Saint Matty 76

Really confused as to why this has everybody so rattled? We're taking a young player who had an £18m bid from a PL club last year, and putting him out to a good league to develop for a season whilst we're able to take a good look at him and see if he'll fit our system the year after? If he does, great. If he doesn't, there'll likely be a resale value on the player so it seems extremely unlikely we won't receive any financial value from the part exchange.

Be happy either way to be honest. Ramsdale more expensive, Bijlow with injury concerns. Both have a flaw but both are monumental upgrades. The one worry I'd have with Ramsdale is that if it's a loan where we don't sign him at the end, do we just go back to Bazunu? At least with Bijlow you'd assume that he'd be the starter for the foreseeable.

https://x.com/VI_nl/status/1826655523779084551 The top Dutch source stating that "All parties would find it strange if no agreement is reached tonight or tomorrow." about Bijlow, so looks like it probably is just a bargaining tactic.

Feel like I can be quite relaxed about it if we're in a situation which looks like it'll be Ramsdale or Bijlow. Actually miles better than the standard I was expecting.

Exclusive: #Southampton preparing to make a loan bid for #Arsenal’s Aaron Ramsdale. More on @SkySportsNews and here: https://t.co/OzHTtF6IG5 #Saintsfc #Afc #wwfc

If he'd struggle to get a work permit here then this is the actual pure benefit of the partnership no?

Bijlow and an attacker of some form would have me happy, whether that be a creative midfielder, winger or striker. I think we've been clever this window and given ourselves a reasonable chance of survival, which would also have us in an extremely strong position to come back up again if we were to go down.

Kalimuendo would definitely be fun, if anyone can get over the fear of it being another Rennes transfer disaster.

Gave us this top class gif too.

Good GK but been injured for about 7 months of this past year.

The exact type of signing I'm usually really excited for us to make, but I think it's currently a little overshadowed by the needs elsewhere for me. I hope he's able to make a positive impact right away, though.

This is why he’d be quite intriguing as an O’Riley alternative in my opinion, played his best football in the more advanced role which is the midfield area we’re currently lacking in the most. Fernandes/Smallbone - Downes/Ugochukwu - JWP/Aribo/Lallana Suddenly looks quite exciting, although I do still imagine Ugochukwu will partner Downes more than just being his back-up.

Aribo (much like most of the team) had a relegation clause which took him down 40% to £40k p/w. Not sure if he had a mirroring promotion clause which took him back to the original number, however. Interested to know how much of his £80k McCarthy got back on the renewal…

JWP is on another level to Smallbone/Aribo. If he was available on loan and wanted to come back it'd be a complete no brainer.

We're not getting Ramsdale. If there's a deal which is somehow favourable to a team of our financial capabilities, then there will be better options for him available. We're also not getting Johnstone because the club don't want to pay a fee for a keeper, presumably because they're still somehow viewing Bazunu as our long term no. 1 outside of this season. It'll be going further down the list, to a Dubravka/Steele type option.

"Arsenal would rather sell Ramsdale than let him leave on a temporary basis and recently turned down an approach from Ajax, while the likes of Southampton have also expressed an interest." Article from Ornstein actually tells of our interest for the first time.

EXCL: Wolves make proposal to sign Aaron Ramsdale from Arsenal. Initial loan + buy option + #WWFC would cover majority of 26yo goalkeeper’s wages. Acceptance at Molineux deal difficult due to finances involved but talks with #AFC continue @TheAthleticFC

#SaintsFC and Strasbourg have reached and agreement for the sale of Sekou Mara worth €12m. Personal terms still to be agreed — possible signing at the end of the week. Some good news that I didn't really expect, especially after ABK fell through.

One Shea Charles for the sake of making us that much better? It is of course, and I don't think the number would be quite so high if Ramsdale is pushing for a move by the end of the window, but it's remarkably justifiable in my mind.

You have to take some gambles to have a hope of staying up these days, and the difference between our GK situation and Ramsdale is so drastic that it feels like a must even at those prices. The source is footyinsider for what it's worth, so probably nonsense anyway. Whether the people within the club who haven't had the same level of urgency throughout the Summer feel the same remains to be seen.

Thought Brighton would be out of the O’Riley race with Rutter/Gruder joining recently as well. Some window for them. ABK news is a shame for all parties. Can’t see that one getting resolved if one team had such reservations.

Cedric was a decent player who was great value for us at £4m or whatever it was. Let's move on to the new player we're signing for the love of god.

This isn't true unfortunately, I don't believe.

Definitely going to be an interesting team selection player and formation wise, in what is probably on paper one of our most winnable games of the season. I'd probably start Archer over a defender/midfielder and go a little more positive from the off, if he's deemed ready. Imagine Les will probably get some minutes off the bench before taking Smallbone/Aribo's place, who both did alright yesterday.

Ah, we're in the level of Goalkeeper desperation where we're pretending Bazunu isn't shit as well now are we?