Toon Saint

I thought this too, but maybe it is his age - he's 20 when compared to the others who are 17/18. I know that is still ridiculously young and we only have to look at someone like Callum McManaman who broke into Wigan first team, aged 21, but there could be a feeling among the Saints management team that he needs to start demonstrating his potential very soon and that a longer-term contract would be too much of a risk if he fails to achieve. I think he had a few injury problems last season so they might be mindful of that as well. No doubt that Cortese will sign him up for a long-term deal if he starts performing regularly in the Prem, he has always been pro-active in that regard.

Mayuka can't hold the ball up for anywhere near long enough to play a lone striker role, and that makes us a lot more vulnerable defensively when trying to protect a lead. Feel that he'd play better with a target man, where he can actually use his pace to harm defences by playing off their shoulder, rather than charging around the pitch aimlessly all the time. Even then I'm not convinced by him...

Could have said the same for Wanyama and Lovren (who are of similar calibre) but we pulled those two off. We are never going to change the perception of the club if fans get embarrassed by the fact that we are targeting high quality players. It might be frustrating but we are going to get plenty of players rejecting us on the way to competing for top six - same happened with Citeh, same will happen with us. It's no where near the end of the window yet and we've already nabbed two players that by outside 'reputation' alone, we had no right to go for. Surely a bit of perspective is called for and we actually start to appreciate the business we have done so far?

I hope the arrival of a new striker will see Mayuka shipped out on loan somewhere. Really not convinced by this guy and don't think he is going to get the game time this season to improve dramatically. He definitely cannot play the lone striker role, and would probably be better served by keeping Lambert on at the same time, who can hold the ball up long enough for Mayuka to use his pace and actually make some incisive runs at goal. It's probably happened on a few more occasions, but the only times I can recall that happening was when he won the penalty vs. Villa (which Lambert converted), and when they both scored in the friendly vs. Besiktas the other week. Normally Lambert has been brought off and Mayuka put on and he has just charged around the pitch rather aimlessly. His inability to keep hold of the ball higher up the pitch also makes us very vulnerable when protecting a lead - see Man Utd home defeat. Seems like a good enough lad and I hope to be proven wrong, but not really sure he offers enough given our oft-stated European ambitions. His display today didn't really do anything to change my mind.

Liking the look of Maya & Lovren partnership, both calm and composed with good distribution. Chambers has looked a bit shaky on occasions but some of his passing has been fantastic, a few lovely balls weighted over the top and great cross for Lambert header at far post. Bad miss from Rodriguez, really needs to be putting those chances away for us this coming season. Ramirez has looked sharp with some lovely touches. Feel we need a speedy goal poacher in the team or midfielders busting more of a gut to get in the box, as quite a few balls coming into penalty area with no one in sight.

Played the last friendly didn't he? Need to keep competition healthy and make sure Kelvin and Gazzaniga are match-fit and ready if called upon. Boruc looked really sharp in the last run out and has always been Poch's first-choice GK, so would be very surprised if he didn't start vs. West Brom.

Favourite moment was his hat-trick away to Wolves. My ex-girlfriends step-dad was a Wolves season ticket holder (still is bless him) so I was actually sat with the Wolves fans. Crazy game, could have easily been 3-0 down before we scored and Wolves even contrived to miss a penalty. Every chance we had we seemed to score, and Saga's chipped effort was the best of the bunch. Hit it first time I believe, lovely dinked effort while running onto a through ball which seemed almost impossible to pull off. He had that wonderful scoring run when he first arrived on loan but then seemingly couldn't be arsed once we signed him permanently. Did score that all-important goal vs Sheffield Wed on last day of following season, mind, so I'll let him off.

True, plus a hefty acquittal bonus for the lad and we might just nab ourselves the deal of the transfer window!

Good shout. When there is an £8 million release clause in his contract, why not just meet it but blow it out of the water?

Something is happening at the stadium. My mate asked to borrow a spoon from Nicola's personal stash to eat his Muller crunch corner with. He's just been found washed up in the Solent.

Ha true, Fat Sam should watch his back.

Not embarrassing for me Glasgow, but for those associated with WHU. Do you really think having your transfer activity leaked by a snotty little brat, desperately craving social media fame, reflects well on their club? http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2257167/West-Ham-complete-Chamakh-signing-Jack-Sullivan-unhappy.html

Jack Sullivan really is an annoying little sh*t. What serious owner would let their sprog run around tweeting about their clubs transfer activity? It's embarrassing.

A thread based on a complete non-story? Yes, let's get back to that.

This.

Surely this is a short-term, 'small thinking' view? Yes, it would be great to get a few more bodies through the door before the season starts and integrate them into the team. But importantly, Poch and Cortese are confident in the squad that we already have. We need to aim for similar standard of player we have already signed in Lovren and Wanyama especially in AMC and striker positions (hence links with Banega, Osvaldo, Damiao,) and I'm more than happy to play the waiting game until those calibre of players became available for a fair rate on the transfer market. I do worry whether Cortese needs a bit more help in terms of new personnel coming in and assisting with transfers. But as adrian said above, it's about improving the overall quality not numbers. That is definitely a 'long-term' view, not a knee-jerk panicked reaction to a perceived recent lack of transfer activity.

Troll much?

Fair point. Haven't seen many and my view of him may well be clouded by his wonder goals. Attitude problems aside, 18 caps for France would suggest that he isn't all that bad though. Really awful news, RIP.

In all seriousness, it would be a great signing for Newcastle especially if on loan. The guy is a quality finisher, and even if convicted it's only a temporary move anyway. Seems like a win-win from their point of view, and as you say, Pardew is used to managing his fair amount of bad boys.

Ha, that was the tasteless joke I intended. Must be the way I tell them.

Clyne also one of the players I referred to as being sold dirt-cheap because of the financial predicaments of the selling club. Most Saints fans should be able to sympathize with Palace on that front as we have had to sell so many of our promising players. When you are talking about world-record transfer fees then no, I don't think that is enough at all. The benefit of having a higher development fee would be that it reflects the players relative value, and the selling club (especially, if under financial pressure to sell) wouldn't get quite so shafted by the bigger clubs. What is the incentive for academies if the F.A. just allow that to keep on happening? How is that good for the national game if some of the countries best academies feel it is pointless to carry on developing player as they aren't getting any meaningful rewards? Can you imagine if we were still in the Championship and Shaw and possibly JWP had left this transfer window? Luckily we have money behind us and a shrewd Chairman who sees the long-term benefits of our youth system, but lot's of clubs lower down the leagues aren't in that position.

You have a tendency to isolate a specific sentence or cluster of words in my post and ignore the broader point I was making. Also, pretty sure I acknowledged his development at Spurs in the following sentence. Feel free to embolden that as well. Do you really think having a mandatory 15% development fee would be asking too much? Are you saying that Spurs contributed + 85% to the player he is today? He is obviously not the same player he was when he left Saints, but he was also the best player of his age I have ever seen play (with the possible exception of Shaw, who has done it at PL level). An almost impossible thing to quantify, I realise, but our academy staff spent eight years developing him at Bath and then Staplewood. He has only been at Spurs for six, two of which he was poorly managed and was perceived as as jinx to the team. Fair play to Spurs for sorting a new position out for him, making best use of his assets, etc. But a lot of his development has been physical and mental - the talent has always been there. Do you not think that academies producing such players deserve a bit more protection from the F.A.? Or is it acceptable that they pour millions into developing players and the 'bigger' team that snap them up reap most, if not all, of the rewards?

Something is better than nothing, but pretty astonishing that we can produce one of top 3 players in world football and get a total of £9 million from the original transfer and sell-on. Meanwhile, Spurs will be rolling in + £80 million. I know a lot of this is circumstantial (our financial predicament, Bale's own development at Spurs, etc.) but it does seem a gross injustice. The FA solidarity agreements are a good policy in itself, but could definitely be topped up to at least the 15% mark. I'm sure quite a few clubs would agree on this (Palace, Crewe, etc.) and might dissuade big clubs from collecting all the talent from lower leagues and letting them rot in their reserves. At the very least, it would give the academies of those clubs prone to having their best young talent 'poached', something close to a fair reward for all their work developing the player. You can see why someone like Simon Jordan became so exasperated with players like Bostock, Moses, and even Clyne (after his time I know), sold at tribunal for next to nothing. It's also in the F.A.'s best interest as they would ensure that those academies producing the best players have another revenue stream coming in and something of a solid financial underpinning. Where would they be if clubs like Saints and Palace actually went into liquidation?