Ryan Bertrand

[badgerx16]

Would this mean Vokins or McQueen as #2 ? LB would certainly be our weakest position.

[SuperSAINT]

It's the Mail. I'll believe it when I see it.

 

True. Can’t help but think The Echo laid the groundwork for Berty potentially leaving.

 

Don’t see a top Prem side moving for him - so a prestige euro team would make sense.

[SuperSAINT]

Would this mean Vokins or McQueen as #2 ? LB would certainly be our weakest position.

 

Vokins, I think. The theory being we wouldn’t need to spend the money on a replacement - the cash can go towards another position *cough* centre-back *cough*.

[Saint-Armstrong]

Fair play, either of those would be a cracking move for him. Would rather he stayed here, but wouldn't begrudge him a move.

[saint1977]

Targett to be promoted is a bad move. Slow and can't defend in a back 4. Doesn't make sense to me as rakog wants to play 4222. Targett will get rinsed.

 

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Agree, would be a relegation struggle again before a ball was kicked. Can’t see RH allowing it to happen and think Targett will leave for the Championship where he excels. MLT did say that the club might look to let Berty leave recently which was surprising but perhaps for £15m - the very least they should seeking - and buy a new LB with Vokins as back up?

[saint1977]

Fair play, either of those would be a cracking move for him. Would rather he stayed here, but wouldn't begrudge him a move.

 

I agree as long as Targett isn’t first choice.

[Saint-Armstrong]

I agree as long as Targett isn’t first choice.

 

Amen to that!

[SuperSAINT]

Agree, would be a relegation struggle again before a ball was kicked. Can’t see RH allowing it to happen and think Targett will leave for the Championship where he excels. MLT did say that the club might look to let Berty leave recently which was surprising but perhaps for £15m - the very least they should seeking - and buy a new LB with Vokins as back up?

 

I thought Tiss said Targett wasn’t up to it?

[Saint Pete]

We need to be adding quality not selling one of our only quality players left. I don't care how much older Bertrand is than Targett, he is still a massive upgrade on him. Targett should be the one to be moved on, and if we are only likely to get around £10m for Bertrand, then we would likely get close to that for Targett anyway given that he is younger and has more contract left?

 

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[woodsaint]

Cant see it

[hypochondriac]

I'd be disappointed with this. Bertrand is probably our best player, certainly our best defender.

[shurlock]

Reckon he’s off - too good to be true to think that we’d bring in 4 or 5 players without major sales. With only two years left on his contact, his age and his marketability, he’s a perfect candidate.

[hypochondriac]

Reckon he’s off - too good to be true to think that we’d bring in 4 or 5 players without major sales. With only two years left on his contact, his age and his marketability, he’s a perfect candidate.

Probably. Big shame though because it massively weakens a position we've been fairly comfortable with for a while. It's dangerous to lose someone like him and could be something we look back on after a relegation wondering why we did something so foolish.

[shurlock]

Probably. Big shame though because it massively weakens a position we've been fairly comfortable with for a while. It's dangerous to lose someone like him and could be something we look back on after a relegation wondering why we did something so foolish.

 

Agree. He’s dropped off a bit but is still one of our best players.

[SNSUN]

Targett + Vokins and Valery + Ramsey as our full backs going in to next season would leave me very uneasy. Yes there’s the January window but we don’t want to be scrambling around at the bottom of the league come December due to a lack of foresight.

 

Still, in Hasenhuttl we trust I guess...

[qwertyell]

Unless there's a replacement lined up, it makes little sense. Even if Bertrand ran his contact down and left for free in two years, having an experienced, very good left back (in a team fighting relegation with an exceptionally weak defence) is worth more to us than £10m or so.

 

Targett isn't remotely close to his quality - and never will be.

 

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[CB Fry]

Feels like a very "on-brand" move for us.

 

Looking forward to the revelation that we only got £7m for him after all.

[paulwantsapint]

Are the rumours about Kieron Tierney the Celtic lb still there or did we miss out & is he already to go to a bigger club?

[skintsaint]

Think Arsenal were sniffing around him.

[beatlesaint]

Why is Vokins being mentioned as back up by so many ? Has Ralph even included him in a match day squad yet ?

Nobody knows if he’s the next Luke Shaw or the next Lee Todd

[Crab Lungs]

10 mil for a player of his calibre with 2 years remaining? Fkkin stupid if true

[DT]

With businesses and offices in London / family I'm not sure he'd be interested tbh. I'd give him an extra year on his contract and sell next year when Voskins is through.

 

Madrid is two and a half hours away. Never buy the geography thing with footballers moving. They're not bothered, and on a bad day Southampton to parts of London can almost take as long anyway

 

 

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[Charlie Wayman]

So we can't sell any of the out of favour expensive players out on loan so we have to resort to selling the only world class player we have to raise money to buy untested young players to follow The Plan?

 

You couldn't make it up so let's hope that is all the Wail did. I can't see how Bertie could run his extensive non-football business activities from Italy so doubt (or hope) he would not be interested but the very fact that this is in the gossip columns at all suggests the club are up to something.

 

Anybody who thinks thicko Targett would be an adequate permanent replacement needs to cut back on whatever it is they are sniffing.

[tajjuk]

Seems a bit silly all round to be honest.

 

It also makes zero sense to sell him to raise funds if we are only asking for £15 million but could get £10 million plus for Targett.

 

If we were selling him for £25 - 30 million I might more understand it.

[Doctoroncall]

Fair play, either of those would be a cracking move for him. Would rather he stayed here, but wouldn't begrudge him a move.

 

It shouldn’t happen if they can’t agree on at least the £15m fee. It weakens the defence too much where at least that amount of money is needed to be reinvested.

[Nordic Saint]

Unless there's a replacement lined up, it makes little sense. Even if Bertrand ran his contact down and left for free in two years, having an experienced, very good left back (in a team fighting relegation with an exceptionally weak defence) is worth more to us than £10m or so.

 

Targett isn't remotely close to his quality - and never will be.

 

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To be fair to the board and owners, he is one of the few saleable commodities they have left. They can't even give most of the players away.

[Saint Garrett]

We seem to be the only club that sells players at the market rates from about 10 years ago.

 

 

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[Dan Johnson]

I’d be gutted to see Berts leave, gutted.

 

He struggled with injuries last season but he’s consistently been one of our top three performers every season he’s been here and is one player who’s genuine quality is never questioned.

 

He’s a much better option than Targett in my opinion and he doesn’t seem to be the type of player whos performances would decline substantially with age.

 

I reckon we could get another 2/3 seasons out of him at least.

 

If a big English club comes in and pays us £20m+ then fair enough but otherwise cash in on Targett.

[Shropshire Saint]

Since when has the Daily Mail printed anything that is remotely true?

[SuperSAINT]

Since when has the Daily Mail printed anything that is remotely true?

 

Worth a discussion though. We know The Echo hinted that it’s a possibility Berty might go.

[Mr Saints]

Selling him for that price would be yet another shambolic decision from the powers that be. It would cost at least double to replace him with someone close to his quality, and if we don't replace him we're left with Matt Targett, which says it all.

[for_heaven's_Saint]

Don’t think we can afford to lose him this season. Better off selling Targett and bringing in/through the academy someone to play second fiddle to Bertrand this season, with a view to taking over next season if he’s good enough.

[beatlesaint]

Worth a discussion though. We know The Echo hinted that it’s a possibility Berty might go.

 

This is presumably where the Mail got hold of it.

[SuperSAINT]

This is presumably where the Mail got hold of it.

 

Spanish & Italian media will pick up on it from their own sources if there is any validity to it.

[VectisSaint]

No great surprise, RB doesn't seem to have been completely settled for a while, it may be that he has hinted he would be happy to move on. Bear in mind he also lost the captaincy to PEH. Targett is adequate, and we also have McQueen who should be back from injury soon, always thought he was better than Targett, but of course that was pre injury.

[Saint Garrett]

No great surprise, RB doesn't seem to have been completely settled for a while, it may be that he has hinted he would be happy to move on. Bear in mind he also lost the captaincy to PEH. Targett is adequate, and we also have McQueen who should be back from injury soon, always thought he was better than Targett, but of course that was pre injury.

 

McQueen is a million miles away from being a premier league player. And probably never will be.

 

Targett probably hasn’t got it in him either as he has no pace. If we sell Bertie we need to replace him with someone better than Targett IMO.

[harriesss]

Unpopular opinion this apparently, but since Hasenhuttl arrived I think Targett has actually performed better than Bertrand.

 

Bertrand hasn’t looked bothered for a couple of years now and doesn’t look up to the rigours of Hasenhuttl football so sell while we can and use the money elsewhere.

 

A consistent run of games would be good for Targett (look what it did for Valery) and if it’s not working bring in Vokins who looks a real talent.

 

 

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[Saint Pete]

Selling him for that price would be yet another shambolic decision from the powers that be. It would cost at least double to replace him with someone close to his quality, and if we don't replace him we're left with Matt Targett, which says it all.

 

It's the kind of muddled thinking that has become commonplace in the club over the last few seasons though. The "logic" is:-

 

- Top player coming towards age 30, need to "maximise his value" by selling before he gets any older.

- We have younger players in that position who haven't been given enough chances in first team yet. Need to give them more opportunity to come through by freeing up 1st choice place.

 

This rigid view ignores completely the relative qualities of the "ageing" player who the club want to sell vs the young players they want to bring through. And the impact this loss of quality will likely have on the first team and results. If we are serious about wanting to move up the table next season we need better as first choice than Targett, so we will likely end up having to move him on anyway at some point and replace. Makes far more sense for Targett to be sold at this point and there should be enough interest from championship teams or promoted clubs to get a fairly decent fee, close to that being talked about for Bertrand.

 

Hopefully the Mail story is garbage, but it shouldn't surprise anyone if it's not as this type of move is pretty typical of the kind of thing we've come to expect.

 

 

 

 

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[DT]

In the end it probably depends on whether he wants to go. And judging by his performances/general body language/the fact he lost the captaincy/he lost his place in the England team/other teams will certainly be interested/money I suspect he does. Still need to get at least 15 mill though otherwise it's madness.

[Faz]

It's the kind of muddled thinking that has become commonplace in the club over the last few seasons though. The "logic" is:-

 

- Top player coming towards age 30, need to "maximise his value" by selling before he gets any older.

- We have younger players in that position who haven't been given enough chances in first team yet. Need to give them more opportunity to come through by freeing up 1st choice place.

 

This rigid view ignores completely the relative qualities of the "ageing" player who the club want to sell vs the young players they want to bring through. And the impact this loss of quality will likely have on the first team and results. If we are serious about wanting to move up the table next season we need better as first choice than Targett, so we will likely end up having to move him on anyway at some point and replace. Makes far more sense for Targett to be sold at this point and there should be enough interest from championship teams or promoted clubs to get a fairly decent fee, close to that being talked about for Bertrand.

 

Hopefully the Mail story is garbage, but it shouldn't surprise anyone if it's not as this type of move is pretty typical of the kind of thing we've come to expect.

 

 

 

 

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So your theory is wrong if The Daily Mail is wrong?

[benjii]

As long as the money ends up in our account in Pounds Sterling, what's the problem?

[SKD]

Madrid is two and a half hours away. Never buy the geography thing with footballers moving. They're not bothered, and on a bad day Southampton to parts of London can almost take as long anyway

 

 

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It is, or at least was, a big thing for Ryan.

 

I’ll be amazed if he moves outside of commuting distance of London, however Madrid / Inter are massive clubs and possibly an opportunity at his age he feels like he couldn’t turn down.

 

Personally I think he’ll end up at Tottenham if they sale Rose. They were interested a few years back.

[Gis]

Unpopular opinion this apparently, but since Hasenhuttl arrived I think Targett has actually performed better than Bertrand.

 

Bertrand hasn’t looked bothered for a couple of years now and doesn’t look up to the rigours of Hasenhuttl football so sell while we can and use the money elsewhere.

 

A consistent run of games would be good for Targett (look what it did for Valery) and if it’s not working bring in Vokins who looks a real talent.

 

 

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Agree with this. Bertrand is a better player and can still perform at a higher level than Targett. But recently Ryan's performance levels have slipped away and he's looked really careless in some games last season.

 

I fully expect he would do a Dusan Tadic and come back to haunt us, but still think he needs that new challenge to be revitalised.

 

We need to keep that conveyor belt going.

[ErwinK1961]

If the options there, I’d sell both and bring in another LB.

 

Targett isn’t up to Prem standard. Bertrand hasn’t looked fussed for 2 years.

 

£25-30m for the pair would be a decent result and let Ralph being his own man in.

[VectisSaint]

McQueen is a million miles away from being a premier league player. And probably never will be.

 

Targett probably hasn’t got it in him either as he has no pace. If we sell Bertie we need to replace him with someone better than Targett IMO.

Really don't know what you think a premier league player should be, some people on here, you apparently included, seem to hve an idea that a premier league player is defined as someone who is better than any player currently playing in the premier league outside the top 2. Targett has shown often that he performs adequately in the Premier League. He may not be top PL quality but for a mid table team he can do a decent job. McQueen was certainly better (going forward) than Targett before his injury. Whether he can come back from that type of injury is a big question for sure.

[Whitey Grandad]

As long as the money ends up in our account in Pounds Sterling, what's the problem?

Because we are a football club and you can't play football without players.

 

If Bertrand goes for around £15m then who are we going to get of the same quality as a replacement?

[Chewy]

In the end it probably depends on whether he wants to go. And judging by his performances/general body language/the fact he lost the captaincy/he lost his place in the England team/other teams will certainly be interested/money I suspect he does. Still need to get at least 15 mill though otherwise it's madness.

 

Mostly this IMHO. It's not that he looks like he doesn't want to be here, just that he looks like he doesn't seem bothered whether he's here or not.

 

Some over-reactions on here; it was always going to take a good couple of years to sort this squad out given the contract lengths and un-saleability of some of our squad. Within that two years Bertrand would be included; there's no way he'd be signing an extension in 2 years time.

 

A half-arsed Bertrand is better than Targett IMO so I'd rather this happened next summer, but if the stars have aligned to mean it's happening now then so be it. Gives us a season to see if Targett can step up to be a regular, or if Vokins is as good as the hype (hype based on virtually no one having actually seen him play from what I can gather), or indeed if a fit McQueen is any good.

 

If not we need to replace with new, something we'd probably have to do next summer anyway. It'll mean we don't progress as quickly as some on here would like, but doesn't suddenly turn us from next seasons Ajax under a god-like Ralph into relegation fodder. The difference between Targett and the Bertrand of late isn't quite that vast ...

 

Alas, we don't have the Man City billions so sometimes have to take backward steps to move the project forward. Not ideal, but that's life as a Saints fan. That said, less than £15 million would seem cheap to me, even factoring in the additional @£10 million in wages he'd earn over the rest of his contract, something people seem to be forgetting.

 

Of course, it's the Daily Mail so could be utter rubbish anyway!

[suewhistle]

Just had a quick perusal of the Italian press and no mention I could find. Quoted price seems low for the English market but..

[tajjuk]

People saying Targett can step up, which I completely disagree with, should remember that most of the time he performed well in Bertrands absence he was playing as wing-back, not a conventional full back.

 

That position compensates for his lack of pace because there is a centre-back who can step out wide to cover, but as far as I can tell Ralph is planning a back 4, and I just can't see Targett being good enough in a back four, he just isn't quick enough to be a modern Premier League full back IMO.

[Cabrone]

Would rather he stayed but if he wants out and the club need the cash then so be it, price looks low though.