SKD

Nope, wouldn't be surprised at all. He wants out and I fully expect him to go. If not Liverpool (I think that's where he'll go) then somewhere else.. probably City.

If we can prove it, they are in big trouble. What I don't understand is we've known about this for a while, why are we kicking off now? I would love to see them handed a transfer ban :lol: Serves Klopp right though. Absolute c*nt that bloke. I'm not getting too cocky just yet, as I'm still fairly sure we'll sell him. Probably to them.

#notandneverclaimedtobeITK Because they won't tell me, but would rule out someone if it's completely untrue. If I'm being honest, I couldn't care less if you believe me or not. I put stuff I've been told on here expecting it to be taken with a pinch of salt, as i do when others post, such as AR10. If you chose to believe what I and others say, that's completely down to you

Similar to VVD, I'd be very surprised if Bertrand is here come the start of next season. If he is (It'll depend on who is manager), then Les and new manager deserve massive credit.

They are. The fact they are all over social media, our / their forum trying to protest their innocence and that it's big bad saints throwing a strop, would suggest that it is true.

When have I said I'm disappointed? I said it would poor if that is the case, which I would say it is. I have asked him if that is the case, at which point I will make my own judgement on if I believe it to be true or not. I do not believe that he is or was our no1 target, but if AR-10 was to confirm either way, I can try and substantiate that through people that I know at the club.

Getting rid of Reed, this window, would be absolutely ridiculous. Like it or not, it's going to be another summer of uncertainty. We are going to sack our manager and lose a number of first team players. IMO, Les hasn't made many wrong decisions and we will need his experience over the coming months. I've no doubt that Les at times can only be out for himself, however I've generally not heard a bad word said about Reed (from someone who works within the club). Of course at times he's fallen out with certain players (some with egos far bigger than they deserve), but all in all, I get the impression he is pretty well liked.

If he was our targeted man and he's decided to stay at Huddersfield, then he's chosen them over us... hasn't he? But point stands, if we cannot attract the manager of Huddersfield for whatever reason, where does that stand us for trying to persuade top level players to come to us? FWIW, I don't believe he was our target, and I still think we'll end up with a big name and we'll end the transfer window relatively happy. IMO, we simply cannot afford another poor transfer window, like the previous 2 have been.

He'll go there because he wants to go there. Very little Les can do about it, to be honest. If you think there is, you are really underestimating player power these days. Just spoken to someone I know within the club and to be frank it's confirmed what I originally thought. I will be very very surprised if we don't sell him this summer, especially as the player wants out. I'm not sure that he'll kick off publicly (i.e Lovren / Morgan / Lallana), but he / his agent has indicated that he wants to go (you can believe me on that or not, to be honest, I don't care). What i'm not sure on is if VVD has officially handed in a request, i suspect not, which is why it's in the press that he hasn't told us he wants to leave. I expect us to drag our heels in, especially given there is significant interest elsewhere and I suspect the deal will be on our terms, unlike some previous transfers. Unless something dramatically changes, he will be gone.

Throughout the 90's and early 00's Tottenham were in a similar position to us. Obviously they are lucky to have more history and a London base, however it hasn't stopped them now becoming one of the best teams in the PL. It is a slow process, you need to operate as we currently are, break into the EL consistently, move up a level, then push for the CL. I would say it will be between us, Everton and West Ham (if they can sort themselves out) as to who is the next club to challenge the top 6.. Looking likely to be Everton, at the moment. As for recruitment, you don't necessarily need to look to take players from other PL clubs. The PL has such a massive pull due to the money on offer, we can battle it out with European clubs, bigger than us, for European players. France currently has a massive pool of talent and I'd love for us to take advantage of that. It comes down to having an exceptional recruitment team...

Not at all. Take Jay as an example. That summer, had he not been injured, he would have (most likely) been sold to Tottenham for a fee around £20m-£25m (relatively big for us, back then), I suspect. A freak injury occurred and he is now he's worth next to nothing, probably £5m-£10m (in today's market, that's peanuts). There is nothing to suggest this couldn't / wont happen to VVD, which IMO is a massive risk. Also, we don't know how bad his current injury is/was and how well he will recover, although I suspect it isn't that bad. I honestly do not think a club of our size (or many clubs bigger) can turn down £60m+ for a CB. There's talk that Lukaku (I know he only has 2 years on his contract which would decrease the value slightly) is valued at £70m and he's one of the best goal scorers in the PL, which put's it into perspective.... You also have to consider what the player wants... Liverpool are reportedly offering him £180-£200k a week, I would suspect that is around £100k more than what we can offer. Even if he is only to stay for 1 extra year, that would equate to c£5m he would have lost in a year (I am assuming players are paid wages for 52 weeks of the year, I generally don't know how it works). A big ask to expect that, if you ask me.

Of course this is the case, the board need to sound out someone who is willing to stick around and build something. They tried this with Puel, it just hasn't worked for one reason or another. I think pretty much everyone would have accepted this season, had the football been a bit better. I agree Koeman was only ever interested in the here and now, as I believe he is at Everton. You'd be a fool to think he's not got an eye on a Job at one of the elite clubs. Tuchel is a difficult one, I suspect it will be explained to him what his remit is and what the boards plans are and he will accept / decline the job on that basis. If we can attract Tuchel, it will be a big name to steady the ship in a time of uncertainty (similar to when Koeman took over). If Tuchel signs, it will be for 2/3 years max until a bigger job comes along. However, if he is as successful as Koeman, then we would be in a very very good place to build as we were last summer. We'd then need someone similar to Poch (I honestly believe he would have stayed and would still be here if Cortese hadn't gone, but that's a separate argument, and i'm not saying I wanted him to stay...), who would have had us in the CL by now, IMO. It doesn't help having an owner that doesn't want to be here and I'm not sure the Chinese bunch are the answer either. All we can do is hope that someone of Kat's ilk (very much hands off and leaves the football business to the football people), but with a load more money, comes in and takes over.

Monaco, Athletico Madrid & Dortmund are models we should be following and look to copy. Both top clubs, who sale to the elite for ridiculous money. At the end of the day, we just need to accept where we are in the food chain. With the money coming into the PL, I don't see why we cannot compete with these type of clubs in 5 - 10 years time.

Was he ever a genuine target, or was it just the case of us talking to him? Pretty poor if he's chosen Huddersfield over us and probably a sign of things to come this summer. #wemarchondownthetable

Difficult one for the board though, he's 1 injury away from potentially not playing again and his value plummeting (he's probably at his peak value this season). I suspect everyone would accept it if he was going to City, Chelsea or abroad.

How do you think we do our transfer business?

£14m - Semedo (looks like this will happen) £20m - VVD replacement.... Sahko would do the job, imo. £20m - Sigurdsson £6m (yearly wage) - new manager.... Emery or Tuchel

Fair enough, thought it was more than that. Who out of them that started against beer Sheba started the Thursday before? Was it Prague?

We practically had a different team for the EL & PL. only Forster, VVD and Romeu (correct me if I'm wrong) played consecutively. So to be frank, I don't buy the fatigue nonsense.

The final game, when we only needed not to concede. The tactics that day were awful, and for me, pretty much summed up most of this season. Full, lifeless and lack of effort.

We set up to draw, at home, against a side from a Pub league. We also failed to score in any of our away games. Pretty poor effort.

Assume that is supposed to say Sakho, but a decent, sensible post. We'd be foolish to turn £60m down, a club of our size just cannot afford to do so, so Liverpool now either stump up the cash or VVD has to go else where.

The player has chosen Liverpool, that's why we have to sell him to Liverpool. Are you honestly suggesting we essentially throw away £50-£70m (+wages which must be c£80-£100k a week)? Absolute ridiculous statement, and you really need to take off your saints hat and actually think about it. It's fustrating, it's pathetic, it's quite embarrassing, but it's what we do. Get used to it. The only way things will change is by good recruitment and breaking into the top 4. Then we'll have baca &a real trying to nab our players....

Don't get why anyone is surprised? It's been in the press and certain people have mentioned this for weeks. I think deep down everyone knew it was coming, but everyone was just hoping it wasn't Liverpool. It's just a question of who Liverpool will take next year...? I'm gonna go for Romeu (if form continues) or Gabbi.

Deal for me, from what it appears he played a big part in keeping palace up. Although isn't Sakho out with a serious knee injury.