well managed, ten of our on field 11 should be good enough to be get promoted. Stewart (if he stays fit) being the 11th.

Its a calculated risk by SR. The squad is still competitive, financially they've balanced the books, but they've thrown the dice on Stewart's fitness and risked us being left without a reliable goalscorer.

Personally - my expectations for this squad are that we should still make playoffs, and within the playoffs, (assuming Ipwich get top 2) we should still be the favourites of the 4 to go up... I'd have been more confident if we had kept AA, and i'd be more confident if we had more depth in the ST, CAM, Wing positions.

That all hinges on us sticking to a 4-2-3-1 and being well managed tactically for the remaining games. Anyone's guess as to whether that materialises. Has Eckert switched to a back 4 to save his job and get a few wins, and then it will be back to a 5-2-2-1? Or is this going to stick? And is his game management going to keep improving at the required rate to out think more experienced managers in a playoff race? Spors clearly backs him, and its on those 2 (and their big top man CF choices - stewart/larin) that any success this season now rests. One thing is for sure, they need to get Edozie up to speed PDQ, becuase we cannot go the next 19 games with just Jayrob as cover for the wings.

Edited yesterday at 10:27 by Saint86

[Miltonaggro]

1 hour ago, Saint86 said:

Ignores the fact that, well managed, ten of our on field 11 should be good enough to be get promoted. Stewart (if he stays fit) being the 11th.

Its a calculated risk by SR. The squad is still competitive, financially they've balanced the books, but they've thrown the dice on Stewart's fitness and risked us being left without a reliable goalscorer.

Personally - my expectations for this squad are that we should still make playoffs, and within the playoffs, (assuming Ipwich get top 2) we should still be the favourites of the 4 to go up... I'd have been more confident if we had kept AA, and i'd be more confident if we had more depth in the ST, CAM, Wing positions.

That all hinges on us sticking to a 4-2-3-1 and being well managed tactically for the remaining games. Anyone's guess as to whether that materialises. Has Eckert switched to a back 4 to save his job and get a few wins, and then it will be back to a 5-2-2-1? Or is this going to stick? And is his game management going to keep improving at the required rate to out think more experienced managers in a playoff race? Spors clearly backs him, and its on those 2 (and their big top man CF choices - stewart/larin) that any success this season now rests. One thing is for sure, they need to get Edozie up to speed PDQ, becuase we cannot go the next 19 games with just Jayrob as cover for the wings.

A considered post.  I saw us beating Stoke on their patch as a positive sign in terms of capability - they are above us and a good few Saints fans would have been happy with Robins as manager to replace Still.  The hit and hope is that Tonda can keep the learning curve going, as the board are clearly gambling on Stewart's fitness and a loan forward who last scored double figures in 2020-21 in the Turkish league to close the gap towards the play offs.    

[pingpong]

Actually a cracking window.

We got a new keeper, kept thb, got Bree back, shifted a bunch of dead weight, including weakening a key rival with agent aribo, and we have a new striker who cannot be worse than downs.

It might actually be the best January window we've ever had.

[AlexLaw76]

3 minutes ago, pingpong said:

Actually a cracking window.

We got a new keeper, kept thb, got Bree back, shifted a bunch of dead weight, including weakening a key rival with agent aribo, and we have a new striker who cannot be worse than downs.

It might actually be the best January window we've ever had.

Worse than downs? He needs to be better than Armstrong

[Saint86]

59 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Worse than downs? He needs to be better than Armstrong

Well, technically he doesn't... But he and Stewart need to be effective enough for us to get promoted. Thats the only yardstick SR should be judged on ultimatley.

[Turkish]

1 hour ago, Saint86 said:

Well, technically he doesn't... But he and Stewart need to be effective enough for us to get promoted. Thats the only yardstick SR should be judged on ultimatley.

We ain’t getting promoted 😂

TBF although we all wanted a decent striker we have got rid of some of the shit and big earners with more out of contract in the summer, upgraded the goalkeeper position and if rumours are true got rid of some of the dressing room cliques plus got about £17m or so in which we’ll need. 
 

Who knows what Larin is like but he can’t be any less effective than Downs

[Chez]

12 minutes ago, Turkish said:

We ain’t getting promoted 😂

You are probably right, but seeing as we have just won a game let's to enjoy the feel good factor while it lasts. Worth noting that Cov and Bristol made the play offs last season. At the same point in the season they had 41 and 42 points. We have 40. The team in 6th, WBA, had 44 points. Wrexham currently in 6th has 47. Hmm. I think I've just made the argument for us not even making the play offs!  

[tdmickey3]

2 hours ago, Saint86 said:

Well, technically he doesn't... But he and Stewart need to be effective enough for us to get promoted. Thats the only yardstick SR should be judged on ultimatley.

Not for 2 relegations then? 

Are they exonerated from that?

Ultimately they have been a disaster

[Chez]

3 hours ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Worse than downs? He needs to be better than Armstrong

IMO Stewart needs to be better than Armstrong. We need at least 6 goals out of him in the next 16 games to match his scoring rate, but obviously if he can win some headers, be a nuisance and generally provide a focal point our attack, which AA didn't, that can help the side as a while be better. Larin needs to be better than Archer, coming on off the bench and ensuring we still have a target man.

[Saint Pete]

14 minutes ago, Chez said:

IMO Stewart needs to be better than Armstrong. We need at least 6 goals out of him in the next 16 games to match his scoring rate, but obviously if he can win some headers, be a nuisance and generally provide a focal point our attack, which AA didn't, that can help the side as a while be better. Larin needs to be better than Archer, coming on off the bench and ensuring we still have a target man.

No part of our strategy (if there is one) should be relying on anything from Stewart as we all know another spell on the sidelines is just around the corner for him. Sad to say as he has some potential as a player, but it's just reality based on his record to date. Any goals we get from Stewart should have been viewed as a bonus. So once the inevitable happens, we WILL need Larin to be better than Armstrong to make letting him go the right decision.

[disconnect]

12 minutes ago, Saint Pete said:

No part of our strategy (if there is one) should be relying on anything from Stewart as we all know another spell on the sidelines is just around the corner for him. Sad to say as he has some potential as a player, but it's just reality based on his record to date. Any goals we get from Stewart should have been viewed as a bonus. So once the inevitable happens, we WILL need Larin to be better than Armstrong to make letting him go the right decision.

100% this, can't rely on Stewart and it's madness to think he'll do anything more than 5 games until the end of the season based on his 2.5(?) seasons with us. He's sadly overdue an injury!!

[OldNick]

7 minutes ago, disconnect said:

100% this, can't rely on Stewart and it's madness to think he'll do anything more than 5 games until the end of the season based on his 2.5(?) seasons with us. He's sadly overdue an injury!!

Do players never overcome injuries then? Personally I think your post was crass. 

[Eagle778]

8 minutes ago, OldNick said:

Do players never overcome injuries then? Personally I think your post was crass. 

Darren Anderton never did

[BarberSaint]

20 minutes ago, OldNick said:

Do players never overcome injuries then? Personally I think your post was crass. 

There's an interview with him. I think it was on the OS a few months back. He talked about his injuries. Most seem to have come out of nowhere and seem muscular in origin, as though his body is just injury-prone. When he pulled up at (I think) at Sheffield Utd away for no reason I did wonder if it was the same kind of thing.

 

So potentially, yes, he won't get 'over it' as he can't if it's inbuilt.

[Obstacle1]

On 03/02/2026 at 13:31, lambtiss said:

I think it should be Scienza as he strikes the ball better than any other. 

I wouldnt say no but i also have a strong feeling he'll be doing panenkas

[Gloucester Saint]

31 minutes ago, Eagle778 said:

Darren Anderton never did

A damaged skate wing is a tricky injury to fully overcome tbf.

[Saint Pete]

1 hour ago, OldNick said:

Do players never overcome injuries then? Personally I think your post was crass. 

I hope he does recover from his injury problems and have a good career of course. But the point of my post above is its a very foolish strategy to rely on him to replace the goals of our top scorer (as another poster suggested may be the case) given his career record to date. 

Edited yesterday at 17:18 by Saint Pete

[disconnect]

26 minutes ago, Saint Pete said:

I hope he does recover from his injury problems and have a good career of course. But the point of my post above is its a very foolish strategy to rely on him to replace the goals of our top scorer (as another poster suggested may be the case) given his career record to date. 

We all hope he recovers as he is a decent player and seems like a good guy, but the attitude of the management should be that anything he can give us is seen as a bonus, not a reliance, (as seems it may be the case). 

[Chez]

19 hours ago, Saint Pete said:

No part of our strategy (if there is one) should be relying on anything from Stewart as we all know another spell on the sidelines is just around the corner for him. Sad to say as he has some potential as a player, but it's just reality based on his record to date. Any goals we get from Stewart should have been viewed as a bonus. So once the inevitable happens, we WILL need Larin to be better than Armstrong to make letting him go the right decision.

You are right to question the strategy or lack of. From a purely football sense, why we sold Armstrong, who can play on the right, and retained Archer, who doesn't fit the system terribly well, I don't know. However, AA wanted to depart and there are no doubt some financial considerations.

When it comes to Stewart, I think we are long-shots to make the play offs anyway, so relying on him to stay fit and score goals is a risk worth taking. No matter the outcome in the league, we will have the benefit of seeing if he is worth a new contract and we have the funds from AA to find that permanent striker we need in the summer (easier then than now). In addition, we get a look at Larin and can sign him if we think he can do the job next season. 

I personally don't think its a foregone conclusion that Stewart gets injured. Some players just go through elongated periods where one bad injury creates another, but that can come to an end. I am hopeful that with Larin to step in, we can better manage his appearances and reduce the chance of another injury. Would I bet my house on it, no, but seeing how far behind we are in the league, maybe SFC are not betting the house on it either.

[Chez]

19 hours ago, Eagle778 said:

Darren Anderton never did

I thought I'd take a look at his stats to see if that was actually the case.

He played 593 games over 19 seasons according to Wiki. Transfermarkt has it at 500 games for some reason.

In the first three seasons with Spurs he played over 40 games. His 1995/6 season was totally ruined by injury, playing less than ten games, and he then missed quite a few games in the two seasons after that. But in the following season he played 46 games - that's what I am hoping Stewart does next season should he get a contract. 

He did say he continued to suffer injuries and played with them, which made things worse.

If you look at his career from 2000, there were plenty of seasons with just 20+ games and just one more with 40 odd games in a season. At Bournemouth in the twilight of his career at 34 years old, he played 30+ games.

[East Kent Saint]

OXO to Celtic then , have Saints missed another old boy or is the Scot Prem a bit second rate as they say in Naval terms ( ex princes excluded )

[Saint Pete]

5 hours ago, Chez said:

You are right to question the strategy or lack of. From a purely football sense, why we sold Armstrong, who can play on the right, and retained Archer, who doesn't fit the system terribly well, I don't know. However, AA wanted to depart and there are no doubt some financial considerations.

When it comes to Stewart, I think we are long-shots to make the play offs anyway, so relying on him to stay fit and score goals is a risk worth taking. No matter the outcome in the league, we will have the benefit of seeing if he is worth a new contract and we have the funds from AA to find that permanent striker we need in the summer (easier then than now). In addition, we get a look at Larin and can sign him if we think he can do the job next season. 

I personally don't think its a foregone conclusion that Stewart gets injured. Some players just go through elongated periods where one bad injury creates another, but that can come to an end. I am hopeful that with Larin to step in, we can better manage his appearances and reduce the chance of another injury. Would I bet my house on it, no, but seeing how far behind we are in the league, maybe SFC are not betting the house on it either.

I can see what you are saying about being longshots for the play-offs and how that may have played into SR's thinking in selling Armstrong and placing more reliance/risk on Stewart keeping fit, you may well be right. But for me this attitude typefies the malaise that we are in as a club and the half-arsed approach SR take to decision making. It's how we have ended up with a 32 year old manager with little or no experience. "He'll do because he is in the club already, cheap and the players seem to like him. He might be a star in the making so why get an established manager with a track record?"

And now with our strikers: "Well, we're probably not gonna go up anyway so let's bank some cash for our top scorer and rely on a guy who hasn't scored all season and another who has been injured for most of the last 3 seasons". It essentially translates to "We're giving up" doesn't it? And if the proper permanent replacement for Armstrong is not coming until summer, surely we could have kept Armstrong on until then? If he could have continued scoring at same kind of rate and ended season with say 18-20 goals, I don't personally think it would have impacted his price tag much as more clubs are likely to be in the market is summer window than January.