Dan Johnson

Gareth Bale‏@GarethBale1111m Thanks to both @SouthamptonFC and @SpursOfficial for helping me to reach this point in my career... two very special clubs Nice touch, does this move enhance the reputation of Saints FC?

Nothing to do with valuation & everything to do with wages. The likes of Hammond & Sharp are on realitively big money. In Sharps case upwards of 20k a week, thats over £1 million a year in wages. Players have to agree to deals, they're not all motivated by playing football on a regular basis, and they're not going to earn nearly as much elsewhere so it's not as easy as just selling them. Loan Agreements can still save us money as the club loaning the player will likely pay a percentage of that players wages, maybe 50%... that could save us (in sharps case) 400k a year (considering the length of the season) It's why you see players move for free when you'd assume they would have re-sell value. For example, if Sharp had 2 years left on his contract, letting him move for free would save £2million in the long run. Football transfers are often protracted, complex and difficult to negotiate due to the nature of business, with the fair play rules now in force it's even harder. With accountants having to spread budgets across different financial years to appease shareholders and the FA

This

Surprised at some of the write ups in national newspapers claiming he caused problems, thought Fonte & Lovern were outstanding all game and gave him nothing, he looked way out of his depth and for a guy his size was actually fairly light weight, on his arse allot. He doesn't look like scoring many at all on the basis of that game, either our center backs are exceptional or he's crap

Why yes I believe I do!! :-)

Whey I'm ITK, can confirm this is legit. He's off on loan

It's crazy!! I mean look at the Players Osvaldo was playing alongside before we signed him!! De Rossi Totti Lamela Pjanic It's crazy!!

This... first man crush in ages

Just under a year ago, after losing 2-0 away to west brom I was stuck in a huge Facebook debate about the quality of our squad and what the future holds... I was still excited then and argued we had a great future ahead of us with the youth I out squad... Nearly a year on and a more positive result away against West Brom and we've signed Italy's number 9!!!! Seriously!?! Am I dreaming... IT'S HAPPENING!!!! IT'S ****ING HAPPENING

Sky Sports sources understand that Southampton are in pole position to sign AS Roma striker Pablo Osvaldo. by GRAEME BAILEY 9:09 PM yesterday http://www1.skysports.com/transfer-centre/clockwatch

I wouldnt be too disapointed with 14th, I think it's going to be a tough league this year. I think we should be aiming for 8th-12th but you could be talking about 2-4pts seperating 8th-14th. 14th and the league or FA cup would be a resounding success IMHO

I struggle to understand why people persist with this perception that quantity of signings\cost of signings\time of signings or making signings in general automatically equates to better results? QPR signed 16 players last season for varying amounts and look what happened to them? In contrast West Brom made 6 signings and look at the season they had…. Incidentally three of those players signed AFTER 5th August (including Lukaku) The general assumption that it’s easy to sign players is ridiculous. The market simply isn’t moving at the moment, clubs will not let go of their better players until they’ve signed a replacement… We simply CAN NOT judge how successful this transfer window has been for us until A. The window is actually SHUT! B. The end of season when we know whether additional signings would have actually made a difference!!

The whole market has been fairly quiet for the last week. It's why Sky Sports are persisting with the Rooney\Suarez\Fabregas stories when not allot is really happening!

When he first arrived he was staying at the Hilton in chilworth along with Gaston, had 2 mates working there at the time, both said Mayuka was hilarious and had a real character! Apparently playing tricks on staff etc that he got to know well during his stay.

I was club wembley and it was 90% saints fans easy

Has to be taken into context though surely? Osvaldo was 3rd top goal scorer in Italy probably the 3rd or 4th best league in the world & Hooper plays in Scotland. I know that doesn't mean Osvaldo is automatically better than Hooper but you can surely understand why Osvaldo would be a more exciting prospect to most?

Lol, harmless fun if you ask me! Posting it online probably wasn't the smartest of moves but I'm not going to lose any sleep over it

Despite the millions we spend this summer I'm pretty sure this will be our biggest summer signing, I'm soo excited about the future of this football club, for probably the first time ever I feel like we are progressing towards that elusive "next level" even after our FA cup final appearance and subsequent dip into Europe I didn't have the level of oppotimism I have now. If we add 2 more quailty players this summer and manage to maintain our squad till the start of the 2014/2015 having added another. 3-4 in next seasons summer window I'm convinced we'll be challenging the top 4

All the best chappers.

Honestly who cares what Hartson thinks? Good arguements can be made for & against Wanyama's move, but the facts are Wanyama has choosen us & people will have differing opionions on that... lets move on and not get hung up on that.

Also just tweeted Napoli interested in Osvaldo

The transfer market is quiet slow at the moment, I'd prefer us to hold out for our top targets than sign lesser players for the sake of it. We've got quiet a balanced squad that we should be looking to improve rather than add to. I think all clubs are holding their cards close to their chest as I imagine there's going to be a merry go round of top strikers in this window, no one wants to sell a top asset before they have another lined up so we're caught in a "transfer chain" where if 1 deal collapses it effects multiple other deals.

I hope Billy gets a good move, i think we've treated him pretty poorly to be honest. He moved down here after an absolute tragedy, in search of a fresh start & career progression & we've given him neither. I cant understand how after 6 months he's deemed surprless to requirements and shipped out on loan without even an explanation as to why. IMHO, i dont think he'd be cut out for the premier league, but to not even be given the oppertunity to have a crack at it is unfair, he was obviously told when recruited he'd have a part to play in the Premier League otherwise he wouldnt have relocated his family at what was a very trying time for them. Yes, i think it's probably the right footballing decission, but the manor in which we've gone about that decission is poor. I'd have sooner seen him play in the reserves and given the oppertunuity to fight his way into the side last season, than forced out on loan.

I dont know what the tempo is like in brazil, however i'd imagine the tempo at international level is fairly similair, 16 caps for Brazil no less. If Ricky or Jrod were Brazilain they'd get no where near the brazil squad regardless of how many high tempo games they'd played in, they'd probably be the first to admit that!!

Still a massive step up in quailty for us, no disrespect to Ricky or Jrod, but Damiao is in a different league. Plus he is only 23 so that could change as he matures. For me, this signing is as much about signing quailty players as it is about signalling our intent. It shows other players we're in for that we mean business and could open the flood gates. Man City needed to sign Robinho to get the ball rolling