Lallana's Left Peg

That's because teams know he is available and what his price is. Unless he is first choice you can leave him on the backburner. His cost is known. I'd expect more chatter about him in the last few weeks of the window as clubs start to lose out on targets and turn to backups. Someone will get him for a good price but pay him far too much in wages. At least, that is my prediction.

Moneyball is about finding abilities undervalued by the market and purchasing players with those abilities cheaper than the players you lose / sell for higher money. It has also never (yet) been proven to work in football, a sport where there are far more dynamics to it than statistical analysis. The nearest football has got to it is the concept that you sell high and have sophisticated scouting / recruitment techniques that allow you to identify potential and you have an environment where it can flourish which allows you to purchase talent cheaper than you sell it. But every club in football tries this anyway (and did so before Billy Beane made Moneyball famous at Oakland) - the difference is that only a few succeed at it over a decent period of time.

I don't think the club is arrogant enough to think it can lose Mane, Pelle and Wanyama and replace them with Redmond, Austin and Hojbjerg. With an even more competitive league anticipated this season and the European campaign if the club want to sustain progression (or at least maintain a Top 6 - 8 position) then it needs to strengthen - and I am sure it will.

Club know they need to invest in order to replace those who have left. They also need to invest to keep some of the players who signed long-term happy. Plenty of time left in the transfer window to sort it.

What chances are you giving of any of the development players turning into £10m rated players who contribute to our first team?

Not much about in the U21's to get excited about. Lots of steady professionals but not a lot with the talent (or evident potential) to make a contribution to our first team at the level we compete at. For what it is worth I consider Reed a first team squad member. Slattery is the one with all the talent from the U18's but he had a stop-start season last year and spent most of it injured. The other U18's aren't great but Alfie Jones made massive strides and played for the U21's several times. The U16's I am less familiar with but it is said there is plenty of talent in there. Lets see how they get on at U18 level this season. The U18's are in desperate need for a talent injection.

Club really don't have a good record in this area - if we get one lets hope he can make a contribution.

Not really heard of him before he was linked with us but despite his up and down experiences in management the common theme in everything I have read about him is his commitment to attacking football and giving youth a chance. If he brings this approach to Saints that will buy him a lot of goodwill from supporters even during an indifferent period on the pitch. Personally I am expecting European football to really stretch us this season and would happily accept a so-so mid-table finish in the league if it meant we gave the cups (all three of them) a good go whilst playing attacking football and continuing to see the commitment of integration of young homegrown players into the first team.

Why is it tedious? You've just said it is important to get it right. The players aren't even back on the training ground and the only two players that have left are those who were likely to no matter who was our Manager. We're clearly active in looking to appoint so I don't think the club can be criticised at all at this stage. I am more interested to see what we spend our pennies on in the transfer market. I have the expectation that the club will spend sensibly but invest all in the team that it can - so when you consider the increased revenue from commercial deals and the TV money along with the sales I expect significant investment in the team one way or another. And I don't mind if a part of that is new deals for existing players (as we have already done so for three important players).

Are we just lucky that the last three Managers we've appointed (presuming it is Puel) have been out of work or is there something about the way we go about things that means we only tend to target out of work Managers for whatever reason? I know Adkins was at S****horpe but even most of the candidates we've been linked to over the years have all been out of work. Why is this?

In your opinion is he one for the first team squad this season or will he be a part of the Academy?

I'm with you. £30m appeared to short-change us. £35m to £38m (though doubt we'll get that if it depends on Liverpool being in CL and successful) is much better. Time to invest it all back in the team now. From what little reading of Puel I've made I can see he likes quick play in the final third - excited to see what sort of direct and fast players we buy.

Don't have an issue with losing Mane. Don't have an issue with losing Mane to Liverpool. Do have an issue with losing Mane to Liverpool for £30m. We don't need the money so that should drive the fee higher. We are a Premier League club selling to another Premier League club so that should drive the fee higher. The only thing that would impact the fee is two years left on his deal but if he were to depreciate by £15m a season and we 'only' sold him for £15m next summer I'd happily take that hit. We've just sold one of our best players for relatively cheap and I don't understand why. Hopefully more details emerge. At least it is happening quickly and then once he is gone we get the new Manager in and a few signings and we can have a quiet August.

Unless the club have a player (or players) lined up that it is absolutely convinced make us a better team than we are with Mane then there is no reason to sell him for £30m. We don't need the money, the new TV deal means signing a player from another Premier League club should cost an arm and a leg, and buying abroad just got more expensive for replacements due to the referendum. £30m is nothing - £40m at least. Otherwise what is the point?

If we sell him for £30m I'll be ****ing raging.

Apparently Marco Silva has just resigned from his job of Greek side Olympiacos.

I think Man City would allow him to join Saints before 1st July without him having to forego any bonuses. I'm still not convinced he is the guy we want - there is no doubting his pedigree from his CV and he has a profile that will command respect in the dressing room. However, presuming our 5 year plan is closely aligned to previous versions there are some aspects of his management that don't appear to align well to it: 1. His tactical preference is 4-4-2 and we have players at the club for 4-2-3-1. 2. He comfortably prefers seasoned pros to giving youth players a chance They are pretty big things for a club like us to change our stance on - or indeed a Manager of his standing to compromise on. It doesn't add up to me.

I don't think Saints have sold any player who wanted to stay. We've got pretty good money for all the players we've sold in the circumstances they were sold. We've invested lots of money back into the team too. Only complaints I have, and they are small really: 1. I wish we wouldn't be so easy to target in the media - there may be dignity in silence but the media are a part of the game and I'd wish we'd fight back more. Whether or not we are, the media portray us as weak and that does impact perceptions of the club. 2. I wish we wouldn't talk about ambition on one hand and then on the other talk about us being a 'showcase' club etc. State your ambition by all means but don't undermine it by then acknowledging you are a stepping stone club for talent. It doesn't sit well.

Of the four central midfielders that Spurs have they are buying a player who has proven himself in the Premier League for £11m and who will be better than two of the existing options. They are getting a great deal. We can replace Wanyma for the fee we're getting for him but you always run the risk of a transfer bust. I also think we could have got a better fee given all the money floating about but I suppose if Wanyama had his heart set on Spurs and would have happily sat out the final year of his contract to get it the club had to act. He will need replacing though - Romeu is ok but he is no Wanyama.

Anyone have a view as to why we look for out of work Managers? It does somewhat decrease the pool we can choose from.

From the looks of that he sounds perfect of us. No Premier League experience and appears to be used to working with young players more than seasoned professionals but in our circumstance he looks like a good fit.

Twitter suggesting FdB has rejected Lazio (either talking with them or joining them) and wants to come to the Premier League. Don't know if he is any good or not but we may be his only option in that case...

The above sounds very sensible to me. Not attempting to be negative here but just expanding on the 'stepping stone' Manager or long-term Manager approach say AVB, FdB, Pellegrini and Emery went elsewhere and Howe stayed at Bournemouth - who do people think we'll be after? Not who do you want but who fits the profile of what we want? We need that balance between someone who commands respect from our senior players but also someone who fits the fabric of the club in terms of understanding how we progress (and that we sell players) and providing a pathway to the first team. It's a very hard criteria to fill.

When Guan made reference to a change of direction towards the back end of the season I'd be interested to see if he can expand on that and / or if the change of direction he mentioned refers to a Manager that he thinks we may not be able to get now.