Jump to content

The one that got away thread

TWar

By TWar
in The Saints

 Share

Recommended Posts

TWar

TWar

Posted
Posted

With the recent revelation that Leeds are going to be in a legal battle with RB Leipzig in order to get out of signing Augustin:

I thought it might be interesting to have a look at some of the big transfers which didn't quite make it across the line in the last couple of years and see what they are up to nowadays. The ones that come to mind for me are:

Quincy Promes: Was very poor at Seville with 2 goals and 3 assists in 33 games but seems to be turning things around at Ajax with much more impressive numbers, however, obviously at a significantly lower quality league

Ademola Lookman: Has been dreadful for Leipzig with 0 goals in 12 games and all reports indicate that they are desperate to offload

Theo Walcott: Everton fans seem to absolutely hate the guy, and to be honest he has looked pretty dreadful every time I have seen him play. 9 goals and 7 assists in 72 games isn't great either to be honest.

James Maddison: A bit of a stretch this one as we were not linked at all until the week he signed for Leicester, so likely the link was just to hurry Leicester up with the signing, still great player

Ryan Sessegnon: Signed for tottenham, has barely played, held out the team by Lamela and Lucas Moura who, while are alright players, one would expect him to be competing with given his 40m price tag.

 

The message from all this I suppose is to the fans that think "oh just chuck another few million at them, get it over the line", the ability to know a players value and not spend over it is as important as the ability to spot a bargain. We have learned this lesson the hard way in the past! Remember this when some signings this summer inevitably don't come off.

Colinjb

Colinjb

Posted
Posted (edited)

It was my understanding with James Maddison that we had agreed terms for him, had offered a contract and he was considering us. Leicester however, recent Premier League Champions and a move closer to his Coventry home made the decision a no-brainer for him.

Edited by Colinjb
Wurzel

Wurzel

Posted
Posted

Going back a bit further didn't we pull out of signing both Drogba and Coutinho ?  Think they'd have turned out ok.

Also going back 20 years were the Oliver Bierhoff rumours genuine or just fan speculation that found it's way into the press?

TWar

TWar

Posted
  • Author
Posted
29 minutes ago, Wurzel said:

Going back a bit further didn't we pull out of signing both Drogba and Coutinho ?  Think they'd have turned out ok.

Also going back 20 years were the Oliver Bierhoff rumours genuine or just fan speculation that found it's way into the press?

I remember the Coutinho rumour, was never sure how much truth was in it. Seemed like agent talk.

danjosaint

danjosaint

Posted
Posted

The Coutinho rumour was true, we went out to look at him at i think espanyol but we ended coming back with Poch,  Drogba was true as mentioned by Strachan that he wasnt allowed by Lowe to buy him instead they bought Delgado, also with Maddison i beleive he was down here already to sign

Badger

Badger

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Wurzel said:

Going back a bit further didn't we pull out of signing both Drogba and Coutinho ?  Think they'd have turned out ok.

Also going back 20 years were the Oliver Bierhoff rumours genuine or just fan speculation that found it's way into the press?

I think there was some truth in the Bierhoff rumours as I recall Rupert Lowe acknowledging that we had held discussion with his representatives at one point but due to age and wages we didn't pursue it.

Badger

Badger

Posted
Posted

Two ways of interpreting the original story about Augustin, and Leeds.

Did we 'dodge a bullet' by:

Not going for Augustin ?

Not allowing Adams to go there on  promise of Leeds signing him if they were promoted ?

Possibly both.

John Boy Saint

John Boy Saint

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Wurzel said:

Also going back 20 years were the Oliver Bierhoff rumours genuine or just fan speculation that found it's way into the press?

Pretty certain that was nailed on, new stadium we suddenly looked like we had money Bierhoff would have been the marquee signing (he was  one of German Footballs pin up boys) to say “hey look out everyone, shiny stadium and big Bollocks with it on the pitch”. Trouble is he wanted big money wages and Lowe being rightly sensible and cautious 33year old player on that kind of money no way. 
So we got Rory Delap and Augustin Delgado probably on wages combined adding up to what Bierhoff wanted.

Badger

Badger

Posted
Posted

Don't forget the winger Piper , from Leicester I think.

WGS pursued him but he chose Sunderland instead. Probably played less than half a season before injury ended his career.

(Await someone to provide 'butterfly theory' that this doesn't mean he'd have had the same injury with us and could have become a world beater if he'd come to Saints).

Depressed of Shirley

Depressed of Shirley

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, John Boy Saint said:

Pretty certain that was nailed on, new stadium we suddenly looked like we had money Bierhoff would have been the marquee signing (he was  one of German Footballs pin up boys) to say “hey look out everyone, shiny stadium and big Bollocks with it on the pitch”. Trouble is he wanted big money wages and Lowe being rightly sensible and cautious 33year old player on that kind of money no way. 
So we got Rory Delap and Augustin Delgado probably on wages combined adding up to what Bierhoff wanted.

To be fair, that doesn't sound like a good deal now, seeing as one of those was always injured, and the other was just not a very good footballer.

TWar

TWar

Posted
  • Author
Posted
45 minutes ago, Badger said:

Two ways of interpreting the original story about Augustin, and Leeds.

Did we 'dodge a bullet' by:

Not going for Augustin ?

Not allowing Adams to go there on  promise of Leeds signing him if they were promoted ?

Possibly both.

A good point, but Adams may have done a lot better in the championship than Augustin based off his excellent season down there with Birmingham. Also sounds like Augustin has major injury problems.

S-Clarke

S-Clarke

Posted
Posted
44 minutes ago, goodymatt said:

Toby Alderweireld on a perm?

I thought that last night - why on earth is he sat on the bench, when Eric flaming 'Dire' is in his position?

They are light years apart in ability. This looks to be another Jose masterclass from his out of date methods.

Toussaint

Toussaint

Posted
Posted
On 02/07/2020 at 09:31, Wurzel said:

Going back a bit further didn't we pull out of signing both Drogba and Coutinho ?  Think they'd have turned out ok.

Also going back 20 years were the Oliver Bierhoff rumours genuine or just fan speculation that found it's way into the press?

As legend has it , (if memory serves) , we were looking at Drogba as a centre half.

spyinthesky

spyinthesky

Posted
Posted
23 hours ago, danjosaint said:

The Coutinho rumour was true, we went out to look at him at i think espanyol but we ended coming back with Poch,  Drogba was true as mentioned by Strachan that he wasnt allowed by Lowe to buy him instead they bought Delgado, also with Maddison i beleive he was down here already to sign

Re Coutinho, I remember being at a pre season youth team game at Vospers (saw Luke Shaw play for the first time) and was able to overhear a conversation between a group of the Saints staff there which indicated the club had been let down on the Coutinho deal, so from this it would be appear we were definitely in for the player.

Lets B Avenue

Lets B Avenue

Posted
Posted
On 02/07/2020 at 10:27, danjosaint said:

The Coutinho rumour was true, we went out to look at him at i think espanyol but we ended coming back with Poch,  Drogba was true as mentioned by Strachan that he wasnt allowed by Lowe to buy him instead they bought Delgado, also with Maddison i beleive he was down here already to sign

Apart from the fact that the Delgado deal was set up before Strachan was appointed. Video of his International goals were shown at half-time in the Ipswich match. Strachan's first in charge.

Batman

Batman

Posted
Posted

Matthew Piper.  Loads of hype around him and we were heavily linked.  The very first SaintsForver site was all excited about it.

he went to Sunderland and never saw again!

the saint in winchester

the saint in winchester

Posted
Posted

Before we turn the page on this … getting back to the original post, Theo Walcott has hardly had the minutes on the pitch to make a difference. Coming on for the last 3 minutes of games and played as a winger. I still think, even at 32, he has the capacity to be a starter regularly at a club like ours. Ings and Walcott up front for us would be a good partnership.

Ryan Sessegnon is another example of a big club buying a player just to ensure another club doesn't get him. Spurs may have bought him for the future, but he isn't get a chance there now. Would be better at a tier 2 Prem side now, somewhere like Saints. Trouble is that money talks, and top 6 sides offer big money, so some players try to jump up too high.

Augustin, can't comment as haven't been watching Leeds. However, from what is written, if they agreed to sign him if promoted, then that stands, regardless of the mid-season enforced break.

bpsaint

bpsaint

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Lets B Avenue said:

Apart from the fact that the Delgado deal was set up before Strachan was appointed. Video of his International goals were shown at half-time in the Ipswich match. Strachan's first in charge.

I remember that - he looked a hell of a player. The original “YouTube compilation let down”, before YouTube was a thing.

The one that probably had the most damaging long term effect was when Strachan wanted to sign Malbranque and Saha from Fulham after the cup final season, but Lowe didn’t believe in paying so much money to our league ‘rivals’ so wouldn’t sanction the move.

By his own admission that decision led WGS to believe he couldn’t take us any further, and the rest is history...

Saints Fan Dan

Saints Fan Dan

Posted
Posted (edited)

Adebayor was definitely one, mentioned in Le Tiss's autobiography. Strachan went to look at a defender, didn't want him but liked the look of Adebayor but Lowe wouldn't stump up the cash.

Tore Andre Flo was another one before he went to Chelsea.

Ibrahimovic i think was offered to come here on loan or something and his reply was "Southampton? Who are they?". Always hated him.

Edited by Saints Fan Dan
rooney

rooney

Posted
Posted
15 hours ago, bpsaint said:

I remember that - he looked a hell of a player. The original “YouTube compilation let down”, before YouTube was a thing.

The one that probably had the most damaging long term effect was when Strachan wanted to sign Malbranque and Saha from Fulham after the cup final season, but Lowe didn’t believe in paying so much money to our league ‘rivals’ so wouldn’t sanction the move.

By his own admission that decision led WGS to believe he couldn’t take us any further, and the rest is history...

correct.

S-Clarke

S-Clarke

Posted
Posted

Eliott Ward

and we were linked to another foreign centre back in our first season back in the Championship, it fell through due to us not wanting to fund some sort of loyalty bonus, but I cannot for the life of me remember his name

Badger

Badger

Posted
Posted (edited)
17 minutes ago, Wade Garrett said:

Real shame we didn’t buy Ronnie Ekelund after his loan.  He was class.

He was.

And he might have coitnued to be, apart from the back injury from which he never recovered.

Edited by Badger
Wade Garrett

Wade Garrett

Posted
Posted
Just now, Badger said:

He was.

And he might have cobinued to be, apart from the back injury from which he never recovered.

I remember it being something to do with his back.  That was a real shame, he had loads of ability.

 

ErwinK1961

ErwinK1961

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, S-Clarke said:

Eliott Ward

and we were linked to another foreign centre back in our first season back in the Championship, it fell through due to us not wanting to fund some sort of loyalty bonus, but I cannot for the life of me remember his name

I thought his name was Amar Jamal, but googled it and nothing’s coming up! Think he was Turkish?

I’m sure he was over here for talk’s as he (and presumably his agent) walked out in front of my car near Oxford street. 

 

Kenilworthy

Kenilworthy

Posted
Posted
6 hours ago, CWD said:

Weren’t we close to signing Andy Reid from Forest before he went to Spurs?

Arry was obsessed with buying him and wasted most of the transfer window trying to get him when Reid had made it clear he had no intention of signing for Saints. He was one of the last of the fat but skilled footballers.

Nordic Saint

Nordic Saint

Posted
Posted
On 02/07/2020 at 09:31, Wurzel said:

Going back a bit further didn't we pull out of signing both Drogba and Coutinho ?  Think they'd have turned out ok.

Also going back 20 years were the Oliver Bierhoff rumours genuine or just fan speculation that found it's way into the press?

We tried to sign Coutinho but he turned us down in favour of Liverpool. He had played for Pochettino at Espanyol.

The situation was similar with Maddison and Leicester. So, we can't blame the club for not trying.

They were just two of the many that got away because wealthier and more successful clubs wanted them too.

Going back to the 1980s, McMenemy tried hard to sign Trevor Francis. If he had succeeded, we probably would have done the double in 1984 so that was the one that hurt us the most. In the late 70s, he also tried to sign Colin Todd. He was one of the few other big names to get away from McMenemy, who was brilliant at persuading top players, like Keegan, Shilton, Ball and Osgood, to come here.

Nordic Saint

Nordic Saint

Posted
Posted

We were linked with  Kieran Trippier when Paul Mitchell was our Head of Recruitment but then Mitchell moved to Spurs and took him there instead. He, also, of course, took Alderweireld there. We were  strongly linked with van Dijk before Mitchell left but at the time he went to Spurs he obviously preferred Alderweireld so we got van Dijk. I wonder about Dele Alli too as he was one of the first signings Mitchell made at Spurs.

Turkish

Turkish

Posted
Posted

Matt Phillips was very close to joining when were in promoted to the premier league. We had a deal and terms agreed and her told his friends and family he was joining saints only for blackpools loony chairman to pull the plug at the last minute.

 

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...