SKD

If speculation is to be believe, this transfer is gathering pace. Not seen a great deal of Italian football for a couple of years, but from what I've seen of him he looked good at Sampdoria playing on the right, However (from what I can gather), not so good at Napoli playing through the middle. He is capable of playing in several attacking positions (striker, attacking midfielder or as a winger on either flank). He's got a good left foot, is relatively quick and can take free kicks. Not expecting him to be a 20+ goal CF some of us are after, however I think he'll create a lot more than he scores. Generally a little bit wary of players coming across from Italy (I have Osvaldo and Gaston to thank for that, neither of which I think are bad players though), but I think he'll be an upgrade on anyone we currently have to play RW, so if the fee of c.£14million is accurate I think it'll be a good deal. Any other thoughts or snippets from Italian football experts....?

in fairness they use a number of other papers for a good PR spin... Unlikely they would want to pi5s off one of their trusted news outlets. Find it strange that the Sun are the only ones to run with it though (would have thought SSN would have been all over it, given the coverage of the game tonight). Maybe they are the only ones stupid enough to take stuff off twitter!

Good player for £10million. Slightly under rated as he's not the most fancy player (reminds me of James Milner), but has a knack of scoring goals.

Please stop with these hidden messages giving me false hope

Generally the papers are right when it comes to us tbf..... Only bit of hope i'm clinging onto is it's only come from the sun and some random guy on twitter... if it was a more respectable paper, i'd be a lot more concerned... Guan or K.Billy...... please please please come out of retirement and put this to bed

Fonte has been unsettled this year and his performances have dropped as a result.

have to say I do suspect that this may be part of it... Keep the opposition guessing and what not. Even if he is out, they're missing Mane who is equally as important to them. You just have to deal with the squad you've got. Also, their defense is a shambles. If we hit them on the counter with pace, we've got a real chance of getting at least 1 - we just need to take our chances.

1. How was Les or anyone at the club able to predict that our best player would go down injured 3 days before this game? 2. So you're suggesting we play a player who's heart isn't in it and knows he'll be moving to a new club later that week anyway.... 3. Fonte hasn't played for about a month. Why would the club want to continue paying wages (and potentially make suitors look elsewhere) to a player that isn't playing and isn't part of the match day squad. Even if Fonte's transfer hadn't already been secured, he would not be playing Wednesday. Absolute ridiculous statement and you clearly know nothing about how transfers take place. As frustrating as it is, we have transfer targets which we do not let out in the media. Deals take time, I have no doubt that come the end of the window we'll have a new CB (IMO it will be Sahko. Liverpool aren't going to strengthen us before a game against them are they).

This. Would expect to see him compete with Redmond rather than JRod. J has started to find some form recently and with Austin to come back I would say a front 3 of Boufal, Jay, Gabbiadini would be very strong. To think we'd still have Tadic, Austin, Sims and Remond as other options... I still think we are lacking a forward minded CM, who can break into the opposition area and find that killer ball in the final 3rd (although, IMO, PEH was excellent in this role on Sunday). In an ideal world, Swansea will go down and we'll get Sigurdsson at a reduced price.

Thought Hojbjerg was outstanding today. Looks so much better when given the freedom to push forward. If he can find his shooting boots and continue to have performances like that, we're gonna have some player.

I've been very vocal with my dissatisfaction with how we've played this year, so it's only fair I credit Puel today. Looked like the 'old saints' today. Really took the game to Leicester, moved the ball quicker and looked a real threat in the final third. Don't want to get carried away as we've had a few decent performances this year (just not enough and when we're bad, we're awful to watch). Important we build on this. Same team again Wednesday please, Claude.

It's pretty irrelevant anyway. 1. We won't get there 2. If we do, everyone who wants one will get one. Fwiw I believe all away tickets should be proritised like this; X amount aways +ST holder X amount aways ST holders Members

Some even claimed he wasn't good enough for Eastleigh

Happy to admit that this is the reason for me not attending. I'm throwing my toys right out of the pram. I'm a helmet who's at least attended 15 away last 5 years (including both European fixtures) and 8 this year (including all 3 European fixtures). Unfortunately the way and style in which we have played this year has made me just loose interest (even not attending home game which I've paid for as part of a season ticket). Never thought I'd see the day that i would give up my space in a car and ticket for a semi final, but I think being standing at Burnley, in the freezing cold for 90 minutes, watching that pile of sh!te finally made the penny drop. Perhaps I'm just a glory hunter at heart..

With his departure seemingly imminent, what's your best memory of Fonte, in a saints shirt over the past 7 years...? Best I'll never forget that goal away at Brighton. Roasting hot day and spilling onto the Withdeans running track after a late winner. Made especially sweeter by the hostility between the 2 clubs that year Worst Hard to think of many? I'd probably have to say this season. A real shame the way he's supposedly fallen out with the club and acted the way he has in the dressing room. I would have thought it would have been a real honor for him to lead us out at the San Siro. Nevertheless, a great servant and all the best. Hopefully see him back here in a management capacity (assuming that's the route he takes, and is any good at it!) in the future... Fonte / Davis / Jaidi dream team?

Exactly this... Heart is sad that he's leaving but head says it's sensible. Very similar to Lambert, however I feel Lambert left in a slightly better way (no massive fall out with the club ect...).

Whilst I think we do need a new striker as well, you'd be foolish to blame our lack of goals this season just on J Rod, Austin and Long and believe a new striker will solve all our issues. Yes, they have missed their fair share of opportunities however it's near on impossible for them to gain any form due to Puel's rotation policy. For example, look at J Rod against Liverpool last week... Fantastic, held the ball up well and brought other players into the game, only thing he didn't do was score. 3 days later, he's dropped to the bench. We lack creativity from midfield, we play a slow possession based style when we don't have the players in the middle to break teams down or find that forward ball, that unlocks a teams defense in the final third. IMO we haven't had this since Lallana, but the manager needs to pick a style that suits the players we have and play to a teams strengths. I have no doubt that Claude is a good manager and I really want him to do well as he seems like a decent bloke, but imo he needs to do a couple of things if he wants to be successful... Stop this rotation boll0x, it just doesn't work. I could understand this during our EL campaign, but not now. Look at Chelsea this year, Leicester last year a consistent team produces results and allows players to find a bit of form. Either change his style to suit the players we have or (in the summer) have an overhaul of the current squad and (will need the board to help him with this) spend some money bring in players to suit his style.

Good player, not looked as good this year (maybe due to him being unsettled). Maybe has 1 or 2 years left at the top level, massive risk for the club to put him on 3 year deal as one of the highest paid players. Very replaceable. Thanks for the memories, but time to move on. From me, he certainly won't get the hostility that Lallana gets, but won't be held in as high regard as Lambert.

Very naive to believe Puel is / was happy with the squad. As poor as we've been this year, not all the blame can be pointed at Puel.. Recruitment this summer was not good enough.

Unless he changes his style of football, yes. Ultimately, results are results and you can win whilst playing poor and loose when you play well. After selling Mane and Pelle I expected us to drop out of the top 6 this year, but what I can't accept is the negative, slow and boring style of football Puel has brought in.

If you're laughing at fans expecting more than lower mid table and exciting football, then you need to have look at yourself.... I'm confident that I will still want Puel out come the end of the season and probably this time next year (assuming he's not gone before hand).

Didn't they reject a ridiculous bid from China before the season?

Usually, Itchen north (blocks 1-3) is better than Northam.

When we're knocked out of the cup next week, people will stop using the excuse 'but we're in the LC semi final'