the french scout

Yes you're right, that's what Monaco did for the last 2-3 seasons, but only because their owner lost a lot of money (half of it) during his divorce. The initial project was to buy confirmed players (Falcao, Moutinho, Ricardo Carvalho, Eric Abidal, Jérémy Toulalan, Dimitar Berbatov, ...).

The whole french Ligue 1 (except for Paris Saint Germain and Olympique de Marseille) is about developping young players then selling them. France is the second country (after Brazil) in number of players playing abroad. The most efficient clubs at this are Olympique Lyonnais and Stade Rennais. There is no club who really has a philosophy of quality football, french managers tend to prefer a defensive style. There were a good example of a club what had the "Southampton way", it was FC Nantes Atlantique before Waldemar Kita bought it and ripped apart all the development team and philosophy of offensive and pleasant football. Lille was bought last year by a new owner and it seems it will follow this philosophy. Marcelo Bielsa is the new coach and they bought a lot of young prospect this summer and last winter.

I'm not sure about Boufal skills being better than Boudebouz ones... Yes, Boudebouz is also a set pieces kicker, and it's a plus for him compared to Boufal... If you're talking about physical strength, yep Boufal is better, but Boudebouz is more physically similar to Mahrez so I don't think that's a big no no. And yes Boufal has more potential, but it's only "potential", he could also fail and stay an average player as he is now. With Boudebouz, you know what you buy.

IMO, Boudebouz is way better than Boufal. Boufal has in a way the same flaws as Ben Arfa, he always think he can win a game by himself and tries ridiculous dribbles. Boudebouz is a more mature player (he's 27yo) who love to dribble but who also know when passing is better. He scored 11 times this season but also delivered 9 assists in a terrible Montpellier team (15th) when Boufal scored 11 goals + 5 assists when Lille was 5th last year... Boudebouz = Boufal + better decision making + very good ability at passing + excellent set pieces.

I think that's what he meant. And Manchester clubs should fire Mourinho and Guardiola.

Another rumor about a Ligue 1 player : https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/3386425/southampton-eye-toulouse-star-christopher-jullien-as-a-replacement-for-skipper-virgil-van-dijk/ Well, he's obviously not as good as VVD, but this guy impressed everybody for his first Ligue 1 season. He's physically impressive (1.96m, 86kg), he's almost impassable and can score (4 goals in Ligue 1 this season, 9 in Ligue 2 the previous one). Only 3 central defenders have a better rating than him on whoscored this season in Ligue 1 : Loïc Perrin, Thiago Silva and Paul Baysse (who will leave Nice...).

I think Boufal is a bit less fast and powerful but has better dribbling skills.

I only saw him twice so I cant' say a lot about him but he's indeed powerful and fast and he LOVES to dribble. His passing ability is not the best though. He's not a finish product yet but he could become a quite good player with a manager who knows how to work with young players. His 4 goals this season were all scored between september and november and the rest of the season was a bit more complicated for him but he's a regular starter in a French midtable team (Guingamp) at only 20yo. Also, he's a French U21 international.

Nobody reacted to that, so I post it again : https://www.clubcall.com/southampton/southampton-eye-coco-move-1847960.html A young french winger who can score... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrrf64Po8k8#t=1m02s

https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/premiership/southampton-premiership/southampton-lining-up-gamble-on-euro-based-talent-as-puel-looks-for-pl-advantage/

LOL

Actually the second choice, he is injured since late October. He's starter material, but I think he would sign to be on the bench and bring competition to Forster.

Apparently, Ntep will remplace Draxler at Wolfsburg. http://www.sofoot.com/ntep-sur-la-route-de-wolfsburg-437131.html

Even with the money from the new deal about TV rights ? Here in France, journalists and supporters were mad about this, saying even the Championship clubs could buy top players from Ligue 1.

I think the major problem about Newcastle wasn't they were buying players from Ligue 1 but buying bad or mediocre players from Ligue 1. Gouffran, Marveaux, Amalfitano, Rivière, Haidara, Obertan were "meh" at best, for instance. Rémy, Cabaye, Sissoko, Debuchy were quite good and are all international players. And then there were players like Thauvin, Ben Arfa, Yanga-Mbiwa or Cabella who are quite good but not very consistent and failed because they came in a cub where nothing was working and were quite young for the most of them. About the list I post earlier, I seriously think a club like Southampton can't buy players above Boufal (#10) and they will all play soon in big clubs, like Umtiti, Dembélé or Guerreiro already are. Just look at the top 15 from the previous season and tell me you don't want some of these guys at Southampton : 15 - Yannick Ferreira-Carrasco (Atletico Madrid), 14 - Paul-Georges Ntep (Rennes), 13 - Jordan Amavi (Aston Villa), 12 - Geoffrey Kondogbia (Inter Milan), 11 - Gianneli Imbula (Stoke City), 10 - Layvin Kurzawa (PSG), 9 - Divock Origi (Liverpool), 8 - Samuel Umtiti (FB Barcelona), 7 - Michy Batshuayi (Chelsea), 6 - Rony Lopes (Lille), 5 - Bernardo Silva (Monaco), 4 - Morgan Sanson (Montpellier), 3 - Alexandre Lacazette (Lyon), 2 - Anthony Martial (Manchester United), 1 - Nabil Fékir (Lyon)

Sorry but this list is totally random and inacurrate. If you can read french you could take a look at this article about the 15 best prospects in Ligue 1 last season (there is Boufal in it so it could be interesting to read...) http://www.cahiersdufootball.net/article-top-15-les-espoirs-de-ligue-1-premiere-partie-6234 http://www.cahiersdufootball.net/article-top-15-les-espoirs-de-ligue-1-deuxieme-partie-6236 For the non-frenc speakers here is the top : 15 - Ricardo Pereira - Nice (on loan from Porto) - FB - 24yo 14 - Adam Ounas - Bordeaux - AM - 20yo 13 - Sergi Darder - Lyon - CM - 23yo 12 - Morgan Sanson - Montpellier - CM - 22yo 11 - Alban Lafont - Toulouse - GK - 17yo 10 - Sofiane Boufal - Lille (Southampton this season)- AM - 23yo 9 - Fabinho - Monaco - FB or CM - 23yo 8 - Michy Batshuayi - Marseille (Chelsea this season) - Striker - 23yo 7 - Thomas Lemar - Monaco - AM - 21yo 6 - Layvin Kurzawa - PSG - Left Back - 24yo 5 - Bernardo Silva - Monaco - AM - 22yo 4 - Samuel Umtiti - Lyon (Barcelona this season) - CB - 23yo 3 - Adrien Rabiot - PSG - CM - 21yo 2 - Nabil Fékir - Lyon - AM - 23yo 1 - Ousmane Dembélé - Rennes (Dortmund this season) - AM - 19yo Honorable mentions : Raphaël Guerreiro -Lorient (Dortmund this season) - Left Back Almany Touré - Monaco - Left Back Vincent Koziello - Nice - CM Nampalys Mendy - Nice (Leicester this season) Corentin Tolisso - Lyon - CM Florian Thauvin - Marseille - AM Djibril Sidibé - Monaco - FB Paul-Georges Ntep - Rennes - Winger Rachid Ghezzal - Lyon - Winger Kylian Mbappé - Monaco - Striker and a dozen more who are still very young... Obviously this article is from April 2016 so some of them would be ranked higher (Lemar, Sidibé, Fabinho, Ricardo Pereira, Guerreiro, Tolisso, Mbappé) or lower (Fékir, Ounas, Batshuayi, Mendy, Touré) now.

He's really good. Well, he suffered a lot of injuries last season and struggled to be back to his best but general opinion in France is that he is way better than Boufal, for instance. Rennes' president actually wants 7M€ now to sell him leave this winter. It's obviously a bargain since his contact expires at the end at the season.

There are rumors about Bayern wanting him for about 40M €. I'm sorry but I think there isn't any chance he could sign for Southampton.

If I were playing Football Manager with the Saints, I would try tu recruit one or two of these guys this winter : - Paul Georges Ntep, young french international, more of a winger who can score than a striker, but free atthe end of the season and available for abour 5M this winter - Rachid Ghezzal, young algerian international, and exactly the same profile and contract situation as Ntep - Mitshuy Batshuayi on loan, who is a solid striker prospect and doesn't play at all at Chelsea - Mevlut Erdinç, Giovanni Sio or Enzo Crivelli could be cheap gambles too. (sorry for the broken english)