Dusic

In a central position I think he sometimes gives the ball away too much and in dangerous areas. In a wide position, I would pick him considering our other options. Personally, now we have a decent CB pairing I think we should go back to 4-2-2-2 because I think we need to use 2 strikers in combination to be more of a threat. In a 4-3-3 you need one CM thats a goal threat and at least one of the wide players to be a goal threat (Zaha, Barnes, ASM style). We have none. Adams is a good striker but against two CBs its really tough. Give him a partner and all of a sudden the whole team has more options and is less reliant on individual quality - which we don't have.

Diallo just isn't good enough for the PL. Agile yes but poor on the ball, lacking concentration and can't balance that out with any physical presence.

Regardless, if he had moved anywhere at the end of the window it would have been to Leeds by all accounts. I doubt we will go back in for him and imagine a team higher up the chain than both of us will get him.

He said the same that he says about most players we sign, the ball oriented defending is new for AMN and he will therefore need to improve off the ball. He said on the ball he has quality. Wouldn't read much into it.

KWP is excellent, but does anyone really expect him to be picked ahead of James, TAA, Walker or Trippier considering the level of some of those players and the experience of others. His best shout would be at LB but he hasn't played there this season. He is unlucky that his position is also where England have the most high calibre options. But realistically, it would be a huge suprise if Southgate picked him ahead of any of those mentioned. If anything, Southgate needs to show some courage and decide which one RB to select alongside Reece James - having 4 is nonsense - he is too scared of the backlash of leaving some out.

As per the PL squad lists which includes scholars, Meghoma hasn't signed for Saints, and is also not listed against any other PL team. Imagine he will sign somewhere fairly soon, but perhaps not at Saints afterall.

IMO the buyback has little to no impact on any personal terms negotiation, certainly not from Saints perspective. Thats for Lavia's reps to sort out, and if it got to the stage of City triggering the buy back then I am fairly sure they would have already agreed that anyway.

The transfer fee is largely irrelevant for the player and wouldnt make a difference to the package he is offered as he wouldnt receive any of the fee anyway. Any team can bid what they want for him but if City offer whatever the agreed price is then that will certainly be accepted. Of course he may wish to move elsewhere but thats up to him. With regards agreeing a fee, City have already done that so will always have an option to sign him should anyone else move for him. What we don't know is clauses like when the buy back kicks in, are City obligated to keep him for 12 months after buying back (to stop them selling onto someone else straight away) etc.

Well yes, what you are describing is the buy-back option, which we already know exists. The very fact that there is one shows we have an outline agreement to sell him back at a specific price should Man City wish to activate it. Essentially they have a first refusal to take him back. Up to them if they want to, which is clearly more nuanced than simply how good he is.

https://www.scunthorpe-united.co.uk/news/2020/april/catching-up-jonathan-forte/ Jonno Quick has now retired. Probably the quickest lower league journeyman to have graced the game. The very definition of crapid.

Pretty sure the Livramento buy back was set so it didnt kick in for 18 months. Lavia's may well be the same. Regardless of the amount, what is difficult to quantify is the benefit Saints get when trying to sign other players of a similar ilk. This bid from Chelsea, plus his performances so far, show these players that its a great move to make. That is potentially worth a huge amount.

KWP under contract until 2025 thankfully so could still aak for big money for him the next two windows. Salisu surely they will try to extend but if he won't then it forces a sale next summer. Think he is still inconsistent enough that its an easy argument that another season after this of playing regularly would set him up well. He is also quite awkward on the ball which might put off some of the top sides a little.

Can't really think of another player who lots of fans have seemingly been so sure they know the personality of without probably having ever met him. Always seems like a good professional to me, always put a shift in and seemed like he cared. Came back from being the boo boy target to winning player of the season, so that in itself shows a bit of character. Also had big moments in some big games: LC semi goal, Everton away goal (Tom Davies game), Bmth cup QF etc. At his best, the assist for Ings goal away at Spurs in the game we somehow lost 3-2. Good luck to him and its a decent platform ahead of being a free agent next year.

Even after a handful of games it seems pretty obvious the big clubs will come after him next summer. Excellent player, excellent signing and really this interest just shows the approach works - it gives these players the platform to announce themselves at PL level. At the time we were all suprosed and shocked Ralph put Livramento straight in but it looks a genius move now as it showed others that the same would be possible for them. I wonder if perhaps it was partly a decision made for that reason, as well as because he is so good. No wonder other talents want to move here, and Lavia's early impact and hype should only increase that further. Next step I guess is to try and get these lads a little younger before we need to spend £10m on them, but I think Brexit has made that very difficult for the foreign players at least and the British talents probably want to be playing PL2 top division so hopefully we can get promoted back to that.

End of the day, no PL side is going to be overly concerned about facing a team with a front 3 containing Armstrong and Elyounoussi. Neither looks likely to score or create much, which is a problem in that position. I still think we need to play two strikers to compensate for a lack of individual quality in the front positions.

Will be interesting to see what he is like as has been linked with PL teams consistently for two years but nobody has really moved decisively for him. Must be something in his game that clubs were unsure of, as on the face of it he seems a decent package of experience for a 25yo and fairly rounded attributes.

Imagine he will sign the scholarship Saints initially offered which will include a guarenteed pro deal when he turns 17 in March. He is a huge talent, so whatever the circumstances its a massive win for the club. A lot of big talents in forward areas (Ballard, Doyle, Edwards and Dibling especially), will be interesting to see how we handle them all and which players really break through into the first team squad. As an aside, we signed Samuel Amo-Ameyaw from Spurs but havent announced anything re the left back Jayden Meghoma - wonder if that hasnt happened for some reason?

Shame to lose him but he should only miss 5, maybe 6 league games due to the Intl break. Good opportunity for Lloyd James perhaps.

Good, in depth article in The Athletic about the last few days. Summary: if he had gone anywhere on Thursday it would have been to Leeds, who offered a higher fee and personal terms. Ultimately Van Gaal talked him out of a move. My opinion: highly unlikely we will revisit this one.

No, doesn't appear as though we are. Assume we had put all our eggs in the Gakpo basket and don't think its worth rushing something now. Obviously hard to know whether Edozie is seen as first team ready but if not I do feel we lack a bit of quality in the final third, and would be in trouble if Adams is unavailable. That said, there isnt that long til January and we now have a stronger squad so should be able to focus soley on that area of the pitch - plus we know there is cash to spend.

Leeds seemingly have a Gakpo backup plan.

There is no chance of us signing Gakpo now, either during thebrest of today or in a future window (seemingly it was his choice to remain there and wait for a bigger club to move for him). The only player of a similar profile who is probably available and ready to move inside one day would be Ismaila Sarr - but we have seemingly had no interest before so expect we won't get an attacker and will reassess in Jan which does leave us vunerable and failing to achieve a major objective from this window. With Bednarek and Stephens going we absolutely need another CB, likely on loan - otherwise will surely block one of those exits. Assume Redmond will come back into the squad, which will make us stronger IMO than without him, especially if no new attacker.

Agreeing a fee is good, but the fact that haven't decided to actually sell him and that he is playing for them right now is a good indication that this is far from done...especially as their inbound window shuts tonight. Doesn't sound like the player is overly pushing otherwise he would have said he wasn't right to play like they all seem to these days. Also have to consider that both sides are spinning the situation to their own fans - PSV that they are standing to their valuation and Saints that if we don't get him we couldn't have done more. IMO if it was that close he wouldn't be playing for them. There was NO agreement on Gakpo with #saintsfc just before the game. Otherwise he wouldn't be on the field right now. PSV will not jeopardize 40 million euros.

If, and obviously still a big if, we were to sign Gakpo then would imagine we couldnt afford to drop another £15m on Garner anyway. Maitland Niles loan would then be very appealing as could replace Romeu and provide fullback cover without paying out another big fee. Personally I think Stephens will go and Bednarek will stay. No point loaning Jan out and weakening our own backup CB area just to strengthen a rivals, whereas with Stephens we can essentially say that ABK has replaced him.

Sounds like there is a deal to bd done for Gakpo if we up our offer a little. They have a game tonight so teamsheet will be interesting. But can we do that if we also need to bring in a midfielder (Garner will definitely move somewhere) and full back potentially? Could be looking at a net spend approaching £100m this summer. Or would we think if we get Gakpo that we could get by til Tino is back just with Perraud, Djenepo and KWP? Risky move. Also...anyone else find it odd that seemingly of TV, radio or the written press nobody asked Ralph about potential transfers after the game yesterday? Assume they are instructed not to by the club as its such an obvious question otherwise.