MOSaint

Another relevant Palmeri update on another CM we've been linked with.

Rather try and buy Ince instead tbh Ince 18 goals, 14 assists Zaha 6 goals, 10 assists

The story about Nainggolan, which he said was credible as he had been told Cortese was in Italy looking to spend big money on a player, whose identity he didn't know. Someone asked about Lamela and he said don't rule anything out. Entirely non-committal answer

Only concern is that he seems a little on the small side, then again 14 yellow cards this season suggests he has no problem getting stuck in.

The strange thing about the Moutinho/Rodriguez deal is that the 70m euros is allegedly split so Monaco are paying 69m for Rdoriguez and 1m for Moutinho so Porto can minimize the amount they have to give to Sporting as part of the sell on clause in Moutinho's contract.

Redknapp at Everton wouldn't work out too well given Bill Kenwright's sell to buy approach.

From last summer when Shaw was promoted to the first team... http://web.archive.org/web/20120522052755/http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10280~2776895,00.html He's under a professional contract

He led them to a top 10 finish. It would have been insane not to have offered him a new deal.

watch him call up crouch or nobody at all

His finishing, final ball and set piece delivery have been exposed in the PL unfortunately. He's a solid player at this level but he isn't capable of taking the game by the scruff of the neck like he could in L1 and the NPC. I think he may well come under more scrutiny next season, especially if we sign an AM who is more ruthless in the final third or Ramirez starts playing like someone who is worth 12m.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/southampton-target-jesus-gamez-transfer-1899854 Another report suggesting we are in for Jesus Gamez

This rumour has sprung up again http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/southampton-target-jesus-gamez-transfer-1899854

Shame we couldn't win today, but our play in the final third wasn't good enough to break down a Stoke side that defended well. If one of our AM's had the kind of final pass Lambert does, we'd me a much more dangerous side. Davis - 7: Not much to do, didn't do anything wrong Clyne - 6 Defended OK, but not his usual self going forward Jos: - 5 gave away too many silly free kicks Fonte - 5 Struggled physically Shaw - 6 Looked very tired IMO. Cork - 5 Poor by his standards, bullied off the ball a lot. Morgan - 7 Usual performance Rodriguez - 5 passenger today for large parts, still not convinced by him. Davis - 6 on the ball often, but lacks quality when it matters Lallana - 7 Good cross lead to the goal Lambert - 8 MOM looked more like himself today, got the goal and played some good passes. Subs: Punch - 6 offered more of a threat for about 5 minutes, then faded JWP - 6 Did OK Mayuka - 5 Lots of effort, but disappoints when he gets on the ball.

I don't know if that can be completely credited to adaptation, I'd say Shaw coming into the side and displacing Fox, a player clearly not up to PL standard and Cork coming in and replacing Davis, who looked uncomfortable at DM had a lot to do with it too. If next season we have stronger squad options to cover injuries/suspensions to first team players we 7th/8th is a reasonable target. It wouldn't be impossible to finish higher than that given a lot of our best players at an age where they can still improve, but we will need our transfer committee to do a hell of a job. The difference in quality between the top 6 and the rest is something not to be underestimated.

The difference in quality between WBA in 8th and Liverpool in 7th was quite large this season. Then again Everton have lost Moyes and may well lose Baines and Fellaini and their is no guarantee that whoever takes control at Everton will be as good at replacing them as Moyes was. So yeah, 7th is possible perhaps. Top 8 form it may be, but in the end the squad couldn't do it consistently and managed to book end an impressive mid season with a poor beginning and end. We should try and make sure we have a squad capable of playing to top 8 standard for the whole 38 games before we start getting carried away.

30m is a good amount, should be enough to help give us a solid chance of 8th/9th place finish next season if it is spent wisely.

Ended up being resolved quicker than I thought it would and with the best outcome, we can now look to the summer and next season with renewed optimism.

12th July

Such a strange situation, NC at the awards telling people he's staying, journalist at the press conference said people at the club were generally not too alarmed by it all, probably be resolved next week etc and yet NC appears to have turned The Times' football section into his own campaigning tool to stay. Heard Tony Evans on the radio this morning talking up Cortese big time implying it will take all summer to sort out, uncomfortable summer for club and that the club will wither and die if he goes. Reminds me a lot of Charles Sale and his fondness for Rupert Lowe....

Communications officer for the club

A pitch invasion for just staying up? All a bit..

Not to mention that this money was spent without recouping any back from player sales, so it is an understandable position.

Another (small) insight into the situation on twitter...

Selling morgan would be the worst thing we could possibly do in the summer. Best player at the club by a country mile.

That guy has his arm around him, maybe his hand shifted a bit low #reacharound