Summer Transfer Window 2021

[saint1977]

1 minute ago, Baird of the land said:

The reality is that romero’s Demands would be likely be hugely higher than theo’s so he isn’t a sensible suggestion.

Dunno, he has been a third choice at Man U and getting later in the window. I know technically he could do a Boruc and sign on a free in September if a top flight club gets a season ending keeper injury or their recruitment has messed up, but in your mid 30s as a keeper you’d rather have £50k pw in the bank for 2 years guaranteed? Would have saved a wasted signing on fee and extra 2 years contract with McCarthy as well. 

[Baird of the land]

5 minutes ago, saint1977 said:

Dunno, he has been a third choice at Man U and getting later in the window. I know technically he could do a Boruc and sign on a free in September if a top flight club gets a season ending keeper injury or their recruitment has messed up, but in your mid 30s as a keeper you’d rather have £50k pw in the bank for 2 years guaranteed? Would have saved a wasted signing on fee and extra 2 years contract with McCarthy as well. 

Think it’s far more likely the zero interest in him as free agent is because his demands are extremely high.

[AlexLaw76]

Just now, Baird of the land said:

The reality is that romero’s Demands would be likely be hugely higher than theo’s so he isn’t a sensible suggestion.

How on earth do you know that?

[Lee On Solent Saint]

I know Ralph has said otherwise, but wouldn't be surprised to see a couple more departures before Tuesday. Pretty sure they would let Valery go if a offer came in, possibly Ofembi too. 

[Badger]

10 minutes ago, Lee On Solent Saint said:

I know Ralph has said otherwise, but wouldn't be surprised to see a couple more departures before Tuesday. Pretty sure they would let Valery go if a offer came in, possibly Ofembi too. 

And Elynoussi despite his performance the other night. 

[S-Clarke]

3 hours ago, Dman said:

And yet people still bang on about how well we are ran as a club.

So well ran, we have to downgrade on every position we sell and can’t afford to add quality to a vital area for us (GK). 

Really weird post.

We've downgraded in experience, yep. Impossible to say at this stage if we've downgraded in quality. 

We were an incredibly poorly run club between 2016-2018, no doubt about it. But I think it's harsh to still say we are badly run.

Since we've rid ourselves of Kruger, Reed and Wilson we are much more sensible in our approach to signings. We have been incredibly hamstrung because of bad mistakes of the past, but those mistakes from the past don't mean that the current people in control of the club are running it badly today. Quite the contrary actually.

[Master Bates]

4 hours ago, Mystic Force said:

I am much better at wanking than judging player potential.

I'm better than you tbf

[Baird of the land]

1 hour ago, AlexLaw76 said:

How on earth do you know that?

An educated guess based on who his former club are and zero interest in him from other clubs despite his apparent freeness.

[Lord Duckhunter]

22 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

Really weird post.

We've downgraded in experience, yep. Impossible to say at this stage if we've downgraded in quality. 

We were an incredibly poorly run club between 2016-2018, no doubt about it. But I think it's harsh to still say we are badly run.

Since we've rid ourselves of Kruger, Reed and Wilson we are much more sensible in our approach to signings. We have been incredibly hamstrung because of bad mistakes of the past, but those mistakes from the past don't mean that the current people in control of the club are running it badly today. Quite the contrary actually.

Yeah, Reed was a disaster. Two European campaigns & a cup final. Fucking woeful. 

 

#weirdpost 

[VictiAbNonem]

How many of our team, or premier league players generally, do you think know their own (and teammates'!) FM stats?

Edited 27 August, 2021 by VictiAbNonem

[saint lard]

Weston Mckennie On his Instagram wishing Ronaldo well….and saying ‘i will see you soon’ ……probably via Spurs though. 
were we truly linked with him a while back? 
ideal DM for whoever. 

[Jeremy Corbyn]

1 hour ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

Yeah, Reed was a disaster. Two European campaigns & a cup final. Fucking woeful. 

 

#weirdpost 

The guy literally played a handful of games and only when other center mids were injured 😂

[SuperSAINT]

47 minutes ago, saint lard said:

Weston Mckennie On his Instagram wishing Ronaldo well….and saying ‘i will see you soon’ ……probably via Spurs though. 
were we truly linked with him a while back? 
ideal DM for whoever. 

His wages were damn high at Schalke.  Imagine way out of our league now.

Not really looked into who else wants him.  Villa?

[Sideways Jim]

12 minutes ago, SuperSAINT said:

His wages were damn high at Schalke.  Imagine way out of our league now.

Not really looked into who else wants him.  Villa?

Spurs, they have just sold sissoko to get him in i reckon 

[danjosaint]

Am I the only one who thinks Sissoko could've done a job at a '6' for us especially for £2m although prob on big wages

Edited 27 August, 2021 by danjosaint

[S-Clarke]

2 hours ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

Yeah, Reed was a disaster. Two European campaigns & a cup final. Fucking woeful. 

 

#weirdpost 

I'll agree to disagree with you, we're clearly on polar opposites on every single topic.

[Holmes_and_Watson]

3 hours ago, S-Clarke said:

Really weird post.

We've downgraded in experience, yep. Impossible to say at this stage if we've downgraded in quality. 

We were an incredibly poorly run club between 2016-2018, no doubt about it. But I think it's harsh to still say we are badly run.

Since we've rid ourselves of Kruger, Reed and Wilson we are much more sensible in our approach to signings. We have been incredibly hamstrung because of bad mistakes of the past, but those mistakes from the past don't mean that the current people in control of the club are running it badly today. Quite the contrary actually.

Tripped across something on Reed and Wilson today:-

Towards the end of the book Football Hackers, the author is summing up.  He talks about the crises that often formed part of data revolutions in clubs, resulting in the rise of your Klopps, and, in fincanially stricken clubs, opening the doors for the likes of Matthew Benham.

There's a bit on Southampton under the opening sentence "But it is easy to be led astray from successful paths..." On Saints, some of the big data analysts "are impressed by their managerial strategy."

The analysts told the author that "When we visted them, Sporting Director Les Reed had a folder on his desk which read 'Champions League Ready'  - it was their strategy for the year 2020. That was in 2015. They were planning 5 years ahead."

The author continues "But things didn't go according to plan in Southampton, Their coaching appointments stopped working out, some of their transfers backfired and when Les Reed was sacked in November 2018, the Champions League was a mere afterthought for a Saints team battling relegation."

When I read it, I was reminded of all the other offices that had appeared as backdrops in the book, as the author visted various coaches. Some had big TVs on the wall, lots had a laptop, with one combining it with binders of notes. One had his personality profile on the wall as all the players had theirs done, and one had a nice view of their stadium.

But all of it was day to day stuff of what they were working on, rather than a shiny binder selling a future. But perhaps it was wasn't a boast that Reed just liked to have on his desk when he knew visitors would be arriving. Perhaps he shared some of what was in it with the analysts, and my first thought was a harsh one. I've not checked to see if analysts careers have nose dived, as a result of flicking through it. (cheap shot, but couldn't resist, and to be fair the binder was there in Koeman's tenure.)

On Wilson, the radio had someone from Rangers commercial side on, following their Euro progression. He mentioned "Ross" and "football transformation" in the same sentence. They seem really pleased with the work being done by him.

Edited 27 August, 2021 by Holmes_and_Watson

[skintsaint]

9 hours ago, Baird of the land said:

The reality is that romero’s Demands would be likely be hugely higher than theo’s so he isn’t a sensible suggestion.

Being linked with Alaves & Granada in Spain. Big payers of wages. The fact he is linked with these clubs and would clearly still be better than our two says a lot.

Edited 28 August, 2021 by skintsaint

[DT]

Zouma to West Ham is the transfer we can only now dream of. What a replacement for Vestergaard that would have been. Shopping in different stores sadly. Ours is a third of the price. Hope he gels

[niceandfriendly]

I'm pleased we shop in different stores to West Ham, personally. Haller £50 million, Anderson £35 million, Ayew £25 million, Arnautovic £20 million, Yarmolenko £20 million. I'm happy with the way we do it.

[Holmes_and_Watson]

21 minutes ago, niceandfriendly said:

I'm pleased we shop in different stores to West Ham, personally. Haller £50 million, Anderson £35 million, Ayew £25 million, Arnautovic £20 million, Yarmolenko £20 million. I'm happy with the way we do it.

I was going to say I'd like to go to that shop, but maybe a different aisle. But I'd have ended up coming out with those players too.

Even knowing how it turned out, I'd go into that shop and probably still come out with them. 🙂

[SuperSAINT]

42 minutes ago, niceandfriendly said:

I'm pleased we shop in different stores to West Ham, personally. Haller £50 million, Anderson £35 million, Ayew £25 million, Arnautovic £20 million, Yarmolenko £20 million. I'm happy with the way we do it.

I can’t remember the stat from fairly recently of the number of strikers that West Ham signed and for how much they cost for the absolutely minuscule amount of goals they got in return. 
 

This isn’t it - but is from last year & ranks the 49 (!) forwards signed under the dildo’s 

https://www.planetfootball.com/quick-reads/ranking-42-forwards-signed-west-hams-gold-sullivan-era/

Edited 28 August, 2021 by SuperSAINT

[AlexLaw76]

44 minutes ago, niceandfriendly said:

I'm pleased we shop in different stores to West Ham, personally. Haller £50 million, Anderson £35 million, Ayew £25 million, Arnautovic £20 million, Yarmolenko £20 million. I'm happy with the way we do it.

instead, we had Gunn, Hoedt, Lemina, Boufal, Carrillo

Same shop, different isle

[Turkish]

Just now, AlexLaw76 said:

instead, we had Gunn, Hoedt, Lemina, Boufal, Carrillo

Same shop, different isle

The snobbery is hilarious. How anyone dare criticise other clubs transfers when not only have we signed a load of shit we’re paying for it for years later. Then in Carilllo we have have possibly the worst signing ever by any club. 

[Charlie Wayman]

18 hours ago, Dman said:

And yet people still bang on about how well we are ran as a club.

So well ran, we have to downgrade on every position we sell and can’t afford to add quality to a vital area for us (GK). 

Are you really a Saints fan. Pay attention!

[egg]

9 minutes ago, Turkish said:

The snobbery is hilarious. How anyone dare criticise other clubs transfers when not only have we signed a load of shit we’re paying for it for years later. Then in Carilllo we have have possibly the worst signing ever by any club. 

Yep, although Haller at £50m comes close to Carillo in the shit transfer top trumps. 

[AlexLaw76]

1 minute ago, egg said:

Yep, although Haller at £50m comes close to Carillo in the shit transfer top trumps. 

West Ham did manage to recoup around 1/2 of their outlay

[egg]

18 hours ago, Dman said:

And yet people still bang on about how well we are ran as a club.

So well ran, we have to downgrade on every position we sell and can’t afford to add quality to a vital area for us (GK). 

 

9 minutes ago, Charlie Wayman said:

Are you really a Saints fan. Pay attention!

Am I alone on thinking that SKDman is an alt login of another prominent poster? Similarities are uncanny for me. 

[niceandfriendly]

21 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

instead, we had Gunn, Hoedt, Lemina, Boufal, Carrillo

Same shop, different isle

Spot on. Reed and co played the same game as West Ham are still playing. I'm happy with how we do things now.

[egg]

2 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

West Ham did manage to recoup around 1/2 of their outlay

They lost almost £30m, or to put it another way, 50% more than we did on Carillo. 

[AlexLaw76]

Just now, niceandfriendly said:

Spot on. Reed and co played the same game as West Ham are still playing. I'm happy with how we do things now.

what are they still playing? Their signings lately have been very good, hence why they have been so much better than us lately

[Turkish]

6 minutes ago, egg said:

Yep, although Haller at £50m comes close to Carillo in the shit transfer top trumps. 

Not sure about that. Scored 10 goals for them and they managed to get a reasonable fee, although obviously made a huge loss. Carillo did literally nothing and we had to pay him to leave. 

[niceandfriendly]

2 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

what are they still playing? Their signings lately have been very good, hence why they have been so much better than us lately

A game of spending money. F*ck me are you and Turkish ok? They're spending a lot of money, well done to them. We can't do that, we don't have the money. What's hard to understand?

Why are some people so desperate for us to just copy every other club's playbook? I'm not surprised at Turkish wanting to be West Ham as they're all hard and a lot of them have skin heads, but for the normal people, why do you want us to be West Ham? I'm happy being Southampton. 

Edited 28 August, 2021 by niceandfriendly

[Hodgey]

West Ham’s transfer dealings were a joke but recently they have been excellent. coufal , Souchek, Benrhama, Dawson all reasonable price and 1st team improvement. Also they picked up Areola for a couple of million loan fee as a sub gk - I know another club whose first choice gks are below that standard. Not sure why anyone is mocking them now for transfer dealings. 

[Turkish]

9 minutes ago, niceandfriendly said:

A game of spending money. F*ck me are you and Turkish ok? They're spending a lot of money, well done to them. We can't do that, we don't have the money. What's hard to understand?

Why are some people so desperate for us to just copy every other club's playbook? I'm not surprised at Turkish wanting to be West Ham as they're all hard and a lot of them have skin heads, but for the normal people, why do you want us to be West Ham? I'm happy being Southampton. 

What the fuck are you on about 🤣🤣🤣

[egg]

10 minutes ago, niceandfriendly said:

A game of spending money. F*ck me are you and Turkish ok? They're spending a lot of money, well done to them. We can't do that, we don't have the money. What's hard to understand?

Why are some people so desperate for us to just copy every other club's playbook? I'm not surprised at Turkish wanting to be West Ham as they're all hard and a lot of them have skin heads, but for the normal people, why do you want us to be West Ham? I'm happy being Southampton. 

I love the irony of your username. 

[niceandfriendly]

3 minutes ago, egg said:

I love the irony of your username. 

And I like you sunny side up

[niceandfriendly]

5 minutes ago, Turkish said:

What the fuck are you on about 🤣🤣🤣

Cheese, I'm talking about my favourite cheese.

Go and have a lay down fella.

[skintsaint]

1 minute ago, niceandfriendly said:

Cheese, I'm talking about my favourite cheese.

[SuperSAINT]

19 minutes ago, Hodgey said:

West Ham’s transfer dealings were a joke but recently they have been excellent. coufal , Souchek, Benrhama, Dawson all reasonable price and 1st team improvement. Also they picked up Areola for a couple of million loan fee as a sub gk - I know another club whose first choice gks are below that standard. Not sure why anyone is mocking them now for transfer dealings. 

They seemingly went old-school and let Moyes pick the players to solve their problems.

[egg]

17 minutes ago, niceandfriendly said:

And I like you sunny side up

The best way 👍

[Turkish]

13 minutes ago, niceandfriendly said:

Cheese, I'm talking about my favourite cheese.

Go and have a lay down fella.

Can’t mate I’ve got to practice offering people out in the mirror, what with wanting to be like West Ham and all that. Proper cute little Saturday morning rant 🤣

[niceandfriendly]

14 minutes ago, skintsaint said:

 

[niceandfriendly]

6 minutes ago, Turkish said:

Can’t mate I’ve got to practice offering people out in the mirror, what with wanting to be like West Ham and all that. Proper cute little Saturday morning rant 🤣

This is the first step to overcoming your issues. Accepting who you are. I'm proud of you.

Thanks also for the cute comment. DM me, I didn't know you swung that way. #excited

Edited 28 August, 2021 by niceandfriendly

[niceandfriendly]

Apologies to everyone having to read mine and Turkish's flirtatious messages back and forth. Let's get back on subject. 

Pretty good window overall.

[Manuel]

Yep pretty good.  With our windows there's always the fun of "will the gambles pay off" which can make all the difference.  Time will tell but I'm very much more optimistic than I was at the beginning of the season...about the team and about Ralph.  What a difference a couple of weeks can make. 

Looking forward to it now.  

[Pamplemousse]

1 hour ago, egg said:

 

Am I alone on thinking that SKDman is an alt login of another prominent poster? Similarities are uncanny for me. 

Wouldn't be surprising if true.

[Pamplemousse]

33 minutes ago, niceandfriendly said:

Apologies to everyone having to read mine and Turkish's flirtatious messages back and forth. Let's get back on subject. 

Pretty good window overall.

Time will tell if it works out but at least we seemingly have a strategy. For me, this season is about improving. As long as we're on the right track and finish nearer the top half than bottom three, the following season could be a good one for us with one or two key additions. 

[niceandfriendly]

Just now, Pamplemousse said:

Time will tell if it works out but at least we seemingly have a strategy. For me, this season is about improving. As long as we're on the right track and finish nearer the top half than bottom three, the following season could be a good one for us with one or two key additions. 

Absolutely. For the first time in ages I'd actually be satisfied with a bottom half finish as long as we improve on last year. 

[CB Fry]

The last time we had an experiment to intentionally play a team of young prospects it didn't end that well. 

I was unconvinced by last summers window despite universal acclaim on here about what great signings Diallo and Salisu were: they proceeded to do pretty much jack shit in the subsequent season. Maybe, one year on, they may step up. 

This summer, we look like we have replaced Ings well, and Livramento may be an absolute diamond.

But I am not convinced we have resolved our issues in goal and through the spine of the team, especially central defence. This is as well as our issues with resilience/mental toughness. Both could have been resolved by spending our significant cash reserves on a decent front line CB. Instead we have just swelled the ranks of middling interchangeable CBs who are okay bordering on disastrous.

I worry we are just a pound-shop version of late-period Wenger Arsenal. Lots of flattering to deceive prettiness and "faith" in gifted young players. But ultimately gutless losers when the pressure is on.

Today will be a useful test.

Edited 28 August, 2021 by CB Fry