Toon Saint

Agreed, think it will be tied up within next couple of days, possibly by tomorrow evening. News of agent flying over certainly bodes well. Andrew Halford ay? I should really stop following the guy but it's amusing to watch how someone can be so consistently wrong about everything Saints-related.

Back on topic, Sunday Times journalist tweeting that Napoli will sign both Gomez and Damiao this week: @JNorthcroft: Cavani expected at PSG this week, Napoli to sign Mario Gomez and Damiao. Spurs gave up on Damiao while ago but that will disappoint Soton EDIT: Correction, not this week but that are to sign both.

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Yeah true, but they've not got close to spending that in last 4-5 years. Moyes was always forced to be creative with finances (not in the offshore account called 'Rosie' sense) to bring new players in. I'd definitely be surprised if they brought Wanyama in before shipping Fellaini out. Definitely could not see those two in the same midfield.

Close to spending £5m of that on Kone. New TV deal might free up some more money for them, but can't see Kenwright (tight wad) parting with £12m + agent fees before selling.

Hardly fills me with dread as it will take Everton weeks to scramble together the pennies for this deal, unless of course, they are close to selling Fellaini/Baines. Not sure why the headlines reads 'Saints interest cools'. Nothing in the body of the article to suggest this, and all the stuff on the OS suggests we are very much in the hunt.

Actually lol'd. Agree that Banega & Wanyama could play in same midfield, but with the sums being bandied around for Damiao I can't see us signing both anymore. Would be looking at close to £50m spent if we got all three (Banega, Wanyama, Damiao) + Lovren. Competition for AMC role is reasonable (Ramirez, Lallana, Davis) so can only see Banega coming in if interest in Ramirez materializes and Cortese decides to/wants to offload him, or of course, if the Wanyama deal goes tits up. Both of those possibilities looking quite unlikely at the moment.

Yep, agree with both of these comments. All seems carefully stage-managed by the Don with Poch's press conference on Thursday as well as the OS update yesterday. We've always been so coy about transfer targets so to explicitly state not only who we are interested in, but also to repeat the line about finalizing/announcing transfers on our own terms suggests that something is in the pipeline. Deliberate PR move to showcase our seriousness, ambitions, pulling power etc, etc..... Can't see Poch coming out with such statements unless they were confident of pulling at least 1/2 of these transfers off.

Nicko saying 'he knows where he wants to go' suggests a move away. If it does end up being Cardiff then Joe Ledley will have a lot to answer for.

Because he is contractually obliged to until he is sold.

One tweet missed out from this conversation: Alan Nixon ‏@reluctantnicko Protected account 5h @MarkReeves999 He knows where he wants to go. Based on ITK sources on here, sounds like this deal is almost sewn up. Happy days.

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PM would be dreamy for me, also.

It's happening...

I noticed that the press have largely replaced the negative adjective "struggling" from last season, with the more positive "ambitious" to describe us now. Oh yeah!

I'm not sure the fact that he is African, or more specifically Kenyan, has anything to do with this. There have been no direct quotes from Wanyama about the (possible) transfer yet, so let's not tarnish him based on the machinations of his agent. Neil Lennon has repeatedly stated that he has no problems with the player, only his representatives, so I don't see him being a problem if we do indeed sign him. The Cork-Morgan axis has obviously been very successful for us, but if we have European aspirations or are targeting a decent cup-run, then we will need to rotate every position, not just CM. I see no reason why all three can't play in the same team together, if we are setting up more defensively away from home for instance in a 4-5-1 (being only a slight variation on the 4-3-3 we play anyway). I'm sure Morgan and Wanyama, both being able to play the box-to-box role, can be pushed further forward to provide more goal threat. Wanyama can even play CB, and Cork at RB for goodness sake. I don't know why his signing has to be construed as a negative, when his strength, versatility, pace will give us a lot more options - think of how Yaya Toure is often moved around in-game to change the dynamic of Citeh's play. If Cork/Morgan/Wanyama shared 25-30 games each between them, and we perform well enough in the league and in cups, I really can't envisage there being an issue.

Not sure whether this has been posted previously, but the following translation gives a (tiny) bit of insight into the ongoing Wyscout meeting in Barcelona, for which both Saints and Internacional have representatives present. Doesn't mention Saints but suggests that Internacional are actively fielding interest in Damiao. Bad news is with the sales of Fred and Rodrigo Moledo (total of 20m euros) they aren't under any pressure to sell: Jorge Macedo Junior, head of the lower divisions of the Internacional de Porto Alegre, is the Brazilian club representative in the Forum of Barcelona Wyscout. As an authoritative voice on the gaucho club market, spoke exclusively to TMW on current names: Leandro Damiao, Júlio Baptista and Saviola: "When selling to Fred and Rodrigo Moledo Shakhtar Metalist International has balanced the financial situation and we are awaiting the best deal by Leandro Damiao. There have been many surveys and is president Giovanni Luigi, who maintains all talks. " Is Napoli has asked Damiao? "I am not aware, the reference that I have is that on the last day of last trading session Tottenham submitted a bid that did not accept International" http://www.todomercadoweb.es/mercado-futbolistico/exclusiva-tmw-wyscout-jorge-macedo-internacional-no-habra-acuerdo-por-baptista-por-damiao-solo-interes-del-tottenham-49768

EDIT: Double post, see below:

Good luck. The guy usually rambles on to no end.

Hardly the same is it? Issuing instructions to a group of players he works together with every day, or conversing with a group of journalists (many he is probably not familiar with) all eager for a story.

Good stuff. Probably not a bad idea to publicly re-state our 'ambitions' in transfer market if Wanyama is wavering. Interesting quote about the club 'managing' information about good players as well as the 'timing' of the deals - perhaps a sly nod to Wanyama's sh*t stirring agents.

Both sets of stats are right. His overall goalscoring record is massively skewed by his goals in Campeonato Gaúcho, which is essentially, a regional league. He's bagged 40 in 52 games. Internacional have won the thing 42 times as well.

Not getting my hopes up, but given that Spurs are the only club in England to be credited with interest it's hardly inconceivable that we might sign him. Don't expect wages to be much of an issue, but just whether the third-party nonsense over in Brazil will try Nicola's patience too much. The real fear is that we are becoming a stalking-horse for agents to smoke out interest from bigger clubs. As frustrating as this can be it's going to be a phase that we will have to put up. Once we've landed a few more of these supposedly 'unrealistic' targets than hopefully the press will take us a bit more seriously, and in turn, we won't get d*cked around by agents quite as much.

I know he is from Burnley, but I never expect that accent to tumble of out his mouth when he speaks. Voice/face mismatch. Maybe its the Spanish surname playing tricks on me. Ta for the link, much obliged.

Haha brilliant! This guy defies belief. Just noticed him trolling @Jayrodfan2 - the equivalent of an intellectual sparring-match between plankton and a potato. A fountain of utter drivel.