Fabrice29

He's past his best and has clearly been concluded not good enough by two teams and managers in the last 12 months. Doubts about his abilities to play in a 2 suggest fitness concerns too. He's also been given a 3 year deal so there's a massive chance that in those 3 years he becomes a burden on their wage bill for little return. Good signing for how long? 6 months? A season? Do you think he plays 46 games? If they get promoted will they want him next season? Maybe he's decent for off the field stuff and maybe he leads them to promotion and it's all worth it but that seems like some big maybes and big risks. Not sure we should be aspiring to be a club that is into signing players who are past their best, will only be declining and is likely to be on big wages that will become a burden within the life time of their contract.

I'm pretty sure he wasn't in their squad. They have also been knocked out of the tournament now.

It's not though is it? He's clearly scored quite a lot of goals for them. I think the four player's you've talked about there are all really young and it shows you it's not easy to make an immediate step up, which is what is so impressive about Lavia. Tella is 2 years older than Delap and Edozie. 4 years older than Larios. He's just had his first proper break through.

Don't you find it interesting that City were happy to sell the others but not this kid despite the seemingly big bids? Maybe the players pushed for moves a little more than Delap did but City being happy to sell Lavia and don't seem keen on bringing him back but had no interest in selling Delap can only mean they rate him and aren't probably judging him on a slow first season in first team football.

You’re viewing 3 minutes of clipped up footage. Forming any opinions, good or bad, Jones or Martin, based on these would be nuts. ‘Drills far more what you’d expect at high level football’ ffs 😂

Our squad has a host of players who aren’t young and have experience including players in this league. I’d like to see a lot of those leave in fairness but suspect some will naturally stay. We don’t need to sign players who are exclusively under 21 but don’t really get the desire to sign players who are clearly past their best like Coady and Winks. You can get experience and still haven’t reached their ceiling.

The desire for people to spend their money watching players past their best knows no bounds. Much rather watch young and potential stars play every week than players I know have a ceiling. Neither strategy is guaranteed results.

And if you do that and Lavia wants to go there, you'll get a knock on the door from Lavia and his team wanting to know why it's been rejected. Player power is huge especially when you set yourself up as a club who wants to attract youngsters by promising them you'll sell them on when the chance arises. So the next youngster through the door will also be asking why Lavia wasn't let go and you'll have to try and convince him to sign. There's knock on effects too. It's obviously not a pre arranged transfer but it's a value Saints agreed to a year ago and I doubt Lavia and his team will be chuffed if we suddenly start doubling that value and pricing people out. Also your second point is interesting because I'm pretty sure City sold him less than a year ago. They put in a just in case clause and like you say there's no evidence they want to exercise it. City are not in the business of selling the hottest prospects in world football, they sold him for £12 million last year. He's done well in his first season, he's an attractive talent at an attractive age and will likely attract interest because he can be further developed but if we price him out of a move clubs will find another and not only will he want to know why but so will any further young players we're signing that summer. He's done nowhere near enough to be demanding half the price of Rice and Bellingham and a season in the Championship will not change that.

We are the selling club and we’ve already agreed a deal to sell him next season for a specific price. Put yourself in the buying clubs shoes and ask yourself how delighted you’d be to be quoted a higher price for the same player. ‘Yeah we’ve agreed to sell Grimes to (insert club here) for 10 million, they don’t actually want him but for you it’ll be 20.’ You aren’t going to pay it and if you are you shouldn’t be allowed to make financial decisions in your family. You might pay £15 million now though to get it done a year early. Anyway, he’s not staying and nobody in their right mind thinks he is so if you want to get worked up over that good luck to you.

Just mad that anyone thinks a buying club with any sense next year is going to come along and say ‘nice little clause you’ve got there, let’s offer you £20 million more than that and still maybe lose out’ 😂 I repeat, if Lavia has a preferred bidder and it isn’t City, they would be utterly nuts to go over an already agreed amount with another team. But anyway, it quite clearly isn’t coming to that. We’ll sell this year because Lavia will want us to and because we can sneak a few more million out of clubs to do it now.

I don't really understand what you're asking here but anyway it's all irrelevant because I suspect he'll have a preferred team he wants to move to this summer and they'll offer just over £40 million in some form, we'll want more and there will be some sort of add ons attached and ensure we get a little more than we would next year and everyone will be happy. Nobody will be paying anywhere near £60 million.

It's not though is it? If you're a buying club and you're coming in for him next year why would you pay over that? If City do come in for him, you match their offer and if City don't come in for him then you go to Saints and say the max we'll give you is what you agreed with City so if you want that money take it or leave it. In fact if City don't come in for him next year, which is very possible seeing as they were happy to sell him last year, then any buying club probably comes in under that price.

It's not a free for all if he has a preferred option, which is normally why clubs do their work with the player first so they can go to the club and say "Unlucky lads, he only wants to play for us so here's our offer and we'll pay you a bit extra this year than we would next year" They'll all be sniffing around trying to convince him to signal his intent to join them.

Why is next years price irrelevant? If you wanted something from a shop and it was set at a price in a years time but open to negotiation now how much more would you pay for it a year earlier? Maybe a bit more to ensure you got it over someone else. I doubt you would be paying double.

We've effectively accepted a £32 million bid next year for him already. Even if City don't come in for him next year (Which I suspect they won't) any other team would be mad to go above that next season. Nobody is paying near double for him this year. £40 million for a kid with one season behind him is very good and all parties will know that.

Because he will want to leave and it’s only going to get less each season we don’t sell him.

You’ll need to offer him a new contract if you want him playing in the PL with us apparently so let’s do that and then in October when he’s dropped we can all scoff at the new 3 year contract he signed just like we’ve all done with McCarthy and Djenepo.

Well you’re arguing that these players should be a barometer of how we should build a squad for this summer so I thought I’d come back with something equally as ridiculous. I’m just saying we should aim to be recruiting better potential players than Stephens. You want to keep Stephens because he’s better than Aaron Martin.

‘Right, Jacks in the team this week’ ’Why boss?’ ’Well he’s clearly better than Danny Seabourne was 14 years ago so we’re using him’

And all those were binned off fairly quickly once promoted from memory but hey, if you want to be down the pub pre game in 3 months time debating whether Jack Stephens should be in the team or not and then doing the same thing every other month until he leaves on a free then good for you. I’m personally bored of that conversation, those mistakes, the finger pointing at some foreign shit house and the watching of him duck out of every aerial challenge that comes his way but still somehow convincing myself we need him back in the side because he’s a leader.

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.

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.

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

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.

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. 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.