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Interesting stuff, could be Ings Adams Armstrong and Armstrong. That'd be confusing.

Yeah I think this is sensible. Alternatively, it could be that Ralph doesn't rate Che as much as a lot of fans do. He kept trying to shoehorn Redmond in up top and even gave Tella a few runs there. Maybe long term Che is seen as a rotation option with Ings/Armstrong being our front two.

If this includes a pay-cut to backup wages, means Forster out the door, and we sign someone new then great. If not this is a big error.

Yeah sorry, Valentino Livramento, 18 year old Chelsea LB, was their youth player of the season I think. We were linked a couple of places, the mail most recently I think. Here is a HampshireLive article on it https://www.hampshirelive.news/sport/football/transfer-news/southampton-transfer-chelsea-tino-livramento-5581766

Yeah Jeremi Rodriguez, very much a youth team signing (turns 18 in October I think), has played 8 games for the under 18s. Doesn't seem like he's been too great judging by the games he's played in and the fact he was benched at the end of the season but am just speculating, haven't seen him play.

Yeah, I think Maehle is probably too good to be back up for us though. I suspect we will get KWP, Perraud, that 18 year old LB from Chelsea (or similar young up and comer) and one of Neco/Brandon Williams on loan and that will be it for fullback options, which is probably fine for a club of our size. Spend the money on attacking mid and potentially replacing Ings if we have to imo, we need to create more.

Apparently they were quoted £17m for Perraud. Something funny is going on since we seem to be linked for half that. Either way I think it suits both teams well, Perraud is the attacking fullback we need and Firpo is a flexible wingback like they need, everyones happy. In other news, Arsenal linked with £15m move for Taveres, Benfica fans giving it the old "I'll drive him to the airport myself" "How have we managed that" so glad we seem to be steering clear.

Maehle has looked decent at the euros but he hasn't really been consistently starting for Atalanta since joining (11 out of 23 league games started) and hasn't exactly been doing amazing there apparently. A couple of decent performances at national level can very much overhype a player. I'm happy we got KWP personally, has been ace for us.

Not sure it's a story. I think GFFN are an aggregator and since it doesn't have a source ascribed it seems more like an opinion to me from the guy running that twitter.

No its accurate, they are posting pictures of themselves working out and training in Dubai

Really poor game from Wales, but I can excuse the Welsh commentators/fans for being positive. On paper they are not a good side at all and before the last euros they hadn't qualified at all in the 56 years the competition was running. They may have done very well in 2016 but they are still a team where qualification is an achievement so making the knockouts is a good result. The last game was poor but I think they can still be proud of what they have achieved.

Our fullbacks will be fiercely athletic when/if Perraud signs, lovely for the high press

He is a class above, but I very much doubt that makes him disdainful, every club has better and worse players.

Yeah Leach definitely reposts far far too much to fill the quantity thing but fortunately he seems pretty well connected, being the first to break the timescale of the Perraud deal when french outlets were giving it within the week.

What an idiot, the only thing this guy is an expert in is ruining his career because he couldn't lay off the pies. Either way, I'm excited to see who football insider cart out next to tell us JWP would love to leave for the behemoth that had their last top half finish over a decade ago.

Wonder if we blocked it, apparently we were going to be consulted as he was in talks to become our player I read somewhere.

Yeah I get that me moaning about it is exactly the outrage they thrive off. Just couldn't help myself that once.

It's proper embarrassing the way Birmingham live operates. They keep interviewing or posting interviews from random ex players about JWP and they say things like "it's happening" or "he will push through a move" with 0 basis for saying it, which they admit in the body of the article, then Birmingham live puts that in the headline with no suggestion who said it or in what context. Meanwhile, we have a respected tier 1 report that it's all bollocks and they don't mention that once anywhere, not even as a counterpoint. After all, they know that a journo from the athletic who is proven to be trusted is more trustworthy than some old player saying "well if I was him, I'd go, so he will I reckon", and publishing all the facts would spoil the fun. Just painfully weak journalism. Anyway, rant over.

Good news for us, he looked a quality appointment.

Tom Leach suggesting the reason for us delaying this until the beginning of July is to get it on next years accounts as some here suspected: "The main reason for such delays are financial with clubs keen to ensure transfer deals show up on next season’s accounts, not this season’s, following a campaign that has financially crippled a large numbers of clubs due to the COVID-19 pandemic." https://www.hampshirelive.news/sport/football/transfer-news/southampton-transfer-romain-perraud-deals-5569196

Depends on the reliability of the press. I believe the original quote was "Villa are admirers of Romeu" which is sufficiently non-commital that it is probably just lazy clickbate with a wedge of plausible deniability if it doesn't happen.

Hope you are right, and I definitely agree we have another gear with Kane, Grealish et al. Just got to hope we find it soon.

Very controversial, but I'd sell Romeu at the right price. He is a good hunter of the ball but if we can get ~£20m for him while he is at the peak of his value and reinvest cleverly then I think it's decent business. Especially since he turns 30 in September. Something like Romeu out for £20m, Delaney in for £8.5m. Delaney is the same age but making >£10m on a swapping out our backup would be nice as with any luck Diallo will be our first choice by the end of next season. Might as well sell while value is high and replace. Alternatively, someone like Matt Grimes in as a replacement would be pretty good too. I suspect Villa wouldn't give us £20m though so it is kind of a moot point.

I think Germany are going to smash us, to be honest. Obviously hope we pull something out the bag but we have looked very average this euros. Either way, fingers crossed. As for the prediction as that does sound fun R16 - Wales, Italy, NL, Belgium, Spain, France, Germany, Sweden QF - France, Belgium, NL, Germany SF - Germany, Belgium Winners - Belgium I will say Italy Belgium is pretty 50/50 as is France Belgium and if either beat them they will probably go on to be winners.

All that is team stuff though, blaming an individual for that requires you proving it is his fault. Our midfield is mostly not the bit carved up, we mostly are weak down the flanks with our fullbacks not fully fit or firing. We lost the semi because we couldn't create anything, we were pretty good defensively realistically. But yeah you are right in one regard, this conversation is going nowhere and, fortunately, neither is JWP so lets get behind him next season as with all our players.