January 2021 transfer window

[John Boy Saint]

40 minutes ago, Patrick Bateman said:

More scary. I've just seen a 'D Wright-Phillips' has gone on loan from Man City to Stoke. Apparently he's Shaun Wright-Phillips' son. F**k. I feel old. 

He was in a TV ad with his Dad around Christmas time, I immediately thought he was round John Salakos every couple of weeks for a dip in his fountain of youth as he looked like a nipper still himself - 18 year old son!? Jeez!

[skintsaint]

Salisu is apparently left footed so wonder if he will be asked to slot in at LB when eventually fit. Can only think that is the reason we have let both full backs go. We got the right covered with Stephens and JWP.

Think we are just aiming for the rest of the season to just limp home.

[Matthew Le God]

1 minute ago, skintsaint said:

Think we are just aiming for the rest of the season to just limp home.

We are getting close to a full squad of players who are currently limping! 

[trousers]

[Matthew Le God]

@trousers Why do you use screenshots of tweets rather than an inbed of the actual tweet? 🤔😇

 

[Saint_dane]

38 minutes ago, Matthew Le God said:

 

He and Stewie Armstrong must visit the same clothing and Jewellery shop...

[davefizzy14]

4 minutes ago, Matthew Le God said:

@trousers Why do you use screenshots of tweets rather than an inbed of the actual tweet? 🤔😇

 

Good luck to Shane at Bournemouth.

[trousers]

[trousers]

[hans gruber]

2 hours ago, Chez said:

He wouldn't. Maxine Colin has been a revelation at Brum. The fans love him to bits. He only lacks a yard of pace otherwise he could play at the highest level. There was concern earlier today that we might be signing him and sending Valery the other way. Valery would most likely be played right midfield.

BCFC have really been lacking goals so I agree valery will play midfield and probably do a good job for them.

[Viking Saint]

I hope for the best, whilst fearing the worst. We are utterly threadbare at the back. We have less than zero proven backup in our back four, and now, no recognised starting RB. We are not in a position to be satisfied with 'filling in' and 'making do'. I believe Ralph is a fantastic coach, but there is only so much he can do with raw materials and no financial support. 

If you're not going to invest Mr Gao, then it's best you move on. No good will come of this for anybody. To be successful in the Premier League requires an owner who is prepared to spend. That's clearly not you. 

[saintwbu]

9 minutes ago, Viking Saint said:

I hope for the best, whilst fearing the worst. We are utterly threadbare at the back. We have less than zero proven backup in our back four, and now, no recognised starting RB. We are not in a position to be satisfied with 'filling in' and 'making do'. I believe Ralph is a fantastic coach, but there is only so much he can do with raw materials and no financial support. 

If you're not going to invest Mr Gao, then it's best you move on. No good will come of this for anybody. To be successful in the Premier League requires an owner who is prepared to spend. That's clearly not you. 

We currently have 2 senior, experienced GK’s, 4 senior CB’s, 2 quality full backs, 3 good quality CM’s, 5 senior attacking midfielders, plus two senior strikers. Beyond that we also have N’Lundulu, Obafemi, Tella, Jankewitz, arguably Caleb Watts too, all regarded as first team squad players to all fill in where required. I’m not sure how much depth people actually expect from a team in two competitions?! We are in the midst of an absolutely freak injury crisis, and we’re still fielding a full senior 11 - I doubt most clubs outside the top 8 could manage that. We clearly tried to get a backup fullback, but AMN wanted to play CM so turned us down, Ole wouldn’t let Williams go, Liverpool wouldn’t let Neco Williams go. So instead of saying ‘oh well, we tried but never mind’ and saving the pennies, we’ve just gone and signed an attacking player that all of this forum would’ve been absolutely creaming their pants over had he signed for us directly from Salzburg. Strange place at times, this place.

[Dark Munster]

5 hours ago, Turkish said:

I think he did that a few times when he was at Norwich. 

The season they got relegated?

[whelk]

Wasn’t expecting much but no FB and letting two, however limited, go seems mental.

Assume WBA beat us to Maitland-Niles with promise of game time rather than us losing interest.

4 games in next 2 weeks with an injury ravaged squad isn’t something that fills me with optimism but Minamino is a positive.

 

[CB Fry]

Shane Long has signed for Bournemouth so that means goals goals goals.

 

[Saint_clark]

6 hours ago, saintwbu said:

We currently have 2 senior, experienced GK’s, 4 senior CB’s, 2 quality full backs, 3 good quality CM’s, 5 senior attacking midfielders, plus two senior strikers. Beyond that we also have N’Lundulu, Obafemi, Tella, Jankewitz, arguably Caleb Watts too, all regarded as first team squad players to all fill in where required. I’m not sure how much depth people actually expect from a team in two competitions?! We are in the midst of an absolutely freak injury crisis, and we’re still fielding a full senior 11 - I doubt most clubs outside the top 8 could manage that. We clearly tried to get a backup fullback, but AMN wanted to play CM so turned us down, Ole wouldn’t let Williams go, Liverpool wouldn’t let Neco Williams go. So instead of saying ‘oh well, we tried but never mind’ and saving the pennies, we’ve just gone and signed an attacking player that all of this forum would’ve been absolutely creaming their pants over had he signed for us directly from Salzburg. Strange place at times, this place.

"We are threadbare at the back"

Proceeds to list players in every single position. 

Only having two fullbacks, one of which is currently injured, is not a good situation. Coupled with the 4 centrebacks two of which are currently injured and one of those has had recurring injuries all season whilst not making a single appearance anyway so we don't even know how good he can be. 

We are talking about having to play centremidfielders and attacking wingers at fullback. 

[itchen]

But the experts here groan every time Valery and Vokins are named in the team and so they are clearly not good enough. And, if they're not good enough, why keep paying them? You can't have it both ways.

I accept we are a small club punching above its financial weight in "the best league in the world". We tried to get full backs in but none were available at what we can afford. Instead we identified that, apart from the injury crisis, our problem is we can't score goals and so we've got someone in to address that who none of us predicted coming here.

I see this as a good window if Minamino is as good as many people think. It's a pity we couldn't have upgraded our reserve full backs but that's the way life is.

[LaptopSaint]

Kayne Ramsey and Will Ferry come on down.

I remember Ramsey being pretty decent when he was suddenly chucked in against Man City about three years ago. Was that his only appearance? 

[Pancake]

6 minutes ago, itchen said:

But the experts here groan every time Valery and Vokins are named in the team and so they are clearly not good enough. And, if they're not good enough, why keep paying them? You can't have it both ways.

I accept we are a small club punching above its financial weight in "the best league in the world". We tried to get full backs in but none were available at what we can afford. Instead we identified that, apart from the injury crisis, our problem is we can't score goals and so we've got someone in to address that who none of us predicted coming here.

I see this as a good window if Minamino is as good as many people think. It's a pity we couldn't have upgraded our reserve full backs but that's the way life is.

Super, I’ll look forward to losing 3-1 rather than 3-0 each match now then. Ace. 

[Saint Garrett]

8 hours ago, Matthew Le God said:

Loan fees for senior PL players tend to be a few million for a half season. That is how for example we got £5m for Cedric including wages.

Athletic reporting it could be “up to £500k”

[Chez]

9 hours ago, Matthew Le God said:

Loaning a player like Minamino will require a big loan fee circa £1m to £2m.

Depends on the wages of that player and demand for his services. I've read its less than £500k, but who outside the clubs player and agent knows for sure. 

[Turkish]

9 hours ago, Matthew Le God said:

Loaning a player like Minamino will require a big loan fee circa £1m to £2m.

 

[Chez]

Interesting that we didn't loan johnjoe Kenny from Everton. Perhaps we didn't rate him or Celtic offered more chance of games... 

[John D]

33 minutes ago, itchen said:

But the experts here groan every time Valery and Vokins are named in the team and so they are clearly not good enough. And, if they're not good enough, why keep paying them? You can't have it both ways.

I accept we are a small club punching above its financial weight in "the best league in the world". We tried to get full backs in but none were available at what we can afford. Instead we identified that, apart from the injury crisis, our problem is we can't score goals and so we've got someone in to address that who none of us predicted coming here.

I see this as a good window if Minamino is as good as many people think. It's a pity we couldn't have upgraded our reserve full backs but that's the way life is.

That sums up my view as well. 

Appears we tried to get a full back but having worked through our 3 or 4 choices none of them were available so we switched to an AM instead to use up our one slot.

I'd  possibly question whether we   were being realistic in our choice of full back but given AMN did leave and United seemed to flip re Williams then probably they were viable targets 

I'm sure the decision re Vokins and Valery were both football rather than financial so Ralph must have been comfortable with it.  

Edited 2 February, 2021 by John D
Clarification

[Turkish]

2 minutes ago, Chez said:

Interesting that we didn't loan johnjoe Kenny from Everton. Perhaps we didn't rate him or Celtic offered more chance of games... 

Dont think we can loan two players from the same club can we?

[CWD]

Just now, Chez said:

Interesting that we didn't loan johnjoe Kenny from Everton. Perhaps we didn't rate him or Celtic offered more chance of games... 

I think there's a really important point here. Players, clubs and agents all knew we were looking for someone to act as second fiddle to RB and KWP. You can imagine for a short term loan that's a really hard sell. If players are coming in for half a season they need to be getting games, and Saints just couldn't promise that.

[Chez]

12 minutes ago, Turkish said:

Dont think we can loan two players from the same club can we?

I didn't know that. The simplest reasons are always the best.

Seems like our choices were pretty limited. Not sure any `young' player would be confident of getting game time with KWP and Bertrand the first choices. Moving to sit on the bench is not what players have in mind.

[Kingsland Codger]

11 hours ago, Matthew Le God said:

あなたは左サイドバックを再生することはできますか?

たぶん

[trousers]

私のホバークラフトはうなぎで満たされています

[davefizzy14]

The one thing I don't get is there were various reports saying that we would only let Valery leave on loan IF we had bought someone in on loan as cover for both fullback positions. I wish Yan the best for the rest of the season, hope he shines and comes back in the summer to really push on

Edited 2 February, 2021 by davefizzy14

[St Louis]

2 hours ago, itchen said:

But the experts here groan every time Valery and Vokins are named in the team and so they are clearly not good enough. And, if they're not good enough, why keep paying them? You can't have it both ways.

I accept we are a small club punching above its financial weight in "the best league in the world". We tried to get full backs in but none were available at what we can afford. Instead we identified that, apart from the injury crisis, our problem is we can't score goals and so we've got someone in to address that who none of us predicted coming here.

I see this as a good window if Minamino is as good as many people think. It's a pity we couldn't have upgraded our reserve full backs but that's the way life is.

Valery & Vokins arent great, but surely we are better off having some (average) backup at fullback, than none at all!?
I can only guess that we thought we had at least one in the bag (Williams, AMN or Tanganga) and the departures were already far down the line or signed-off. Im sure the club arent best pleased with how it panned out.

[davefizzy14]

13 minutes ago, St Louis said:

Valery & Vokins arent great, but surely we are better off having some (average) backup at fullback, than none at all!?
I can only guess that we thought we had at least one in the bag (Williams, AMN or Tanganga) and the departures were already far down the line or signed-off. Im sure the club arent best pleased with how it panned out.

I agree with the second part here. I'm sure the club arent best pleased with how it panned out regarding cover at fullback. For what it's worth I reckon AMN was our top target and he decided at the last minute to go to West Brom. Hardly the clubs fault is it. The other players we went for, their respective clubs didn't allow them to leave on loan which is frustrating. The only thing I don't get is we were told Yan would only be allowed to leave IF we bought someone in but that didn't happen in the end. I'm sure Ralph will be asked about it.

Edited 2 February, 2021 by davefizzy14

[DT]

If your surname is six letters long and starts with a V you are going to struggle as a full back at Saints

[Sarisbury Saint]

15 minutes ago, davefizzy14 said:

I agree with the second part here. I'm sure the club arent best pleased with how it panned out regarding cover at fullback. For what it's worth I reckon AMN was our top target and he decided at the last minute to go to West Brom. Hardly the clubs fault is it. The other players we went for, their respective clubs didn't allow them to leave on loan which is frustrating. The only thing I don't get is we were told Yan would only be allowed to leave IF we bought someone in but that didn't happen in the end. I'm sure Ralph will be asked about it.

Absolutely its the clubs fault.

They should have made sure an incoming deal was completed first.

Reminds me of the Jose Fonte f up.

[Ex Lion Tamer]

Maybe Ralph thinks that more senior midfielders/Stephens covering at full back will do a better job than Vokins and Valery? 🤷‍♂️

[Saint Troy]

10 minutes ago, Ex Lion Tamer said:

Maybe Ralph thinks that more senior midfielders/Stephens covering at full back will do a better job than Vokins and Valery? 🤷‍♂️

Or thinks they can do an adequate job and that guaranteed game time for volume is more valuable. If Bertrand stays for he could play nearly every game of the season and vokins none. I know our method is apparently away from loans but it makes sense to me 

[stevy777_x]

3 minutes ago, Saint Troy said:

Or thinks they can do an adequate job and that guaranteed game time for volume is more valuable. If Bertrand stays for he could play nearly every game of the season and vokins none. I know our method is apparently away from loans but it makes sense to me 

Going by Ralph s recent moves with young players, if he ships them out on loan, it is likely the end of their careers with us.

Refer to Johnson, Jones, Reed... 

It is soon to become the same for Valey, Vokins, Hesketh, Sims and Slattery

[egg]

21 minutes ago, Ex Lion Tamer said:

Maybe Ralph thinks that more senior midfielders/Stephens covering at full back will do a better job than Vokins and Valery? 🤷‍♂️

I don't think that there's much dispute about that. Valery would have done abetter job at RB against Villa than Djenepo but Ralph made his feelings perfectly clear. They haven't got a future here under Ralph.

[M271]

5 minutes ago, Ex Lion Tamer said:

Maybe Ralph thinks that more senior midfielders/Stephens covering at full back will do a better job than Vokins and Valery? 🤷‍♂️

Can only assume that but seems strange that a week ago Vokins and Valery were OK as stand ins and now both have gone out on loan, after Ralph has assessed them for many months in training. I think that it is a mistake letting them go out on loan when a week ago they were seen as 1st choice replacements. 

In contradiction to many on here I don't think that we're playing too badly in the last 3 league games IMO we were the equal of Leicester, slightly inferior to Arsenal with 2 (3) replacement defenders and better than Aston Villa, converting chances has been our downfall but that doesn't make all of our play or players rubbish. Players and manager were mostly lauded on here a month or so ago and now most of our players are apparently not good enough, as a ex-manager used to say 'not too high when you win , not too low when you lose'.

[Saint_clark]

16 minutes ago, stevy777_x said:

Going by Ralph s recent moves with young players, if he ships them out on loan, it is likely the end of their careers with us.

Refer to Johnson, Jones, Reed... 

It is soon to become the same for Valey, Vokins, Hesketh, Sims and Slattery

A lot of names there that were regarded as the next big thing at one time or another.

[LaptopSaint]

Lines on the departure of a club legend: 
 

So farewell then Shane Long.

You scored after seven seconds

Against Watford.

That was awesome.

And the away end

Went mental. 

 

[itchen]

5 hours ago, Pancake said:

Super, I’ll look forward to losing 3-1 rather than 3-0 each match now then. Ace. 

We haven't lost by 3 goals or more since the Spurs game. Usually there's one goal in it when we lose. Perhaps scoring more might just be the answer to our problems? 

I thought Valery and Vokins did OK but clearly Ralph didn't and I reluctantly accept that he probably knows more about football than I do.  I'm pretty sure we wouldn't have let them go without his approval. And he would have known the risks that we might not get our targets and still let them go.

I'm still seeing this as a positive window.  And, even if I didn't, what difference would it make?

[East Kent Saint]

www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/55905232

Good job Ralph takes it on the chin !

[Antrimsaint]

On 01/02/2021 at 23:28, Matthew Le God said:

Vestergaard and Salisu are both back in the next 1 to 2 weeks. That allows Stephens to be fullback cover. Salisu could possibly cover left back.

Still think it’s a blip? We could all see that coming. Loaning out Vokins and Valery was rash and that’s being polite. Cannot see how the club could sanction that? Ridiculous planning. Something rotten in the state of Denmark.

[Pancake]

On 02/02/2021 at 14:35, itchen said:

We haven't lost by 3 goals or more since the Spurs game. Usually there's one goal in it when we lose. Perhaps scoring more might just be the answer to our problems? 

I thought Valery and Vokins did OK but clearly Ralph didn't and I reluctantly accept that he probably knows more about football than I do.  I'm pretty sure we wouldn't have let them go without his approval. And he would have known the risks that we might not get our targets and still let them go.

I'm still seeing this as a positive window.  And, even if I didn't, what difference would it make?

Aged well 😜

[the saint in winchester]

On 01/02/2021 at 14:37, qwertyell said:

whatever

Keeping it on transfers, the issue for me on Deadline Day and the days leading up to it, was who we were targeting.

We were chasing after squad players at Premier League clubs even when their clubs had said they were NOT available for loan. Why weren't we looking at Championship and even League One for players who WOULD have jumped at the chance to join us. Instead, we kept ringing up asking if MU and Liverpool had changed their mind.

Surely we could afford to spend £1M on a player and develop them.

In future, please, look at lower leagues for gems, not PL players on £50k a week who don't even want to join us.

[Toadhall Saint]

5 minutes ago, the saint in winchester said:

Keeping it on transfers, the issue for me on Deadline Day and the days leading up to it, was who we were targeting.

We were chasing after squad players at Premier League clubs even when their clubs had said they were NOT available for loan. Why weren't we looking at Championship and even League One for players who WOULD have jumped at the chance to join us. Instead, we kept ringing up asking if MU and Liverpool had changed their mind.

Surely we could afford to spend £1M on a player and develop them.

In future, please, look at lower leagues for gems, not PL players on £50k a week who don't even want to join us.

Agree with your sentiments but the players you talk about would be playing week in week out and would cost more than £1m as soon as we showed an interest esp in the Jan window.

[S-Clarke]

1 hour ago, the saint in winchester said:

Keeping it on transfers, the issue for me on Deadline Day and the days leading up to it, was who we were targeting.

We were chasing after squad players at Premier League clubs even when their clubs had said they were NOT available for loan. Why weren't we looking at Championship and even League One for players who WOULD have jumped at the chance to join us. Instead, we kept ringing up asking if MU and Liverpool had changed their mind.

Surely we could afford to spend £1M on a player and develop them.

In future, please, look at lower leagues for gems, not PL players on £50k a week who don't even want to join us.

I think you'd be looking at more than £1m. That guy at Preston had 6 months left and he still went for around £2m.

Truth is we didn't have a million, we managed to scrabble a 500k loan fee together, but that in it's self would have been aided by the Shane Long departure and the fee that brought. So whilst that would have been a decent idea, we don't even have the money for that. Close to freebie loans is all we can muster at this moment in time.

Let's see what the summer brings.

[Lighthouse]

1 hour ago, the saint in winchester said:

Keeping it on transfers, the issue for me on Deadline Day and the days leading up to it, was who we were targeting.

We were chasing after squad players at Premier League clubs even when their clubs had said they were NOT available for loan. Why weren't we looking at Championship and even League One for players who WOULD have jumped at the chance to join us. Instead, we kept ringing up asking if MU and Liverpool had changed their mind.

Surely we could afford to spend £1M on a player and develop them.

In future, please, look at lower leagues for gems, not PL players on £50k a week who don't even want to join us.

Young, English players, with potential to come in and play immediately if needed for sub £1m. You’re living in dreamland; we sold Targett for 17 times that amount and he really wasn’t all that. Buying Vokins from a League 1 club would probably cost us north of £5m.

[skintsaint]

One for the summer maybe, about our price range.

https://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/football/southampton-west-ham-leeds-rival-23482507

Daily Star though so probably 💩

Edited 12 February, 2021 by skintsaint