James Maddison

[doddisalegend]

Would be very happy but also pretty surprised if we finish above Leicester next season.

 

 

But their manager is ****e isn't he?

[ErwinK1961]

But their manager is ****e isn't he?

 

He won’t be their manager by the end of next season.

[corky morris]

The lad looks decent.

Leicester will need a Mahrez replacement so I can see them paying more in terms of salary.

He wont want to be relegated & we cant hide the fact that we finished 4th bottom last season.

I was always a little worried about how he will come back from the injury he has had & the PL is definitely a step up from the Champ.

But I was pleased we were trying to buy British again...…………………...

[Heisenberg]

He won’t be their manager by the end of next season.

 

I'm not so sure. Depends on the clubs ambitions

 

They have a very strong squad and probably 4-5 of the best players outside of the top 6 sides. I think even Pellegrino could get that squad into the top 8.

[Matthew Le God]

We've seemingly lost a £24m transfer battle with a team that was Champions of England 2 years ago. It is not a disaster... 2004-2009 was a footballing disaster. Perspective

[doddisalegend]

He won’t be their manager by the end of next season.

 

 

Which suggests they won't do very well next season then. They won't sack him if they are ripping up the league. So Leicester are going to have a poor season with a poor manager sack their manger and yet according to DT still do better than us....looking forward to next season already then

[verlaine1979]

But we both start next season in the same position, with no points. Weren't we above Leicester when Puel joined them? For mid-table clubs like Saints and Leicester there's very little between relegation battle and Europa League, i.e. West Ham, and Everton who consistently think they should be top 8 but are actually bottom half clubs.

 

I don't think there's much to choose between Saints and Leicester, they're similar sized cities with almost identical stadiums. It's up to Reed etc to sell the club to prospective players, i.e. training ground, ambition, heritage, 1st team opportunities, quality of squad, etc...

 

Leicester's only bonus is that they can say 3 years ago they won the league which they've never looked close to repeating. We could argue that we've got the better training facilities. We could both argue that we'd get the best of the player and develop him further.

 

They've got a better squad than us, better recent history, and probably pay their top players a significantly higher wage than we do. They also didn't just escape relegation by the skin of their teeth.

 

Sad though it is to say, we're not going to be flexing our transfer appeal over Leicester, Everton or anyone like that this summer. Our competition for players are Bournemouth, Brighton, Hudds and the promoted teams.

[angelman]

Agreed those non footballing considerations..... Like when Walcott joined us over Everton.

 

You can stop being a tool as well. Non-footballing considerations vary from player to player. Sometimes it is a deciding factor, sometimes they are an irrelevance.

 

But tell me, why do you think Saints are a better proposition than LCFC?

[bazza]

They've got a better squad than us, better recent history, and probably pay their top players a significantly higher wage than we do. They also didn't just escape relegation by the skin of their teeth.

 

Sad though it is to say, we're not going to be flexing our transfer appeal over Leicester, Everton or anyone like that this summer. Our competition for players are Bournemouth, Brighton, Hudds and the promoted teams.

 

^ This.

[ALWAYS_SFC]

But their manager is ****e isn't he?

 

Only when i suits the particular argument..

 

He is a decent manager not brilliant and not shi te just decent

[Badger]

Disappointing outcome, but not entirely unexpected.

 

Stop being a tool. There are other non-footballing considerations to take into account as well. For example, as Maddison was born in Coventry maybe he has all his friends and family in the area, and maybe that was/is a deciding factor.

 

This is the easy and more palatable explanation though isn't it? It may be exclusively down to location, but I wonder if that would have been the deciding factor or consideration if we'd had someone such as Koeman, or Pochetino during his time with us as we were seen then, in charge.

 

For a number of reasons we are not a particularly attractive proposition.

 

Not sure how this is the clubs fault. They offered Norwich the required amount of money so did Leicester.

 

It then comes down to the lads choice. Allegedly we have the more attractive manager to play for but Leicester are a club in a much better place than us right now and closer to his home territory. The only thing the club can do to swing it in their favour is offer massive wages to a 21 year old with one decent season under his belt.

 

Leicester with Puel are a better proposition than us.

 

Depressing isn't it?

 

 

Leicester showing up our transfer team as the rank amateurs they really are.

 

Reed has to go or we will never move forwards.

 

You'll probably get slated for that by some, who'll point out Maddison's decision isn't the club's fault etc, but it isn't just this potential deal is it ? Every transfer window since 2015 has seen a Les balls up of one description or another, either players or management.

[Dan Johnson]

You can stop being a tool as well. Non-footballing considerations vary from player to player. Sometimes it is a deciding factor, sometimes they are an irrelevance.

 

Stop talking common sense, posters on here don't debate about common sense, just hidden agendas, cloaks, daggers and pre-conceptions.

[SuperSAINT]

Sounds like the midlands won out over the sunny south.

 

Sky sources understand James Maddison has chosen to join Leicester City over Southampton and is set to have a medical with the Foxes.

 

The 21-year-old is understood to prefer a move back to his native Midlands area and be closer to his family home in Coventry, where he was born.

 

Maddison will undergo a medical and finalise personal terms at Leicester’s Belvoir Drive training ground today.

 

We reported yesterday that both Leicester and Southampton had agreed packages worth in the region of £22m with Norwich to sign the England U21.

[alpine_saint]

We've seemingly lost a £24m transfer battle with a team that was Champions of England 2 years ago. It is not a disaster... 2004-2009 was a footballing disaster. Perspective

 

Excuses, more like

[Wilf]

 

Redmond has shown that being good in division 2 doesn't translate to being good in the Premier league.

 

Redmond wasn't even that great in division 2, pretty much the same as he is for us

[saintsmike25]

Why would he want to join a team on the decline who were lucky to finish 17th, and go for a team who finished top ten and previously won the league.. dunno must be Les Reed's fault.

[Matthew Le God]

Excuses, more like

 

Can you list reasons why Southampton are a more attractive proposition than Leicester City? If we were losing transfer battles with Huddersfield, Bournemouth, Cardiff, Watford etc you might have a point, but Leicester won the league 2 years ago and have a bigger wage budget than us. Plus, Sky have even stated a part of Maddison's decision was due to geographical location.

[st alex]

They've got a better squad than us, better recent history, and probably pay their top players a significantly higher wage than we do. They also didn't just escape relegation by the skin of their teeth.

 

Sad though it is to say, we're not going to be flexing our transfer appeal over Leicester, Everton or anyone like that this summer. Our competition for players are Bournemouth, Brighton, Hudds and the promoted teams.

 

Think it's still possible to sell the club up to prospective players, we've had 1 poor season out of the last 4. Us having a slightly worse squad means that we give him a key, central role in the team rather than being a squad player.

 

Led to believe that we've got a top training ground. Done well in cup competitions the past couple of years and have recently had Europa League football. Think we have much better infrastructure and heritage than Bournemouth and Huddersfield, so should in theory be a much better proposition.

 

Looks like this one has gone down to him wanting to be near family in the end.

[Gorgiesaint]

Excuses, more like

 

So what are your expectations here?

 

We have apparently had a fee agreed with Norwich for the player, and he has chosen to go to club which finished well above us last season, has a league title & a season in the Champions League in the recent past and is seemingly in a more attractive place than us. So tell us how you would have got him to sign?

[davefizzy14]

To be honest I'm not overly fussed if we miss out on this particular player. I think the likes of Hesketh and Slattery should be a given a chance to stake a claim in the no 10 position.

Edited 18 June, 2018 by davefizzy14

[Cabbage_Face]

More chance of signing Billy Maddison. I will be shocked if we sign anyone at all this window.

[Saints foreva]

Glad we've missed out. £25m for a player who has had one decent season in the 2nd tier. Game has well and truly gone mad ffs.

[ErwinK1961]

Which suggests they won't do very well next season then. They won't sack him if they are ripping up the league. So Leicester are going to have a poor season with a poor manager sack their manger and yet according to DT still do better than us....looking forward to next season already then

 

Not necessarily - there have been rumours since the end of last season that they are eyeing up a replacement for him, plus their fans weren't happy. If they aren't tearing trees up in the first 5-10 games, I reckon he will go. Still leaves plenty of time for them to have a good season.

 

DT is right - they will have a better season than us.

[verlaine1979]

Think it's still possible to sell the club up to prospective players, we've had 1 poor season out of the last 4. Us having a slightly worse squad means that we give him a key, central role in the team rather than being a squad player.

 

Led to believe that we've got a top training ground. Done well in cup competitions the past couple of years and have recently had Europa League football. Think we have much better infrastructure and heritage than Bournemouth and Huddersfield, so should in theory be a much better proposition.

 

Looks like this one has gone down to him wanting to be near family in the end.

 

I'm not debating whether we're more attractive than Bournemouth and Huddersfield (I said they're our competition, but I'd expect us to win out against them most of the time if we want the same player). We're simply not a more appealing club than Leicester on any current criteria - we're less successful, we have a weaker squad, we struggled with relegation, we pay less, and I'm not sure our training facilities are really any better than the majority of clubs in the PL outside the recently promoted ones (and in fact they look quite dinky when compared to the very best).

 

As for the whole 'selling a project' thing - it's just spin. Everyone talks about it and nobody takes a word of it seriously. Really all it possibly amounts to is a player weighing up a) how much are the club going to pay me and b) how likely is it that their sporting or financial fortunes will decline while I'm there. On neither of those counts do we score well at the moment.

[Pamplemousse]

It's not a position we need to improve in anyway, unless we're expecting departures.

 

I want a CB first and foremost.

[Nolan]

It's not a position we need to improve in anyway, unless we're expecting departures.

 

I want a CB first and foremost.

We don't need someone who can provide assists and score goals?

[angelman]

Excuses, more like

 

OK Alpine, I'll ask you what I asked Glasgow. Why are SFC a more attractive proposition than LCFC?

[Lallana's Left Peg]

Whether or not you think we need him, that's now Maddison, Walcott and Promes our esteemed recruitment team have failed to get over the line in the last year. Their only deal since last summer was to sign someone for £20m that no-one else wanted and couldn't even get in our matchday squad by the end of the season. This is after selling our best player for £65m.

 

Either they aren't doing something right, or they are having their hands tied behind their back by others. Either way, its not too clever.

[Bit of a plonker]

Shame to miss out, but re-assuring that we are putting good bids in for decent players

[Heisenberg]

Lets just add JM to the long list of Les Reed F**K ups and move on.

 

Not sure why we expect any different with these morons still running the show.

 

same s**t different day

[SuperSAINT]

We're confident & relaxed.

 

We planned for Maddison to reject us today 2 years ago.

[Batman]

Lets just add JM to the long list of Les Reed F**K ups and move on.

 

Not sure why we expect any different with these morons still running the show.

 

same s**t different day

 

Toby all over again... surprised we are not taking norwich to court

[jasoneuelllfanclub]

Whether or not you think we need him, that's now Maddison, Walcott and Promes our esteemed recruitment team have failed to get over the line in the last year. Their only deal since last summer was to sign someone for £20m that no-one else wanted and couldn't even get in our matchday squad by the end of the season. This is after selling our best player for £65m.

 

Either they aren't doing something right, or they are having their hands tied behind their back by others. Either way, its not too clever.

Can't disagree with any of this.

 

Sent from my SM-A320FL using Tapatalk

[Batman]

Whether or not you think we need him, that's now Maddison, Walcott and Promes our esteemed recruitment team have failed to get over the line in the last year. Their only deal since last summer was to sign someone for £20m that no-one else wanted and couldn't even get in our matchday squad by the end of the season. This is after selling our best player for £65m.

 

Either they aren't doing something right, or they are having their hands tied behind their back by others. Either way, its not too clever.

 

fair points

[thorpie the sinner]

We all love playing football manager/Chairman, not sure it's as easy as all that to make transfers happen these day! Les is well thought of at club and has been at the helm of a lot of good things that happened in recent years! Not saying the board couldn't do better, last years business not good at all, but still think we are an attractive option and this years business should be judged at end of window. Keep an open mind as ever

[East Kent Saint]

IMO it's all down to money , Saints still reluctant to offer enough , probably worried after blowing 19M on Carrillo !!

[Matthew Le God]

IMO it's all down to money , Saints still reluctant to offer enough , probably worried after blowing 19M on Carrillo !!

 

The reports state Saints were offering the same as Leicester, the player was left with the decision on which to pick. So money was not the issue.

[Wade Garrett]

The reports state Saints were offering the same as Leicester, the player was left with the decision on which to pick. So money was not the issue.

 

Wages might have been.

[Saint86]

Toby all over again... surprised we are not taking norwich to court

 

Sorry what, have I missed something?

 

With Toby we had a legal agreement to sign the player following his loan deal, he was also spent the summer texting and chatting to the manager... Our board then elected to not close the deal and allow someone else to come in and offer the guy more money, also driving a wedge between the club and the most successful manager we've had since LM....

 

Did we have an agreement in place with Norwich? Have we allowed someone to come in an outbid us on wages again?

 

If so I really am speechless. Obviously it was gross negligence in the case of Toby and should have seen Reed fired. If it has happened again he simply has to go.

[Matthew Le God]

Wages might have been.

 

We have a pretty huge wage budget, I think it is more likely he viewed Leicester as having better players and moving back to an area of the country he likes.

 

Last accounts 2016/17

- Leicester wage bill £112.6m

- Saints wage bill £112.5m

 

So extremely similar.

[Saint86]

IMO it's all down to money , Saints still reluctant to offer enough , probably worried after blowing 19M on Carrillo !!

 

No. We got Carillo because we missed every other target by not paying market value, and then panicked and overpaid for what was left... For a manager we sacked a couple of weeks later.

 

Its okay though, because none of that is the board's fault either

[Saint Garrett]

We have a pretty huge wage budget, I think it is more likely he viewed Leicester as having better players and moving back to an area of the country he likes.

 

Last accounts 2016/17

- Leicester wage bill £112.6m

- Saints wage bill £112.5m

 

So extremely similar.

 

Despite those numbers being 2 years old...plus they splashed a bit after they won the league. They'll spend more on wages than us I reckon...isn't Vardy on upwards of £120k now?

[sadoldgit]

Sorry what, have I missed something?

 

With Toby we had a legal agreement to sign the player following his loan deal, he was also spent the summer texting and chatting to the manager... Our board then elected to not close the deal and allow someone else to come in and offer the guy more money, also driving a wedge between the club and the most successful manager we've had since LM....

 

Did we have an agreement in place with Norwich? Have we allowed someone to come in an outbid us on wages again?

 

If so I really am speechless. Obviously it was gross negligence in the case of Toby and should have seen Reed fired. If it has happened again he simply has to go.

 

I believe that we had an option to buy rather than a legal agreement for him to come here permanently. He chose (surprise, surprise) to go to Spurs instead. Norwich apparently accepted bids from both ourselves and Leicester for the player and it would seem that, for whatever reason, he would rather go to Leicester. Two players making choices based on their preference, but hey, lets just use their decisions to bash the club eh? Its a wonder anyone ever signs for us, isnt it?

[SuperSAINT]

Despite those numbers being 2 years old...plus they splashed a bit after they won the league. They'll spend more on wages than us I reckon...isn't Vardy on upwards of £120k now?

 

Very likely. Didn't he get a bumper deal after the Arsenal deal fell through?

[red&white56]

Lets just add JM to the long list of Les Reed F**K ups and move on.

 

Not sure why we expect any different with these morons still running the show.

 

same s**t different day[/QUOTE]

 

Same sh*t, different day from you as well.

[ALWAYS_SFC]

He chose Leicester over us for his own reasons... dry your tears and get over it

[doddisalegend]

Whether or not you think we need him' date=' [b']that's now Maddison, Walcott and Promes our esteemed recruitment team have failed to get over the line in the last year[/b]. Their only deal since last summer was to sign someone for £20m that no-one else wanted and couldn't even get in our matchday squad by the end of the season. This is after selling our best player for £65m.

 

Either they aren't doing something right, or they are having their hands tied behind their back by others. Either way, its not too clever.

 

Hardly a surprise given the clubs demise recently going from best of the rest to scrapping relegation, by the skin of our teeth, is going to impact our attractiveness to potential signings. What last January proved was its a lot harder to sign quality mid season when you are club clearly struggling good players would rather go elsewhere.

 

I have no problem with the club trying to sign good players and failing to get it over the line, better that, than signing dross just for the sake of signing someone.

 

The bigger problem I have with our recent transfer history, is not the club trying and failing to sign a good player, but the club not replacing players sold with like for like replacements. Not replacing Pelle, Mane, VVD, Fonte or Victor with a suitable replacement in the same window has seen the spine of the team seriously degraded. If you sell a CB in January buy another ****ing CB in January, don't sell until you have your replacement lined up and make sure the replacement is a good substitute for the departing player ie don't replace a commanding experienced CB with a young lad.

 

There is plenty wrong with our recruitment recently but I don't class trying to sign good players and sometimes failing as one of those things

[SuperSAINT]

Hardly a surprise given the clubs demise recently going from best of the rest to scrapping relegation, by the skin of our teeth, is going to impact our attractiveness to potential signings. What last January proved was its a lot harder to sign quality mid season when you are club clearly struggling good players would rather go elsewhere.

 

I have no problem with the club trying to sign good players and failing to get it over the line, better that, than signing dross just for the sake of signing someone.

 

The bigger problem I have with our recent transfer history, is not the club trying and failing to sign a good player, but the club not replacing players sold with like for like replacements. Not replacing Pelle, Mane, VVD, Fonte or Victor with a suitable replacement in the same window has seen the spine of the team seriously degraded. If you sell a CB in January buy another ****ing CB in January, don't sell until you have your replacement lined up and make sure the replacement is a good substitute for the departing player ie don't replace a commanding experienced CB with a young lad.

 

There is plenty wrong with our recruitment recently but I don't class trying to sign good players and sometimes failing as one of those things

 

Can't disagree with that.

[Micky]

Fv ck me. Is there no life after James bloody Maddison, is the end of the world neigh, are there no other attacking midfielders out there. Only on Saintsweb could we turn a minor irritation into a major drama.

 

We lost out on deal to Leicester City predominantly because the player wanted to be closer to home. Big deal - move on.

[Cabbage_Face]

Never rated him anyway.