Slugger

Obviously those teams are operating in a different league. But if Saints wanted to buy a player this summer for double our transfer record then we easily could. We are allegedly paying Forster 80k a week.

Thats the PL for you. You either get involved or (in the majority of cases) slip down the league. In addition to the whopping TV moneybwe have already brought in over £40m and could get more. If Saints wanted to they could easily afford to spend £80m this summer. Surely?

Yes initially it was said he had slowed it down (rather than stopped it).

@MirrorAnderson: Everton must work to persuade Graziano Pelle to rejoin Koeman because the striker has set his heart on a move back to Italy and Juventus.

Bournemouth set to beat our record signing: @MirrorAnderson: It is understood Liverpool have accepted a £15m bid from Bournemouth for Jordon Ibe and have given him permission to speak to the Cherries. Ibe is a good player but that is a big fee. Would be interesting to see if he wants to go there and if in 5 years he or Redmond is the better player. Spurs £11m for Wanyama looks better by the day for a proven yet young PL player.

Apparently Adam Nagy has offers from clubs including Saints, Benfica and Marseille and will make a decision by the end of the week. Would be a very good signing at the peanuts fee that has been quoted.

Good point. He is currently injured and would feature at the ACON. No pre season then when he adjusts to the pace of the PL he would be missing for a key spell. Could certainly do without that.

To be fair on PL viewing Cedric is a pretty average defender. Portugal also had two fairly slow CBs and they were rarely tested. Its a fair point.

http://m.lequipe.fr/Football/Actualites/Southampton-claude-puel-pas-chaud-pour-sofiane-boufal/703908 According to l'equipe, Claude doesn't want him. Says Saints have been following him for a while. Clear the change of Manager is having at least some impact on our ability to complete signings, as is to be expected.

Tevez has turned down that offer! Witsel to Everton seems almost certain - good signing but overpaid not that it will bother their fans. Be interesting to see who they target to replace Stones. Will be amazed if they don't at least try to take VVD.

Probably no chance of getting him as he has a buyout clause of £30m odd but Danilo would be a good Wanyama replacement. Excellent tonight in front of the back four.

He was great that day. Tended to struggle against the more physically imposing players like Arnautovic, Lukaku when he drifted and even Jordan Ayew. Hopefully will have benfitted from a season bedding in.

Nano, who we held talks with, will stay with CD Tenerife for another year it seems. Via Twitter (@mdaswani)

He has scored a good number of goals every season for the last 4 including 7 in 17 at Intl level. Dost is a journeyman who had one good season in the Dutch league and half a good season in Germany. In a comparison between the two Pelle wins all day long to anyone rational.

Dost is definitely not as good as, or better than, Pelle. Hit a couple of hot streaks before but not at all consistent. With some of the signings other non massive teams are making I would hope we would do better.

http://soccer.nbcsports.com/2016/07/06/southamptons-famed-academy-plans-to-help-usa/? Have seen the GK height thing mentioned on here before. Certainly very forward thinking. Interesting link to this: http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/news/article/20150825-southampton-bio-banded-tournament-2646125.aspx Plus we brought in Kevin Mullholland as a Physio from Sheff Wed recently who is an expert on maturation analysis.

Romanian football blogger things Stanciu would struggle a lot physically in the PL and thinks the Owner's comments are to get a higher fee from elsewhere by suggesting PL interest. Who knows? He looks a good player but so did Juanmi and he was clearly physically unsuited to hope we have learned lessons.

Obviously you don't want to lose players for free but I think we have brought enough money in that you can afford to let one player see their contract out and if ever there was one then surely its Pelle? With Mane already gone it would be risky to sell your two top scorers unless you sign proven top quality replacements (which isn't usually our style). As he is well liked in the dressing room and an experienced player alongside being a regular scorer and one of the few very physical players we have then whats the incentive to sell, especially with additional games this season. Surely he is worth a one year extension offer or another good season then to leave for free. He will have them cost about £3m per season plus wages which is hardly extortionate these days.

We currently have VVD and Fonte clearly first choice, we then have Yoshida and Gardos behind them but in no way pressuring them for a start. Jack Stephens probably next in line. 1. Do we need to bring in some proper competition for VVD and Fonte or are we happy with what we have? 2. Are Yoshida or Gardos 3rd CB quality for a team with European aspirations, especially considering that with EL games the 3rd choice will feature a lot this season? 3. Would our season be majorly affected if either Fonte or VVD missed upwards of 10 games this season? Interested in how people view this position depth and quality wise.

Stanciu link from a Romanian source: http://m.digisport.ro/Sport/FOTBAL/Competitii/Liga+1/Southampton+echipa+lui+Gardos+este+interesata+de+Nicolae+Stanciu

Agree. Surely he would be considered a first team squad player, like Nano the Tenerife striker we have been linked with. http://outsideoftheboot.com/2016/07/05/scout-report-adam-nagy-hungarys-talented-young-midfielder/ Hopefully Le Goddard didn't mean Kieran Freeman!

Amazed a kit gets so much build up, emotion and irrationality. Its a kit.

Calum Chambers to Bournemouth on loan is a possibility, whilst Everton look to have backed up their talk with Mata seemingly close. When Stones goes I imagine they will at least try for Van Dijk and see how he feels with a new Manager and two key colleagues gone, whilst Lukaku is apparently set to stay.

I wonder how Boufal's injury is progressing?

Allen is a good player but I thinknwe already have players of his style at the club. What we currently lack is in central midfield with the options we currently have is: - Presence - Power - Agility At this stage of pre season central midfield is possibly our weakest area for me. Certainly when for a few seasons we had Wanyama and Schneiderlin. At the moment none of our options are even close to their level.