TWar

His stock was massive last summer, was being talked about as Jadon Sancho's replacement at BVB, also turned down villa as he didn't want to be in a relegation battle. This year apparently he was pretty dreadful apparently, Werder got relegated, and now is going to the odds on favourite for relegation in the prem. Shows how fast you can drop I guess. They are apparently spending about £9m on him so a good deal anyway imo.

Out of absolutely nowhere

Big blow that, he looked quality against us.

Celtic fans I've heard from don't rate him, also there was an article quoting fan opinion a little while back that said they far prefer Moi iirc.

I reckon they'll try and pinch Potter, or bring in Mancini post-euros

Yeah, fair play to Hampshire Live calling both it and the timescale. The post far too often to the point they just keep reposting things but their new information does seem to be pretty reliable.

If Ings goes I'd quite like Edouard here, not sure if more than Adam Armstrong though

Shame that, he looked like a big waste of money. I bet they will now go for Edouard now it seems Leicester are getting Daka instead, who imo is a much better buy.

Very low chance imo. Villa are probably sounding it out around £40m but I doubt we well below £50m atleast. Only way I can see him going is if Grealish goes and then they spend silly money.

8 g+a and 6 g+a in his two seasons in the top league, seems pretty injury prone, and is apparently plays more on the left than centrally like Brighton want. Did OK in the German second league (17 g+a) and is only 23 so likely has good resell but given all that I am not exactly dying of jealousy for Brighton at that price.

Brighton are an interesting one. If they lose Bissouma, White, and/or Potter they could really struggle. They have a very weak squad imo which is performing well over their quality due to a good manager. If Potter does end up at Everton, as has been linked, then I don't know how well they would do, similarly if they lose a key player or two.

I think we are still just as good as Brighton, wolves, and Newcastle on top of that lot. Not a long way behind Leeds and Villa too imo. If we retain Danny and JWP and sign a decent lb we are on par with the above imo. Then it's just the big 6, West ham, Everton and Leicester above us, which is reasonable imo.

That's a good point. If we end up in a relegation battle then I agree entirely. If by some miracle we end up pushing top half or even europe it would be nice to see us carry momentum over xmas rather than stumble and drop.

I think, given the leeway we have previously afforded him, it's unlikely we sack him 5 games in even if it's all losses. As you say, a hard run and the club will be aware of that as well as the fact we probably won't finish our transfer business early so the team won't be at full strength for those 5.

Palace, Brentford, West Ham, Spurs, Newcastle over the festive period. Not too bad tbh.

Could do, but I think we should be looking to get something out of Newcastle, West Ham, and Wolves. They are all teams in and around the level that we would want to be. West Ham overperformed last season imo.

https://insidefutbol.com/2021/06/15/norwich-city-and-southampton-amongst-admirers-of-celta-vigo-star/513317/ Linked to a new attacking mid! This is reposting Tutto Mercato which apparently has dubious reliability so don't get your hopes up. Anyway the player is Brais Mendez of Celta Vigo. He is 24 and has the following league stats. 2020/21: 9 goals 0 assists, 2678 minutes 2019/20: 0 goals 2 assists, 1470 minutes 2018/19: 6 goals 7 assists, 2395 minutes 2017/18: 1 goal 1 assist, 936 minutes So a great season three years ago and a decent on last season but a pretty poor one between them. Looks good.

We allegedly initially put a £35m price tag on Hojbjerg (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-8404039/Southampton-place-35m-price-tag-captain-Pierre-Emile-Hojbjerg.html) and he went for £15m so I think it comes down a lot. I think you value them how you would if it weren't the last year and then it steadily drops as the summer goes on.

The point I'm making is that there is no evidence he signed for Koeman, and the fact he turned down our option to buy the following season shows that it can't have been that much pulling power.

This guy said literally that "He specifically said he was signing for Koeman." In the post I was replying to, what are you on about?

So when you say you mean it's just what you reckon.

Clearly loved him, that's why he signed for us and not spurs. Plus he joined Ajax years after Koeman left, they were both at the same club years apart therefore the deal must have been due to koeman, that's some sound logic... Also do you have a quote saying he was specifically signing because of koeman, not a "I'm excited to play under this gaffer" that is said all the time, or are you talking nonsense as usual?

Yep, and he isn't allowed to take them anymore since Ronaldo turned up, who is dreadful at them nowadays. Mental.

Thought people might find this interesting. Wasn't sure where to post it but people were discussing JWP to villa here so I guess it will do.

I don't think Koeman attracted Toby, I think our good league position coupled with relative spending power, and the fact it was a loan so it was more a temporary arrangement to get his stock up in England attracted Toby. He gave a "I'm excited to work under the manager" speech in his signing on interview as is reasonably standard, but he clearly wasn't that excited as the following summer he rejected our option to buy and went to spurs. To answer your question, yes, I do think Ralph in the same situation with the same squad and funding would have been able to do the exact same. Tricky to prove obviously, but I don't think Toby came due to his massive admiration, more it was a good opportunity to get his name out there in the UK, which worked. Regarding the jobs Koeman got, I don't think the Holland job is very prestigious tbh, De Boer got it off the back of a woeful 5 game spell with Palace and then a spell in the MLS. He got the Barca job, which was really impressive given that his stock probably fell with Everton after leaving us, but I think that is a case of hiring an ex-player to win over the fans, similar to Ole and Lampard albeit with a more more established and higher quality manager, a strange trend which I hope soon finishes. Also regarding our ability to get and keep Ralph, getting him was a massive coup admittedly, and most said this at the time. I think we managed it by giving him a massive amount of power over the club and how it is run. Regarding Ranieri, I do think he would have pretty good pulling power yes, he's managed some massive clubs and is a huge name in football and was well before he won the title with Leicester. But I think the point is pulling power is almost entirely due to the club and how rich they are as well as their own personal recent success and quality rather than a big name in charge in 95% of circumstances.