Slugger

Saints would also be an ideal club for him, where he can just focus on developing his obvious talent.

Hs is a good player. Unfortunately his one main downside (lack of mobility) is the same as a couple of our other midfielders. Good signing at the price we paid and after his first few games he used his aggression much better and was booked less.

I guess he will be going to Baltimore, wonder if he will make the same flight the rest of the squad leave on? He could always do a medical out there. Will be interesting to see how he compares to JWP as a player of similar age and position.

Not statistically. Just through watching our games. Long did well and was a pest to play against but Mane was our best attacker hence why he is the one a team has paid £34m for. Wanyama was also our first pick central midfielder. Of course both were going to go this summer, we knew that. But no point pretending they weren't both very key players - they clearly were.

Mane was our best attacker. In the top 3 of our best players easily.

Middlesbrough in talks with Alvaro Negredo.

Of that list of players which ones are not better CBs than Yoshida?

Surely need to wait until you know who actually plays for these teams?

Sorry, have you on ignore so didn't see your response until I temporarily changed that. I would say the following are superior players to Yoshida ultimately: Wimmer Dier Gabriel Mangala Zouma Jones Rojo Lovren Tomkins The 3rd CBs of Stoke are possibly the same level as Yoshida. I'm fairly certain if Saints released him no top half PL sides would sign him. He is a good 4th CB I think and seems a very good guy, not disruptive etc. But the drop in quality between Fonte (our 2nd best CB) and Yoshida (our third) is significant.

There is also the question of balance. For me without a player of Wanyama's physicality we will probably struggle to get away with playing combinations of two of Reed, Clasie or JWP just in terms of size. So will be a case of mixing and matching the best combinations. There is also Davis to add into the mix and he is short in stature too. When you factor in the other likely starters (Cedric, Bertrand, Redmond, Tadic, Long) we could easily be left with virtually no height aside from the two CBs which would make us very vunerable from set plays. So the Manager would need to look at that and Romeu and this guy would be key, at least one will need to start the majority of games.

Lets hope its a 5 year contract rather than 4.

He could definitely do with a season loan to somewhere like Newcastle playing LB every week. Problem is, we will need him for hopefully a relatively small no of games assuming Bertrand doesn't get any major injuries so Targett then potentially doesn't develop as quick as he could as he doesn't get the game time he needs. Tough situation but no way we will be looking to sell him.

Plus he only signed a new 5 year deal fairly recently. Wouldn't say he has done a lot to suddenly demand a new one at this stage!

Hopefully it will be done so he can be on the trip to Baltimore tomorrow. Certainly seems a good prospect. Wonder if he is seen as the Wanyama replacement, or just a good addition as apparently is more of a technical player rather than physical, although at 6'1 he adds some height we lack in that area.

Weird link:

Thats for the scouts. If its crap then which teams from last season's top 10 would happily have Yoshida as their 3rd CB?

Sounds like a great signing. More technical than physical. Perhaps slightly Morgan like in his early days. Kept that one quiet as we aim to do.

#urbanmyth We are a 6th placed PL team in Europe. No other top half team would have Yoshida as their 3rd CB. Harsh but true.

If he would be brought in as a utility option then I would rather an academy player were used when our first and second choice RBs and LBs were unavailable. If he is better (or more reliable) than Cedric and is a starting player then fair enough to bring him in.

So Leicester signing Fuchs means any full back on a free is a good signing? Sound logic. If we sign Pied and he is better than Cedric and Martina then great. If he isn't then its pointless.

Empty seats don't generate revenue though. We could have a 60k stadium but would still have crowds of 30 something thousand.

What a **** season across all comps!

Boufal wasn't keen to commit so we moved on, understandably. http://www.insidefutbol.com/2016/07/07/claude-puel-wont-wait-for-reluctant-target-southampton-assess-other-options/293937/ The club have known for a year that Wanyama and Mane were going this summer so seems farfetched that they would not have plans in place. As you say, it is early. But would have also been nice to get people in for the bulk of pre season.

According to reports in Italy apparently Adam Nagy has chosen to join Bologna. According to reports in Portugal he is due for a medical at Benfica. No reports in England about him. Edit: Its Bologna http://gianlucadimarzio.com/news-cat/bologna-in-arrivo-il-nazionale-ungherese-nagy/

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2016/07/08/graziano-pelle-to-leave-southampton-for-china-in-13-million-deal/ Jeremy Wilson says Austin is the Pelle replacement and we are looking for a Wanyama replacement.