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Davide Astori Southampton target?


Pilchards

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For me he's a centre-back who has managed to play well enough to get caps for a very good national team despite playing for an unfashionable club,

 

woah there. He's had 2 friendly call ups, one as an unused sub and then an early sub on when Chiellini got injured. Still managed to get himself sent off all the same. We need to careful on 'international appearances" when his club are asking for 10 million £. Still reckon we can get a lot better for far less.

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....it has nothing to do with 'net spend'. It has everything to do with living within appropriate means - something we did, we broke even through a sensible wage and transfer policy. We DID NOT have other sources of additional cash and were not prepared to borrow more... sensible polocy that most now see as the RIGHT way to run a club.

 

...HOW we spent the money we did and who on is another matter for which those in charge are accountable for their mistakes, but you can not fault a policy that should be the the enforced financial model that all clubs adhere to.

 

Right now, my question to Mr Cortese is where this cash is coming from and how is the club in a position to consider spending another 10 mil or so (if these rumours are true) - and what provsion is in place for ensuring we can cope with existing liabilities should we be relegated - I an reasonably confident that we DO have an appropriate contingency for relegation, simply by doing the PP maths, but it would be nice to know for sure.

 

 

I was told not to go there so I won't.

 

You'll just have to trust that Mr Cortese knows what he's doing because there is no way he is going to tell you or anyone and we won't know anything until we see the accounts which we won't see for a while yet.

 

If we do spend another £15 million which is being touted I'm sure there will be plenty of accusations of us 'doing a portsmouth', if we don't spend then there will be those critical of that. Personally I think our spending has been sensible, we seem to be signing young hungry players, who's transfer fee will be higher but wages will be on lower than established older players and be more likely have a decent sell on value if we get relegated. I think Astori fits into this category.

 

woah there. He's had 2 friendly call ups, one as an unused sub and then an early sub on when Chiellini got injured. Still managed to get himself sent off all the same. We need to careful on 'international appearances" when his club are asking for 10 million £. Still reckon we can get a lot better for far less.

 

It's Euros not pounds so about £8 million, and considering the club he plays for any international cap for Italy is good going. Who are your other options because I think he's better than the likes of Dawson, Davies and Dann who we have been linked with.

Edited by tajjuk
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I was told not to go there so I won't.

 

You'll just have to trust that Mr Cortese knows what he's doing because there is no way he is going to tell you or anyone and we won't know anything until we see the accounts which we won't see for a while yet.

 

If we do spend another £15 million which is being touted I'm sure there will be plenty of accusations of us 'doing a portsmouth', if we don't spend then there will be those critical of that. Personally I think our spending has been sensible, we seem to be signing young hungry players, who's transfer fee will be higher but wages will be on lower than established older players and be more likely have a decent sell on value if we get relegated. I think Astori fits into this category.

 

 

 

It's Euros not pounds so about £8 million, and considering the club he plays for any international cap for Italy is good going. Who are your other options because I think he's better than the likes of Dawson, Davies and Dann who we have been linked with.

 

Not quite sure why some are not happy to discuss the past when its very relevent to the present... Most fans want that elusive cake that can be eaten, yet magically keeps growing.... and dont want to think about how or who is paying for the ambition. I too trust Cortese. I also believe the policy of investing in younger players is the right way to go especially as there is a built in safeguard of at least retaining value. But we have spent 27mil already and another 15mil would take that to over 40 mil - now spread that out over 3-4 years and its affordable - but what add to that every year and it becomes an area of concern.... my guess would be invest heaviliy now to maintain prem status but in players who could be sold for good money if necessary, whilst we wait for the the fruits of the academy to realise their full potential... not a bad strategy if we know for sure that the kids will stay for a few years and that there are enough of them to negate the need to spend another 15-20 mil each seasons over the next few seasons...

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Not quite sure why some are not happy to discuss the past when its very relevent to the present... Most fans want that elusive cake that can be eaten' date=' yet magically keeps growing.... and dont want to think about how or who is paying for the ambition. I too trust Cortese. I also believe the policy of investing in younger players is the right way to go especially as there is a built in safeguard of at least retaining value. But we have spent 27mil already and another 15mil would take that to over 40 mil - now spread that out over 3-4 years and its affordable - but what add to that every year and it becomes an area of concern.... my guess would be invest heaviliy now to maintain prem status but in players who could be sold for good money if necessary, whilst we wait for the the fruits of the academy to realise their full potential... not a bad strategy if we know for sure that the kids will stay for a few years and that there are enough of them to negate the need to spend another 15-20 mil each seasons over the next few seasons...[/quote']

 

I think the long term aim is to have half the first team as homegrown players. Presently we are a little weak in a couple of areas, we don't have much choice but to strengthen. As you say though, we're not going to go out and sign older players with no resale value. As long as we stick to that policy, it's not too much of a risk.

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I think the long term aim is to have half the first team as homegrown players. Presently we are a little weak in a couple of areas, we don't have much choice but to strengthen. As you say though, we're not going to go out and sign older players with no resale value. As long as we stick to that policy, it's not too much of a risk.

 

Problem is though wade that should we get relegated, its often the kids that go first, because they can get huge wage increases, leaving thsoe slightly older on bigger wages/longer contracts behind - think we are better now, as the expensives signings have been under 25s, but there is still a risk that the model only works if we can hang on to the best kids. Having said that, signing international quality players is a very positive sign to the younger generation so can help I guess in seeking to keep hold of these kids.

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Not quite sure why some are not happy to discuss the past when its very relevent to the present... Most fans want that elusive cake that can be eaten' date=' yet magically keeps growing.... and dont want to think about how or who is paying for the ambition. I too trust Cortese. I also believe the policy of investing in younger players is the right way to go especially as there is a built in safeguard of at least retaining value. But we have spent 27mil already and another 15mil would take that to over 40 mil - now spread that out over 3-4 years and its affordable - but what add to that every year and it becomes an area of concern.... my guess would be invest heaviliy now to maintain prem status but in players who could be sold for good money if necessary, whilst we wait for the the fruits of the academy to realise their full potential... not a bad strategy if we know for sure that the kids will stay for a few years and that there are enough of them to negate the need to spend another 15-20 mil each seasons over the next few seasons...[/quote']

 

 

Seems about right, combine the progress of the current academy youngsters and bought youngsters like Ramirez and the team should improve without much extra investment needed and we could have the core of decent young team for the next few years, add in more academy players coming in and then you can add to the squad with odd £15 million signing. Any big clubs that come fishing for a youngster and he wants to go Cortese plays hardball and gets a decent fee.

 

Thing is £40 million looks a lot to an average Saints fan as we are used to not spending in the prem years, but with the TV money so high lots of mid table clubs are spending high. I was talking to someone the other day about O'Neill, and they said he never had much funds to work with, but in 4 years at Villa he spent £120 million with only £35 million fees. Wes Ham spent £20 million this year, Sunderland £25 million,. A lot of clubs have been spending around the £20 million mark, we just were further behind in the quality of our squad.

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Suggestions from an Italian website (no idea how credible it is) that he has agreed terms with us: http://www.tuttomercatoweb.com/?action=read&id=411959

 

Although long gone are the days that agreeing terms always meant a transfer is imminent, at least should ours be the offer accepted by the player and club we know terms won't be a problem.

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cue another 50+ page transfer thread if this drags on :lol:

 

possibly - personal terms may still wreck it or other clubs coming in.... and it will all be someone at Saints fault if as a result it does not happen.... whilst an exiting signing it true, Fonte and Yoshida have become pretty settled right now and a new face in the back pairing could take a while to bed in.

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Suggestions from an Italian website (no idea how credible it is) that he has agreed terms with us: http://www.tuttomercatoweb.com/?action=read&id=411959

 

.

 

Went on to that site and it lead to this :

Hoffenham have signed 3 young players: the midfielder Zach Pfeffer (17) from Philadelphia Union, the Brazilian Guilherme Biteco (18) and Junior Ponce (18).

 

 

Imagine having that name read out in the teamsheet, or on the back of a shirt.

 

(no idea how the smileys appeared there, I didn't knowingly type the bastards !

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Don't even joke! Christ, that would be awful.

 

But to be honest, I reckon we'll have a decent 2nd half and be more comfortable than people anticipate.

 

 

just need a couple of good wins and to stop dropping points due to ridiculous keeper errors. A lot of tough matches though, we'll have to win a couple away.

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It seems a no win situation for NC and NA. Don't buy and get accused of a lack of ambition and investment. Do buy and get accused of irresponsible spending in case we go down. If we had Harry in charge then I would be worrying about any signings but I've got faith in the management we have. QPR have signed Tal Ben Haim the geriatric mercenary and we have got a young, talented centre back. Know which I prefer.

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Uh-oh...

 

@tancredipalmeri: Re Southampton-Astori: the player has reached an agreement with the club,that now is working to pay less than the 10m € asked by Cagliari

 

Seems like the same approach we had for Gaston, wasted a fair bit of time and caved at the end. I'm not sure we have the luxury of time on this one. Hopefully we can come to a quick agreement, but I won't hold my breath.

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Which one of our current first choice centre backs would people drop for this lad? Pretty harsh on either of them to be honest.

 

Immediately, neither.

 

But I think he'd probably replace Yoshida when the opportunity arose. I think Fonte is a massive part of the spine, and has been for the last 3 years - obviously he's captain as well. So if any of the CB's were to be dropped, Yoshida is probably the first one.

 

Harsh, I agree - which Is why I don't think he'll walk into the team straight away. (if we get him, obviously)

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Which one of our current first choice centre backs would people drop for this lad? Pretty harsh on either of them to be honest.

 

Neither to begin with. Astori should have to wait his chance and if he does well then it should be up to the other CB's to fight for their place back.

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Which one of our current first choice centre backs would people drop for this lad? Pretty harsh on either of them to be honest.

 

Hard to say really, since Fonte & Yoshida started gelling as a partnership we've gone from being the worst defence in the PL over the first 10 games to being amongst the best in the last 10 games even with awful error prone goalkeepers behind them.

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