January 2022 Transfer Window

[Tim Southampton Rover]

On 29/11/2021 at 11:34, Chez said:

Linked to Brereton (in the Sun) today, along with Seville. I think Leeds have also been linked - he's out of contract in the summer, scoring goals for fun, so his name is going to be a permanent fixture in the gossip columns.

I posted about him a few times a couple of years ago. He looked a very good prospect at Forest, despite scoring fuck all goals. He was very young to be fair and led the line well in the games that I watched. He looked strong, had a nice touch and the ability to bring others into play. Since moving to Blackburn, he's discovered where the net is. I have to admit I have not seen him play for them, but if there are goals to go with his all round game, that would make him a decent player. 

Anyone seen much of him for Blackburn? 

Alright Saints. I'm a Blackburn fan and I know we signed Shearer, Flowers, Kenna all those years ago...but let's not hold a grudge. Stop trying to sign our top players on the cheap. Just remember you also sold us Davies, Østenstad and we sold you Ripley, Slater....it's very tit for tat but let's stop this right now! 😉😂

WOW, firstly, what a story Ben Brereton-Diaz is having. If you haven't read much about it then I will summarise his entire career here:

He has Man Utd pedigree as a youth player. Didn't work out at his boyhood club, Stoke City. Signed pro for Forest, made a name for himself in some high profile games, Blackburn signed him on loan. He was a complete flop. So, we spent our entire budge and signed him for £6m. Once again, he was a flop. Booed on the pitch, booed off the pitch. Couldn't score to save his life. He was on the verge of going on loan to Ado Den Haag to escape and rebuild his career under ex-Saints manager Pardew. Suddenly, Boom! Pandemic hit. No loan spell, no fans. After the lockdown, he returned to the Rovers team slightly bigger in size, stronger, faster. He started putting in good performances. In the meantime, and i'm not bulls****ing you here, a Chilean playing Football Manager noticed he was half Chilean. Suddenly there was a huge social media push to get Ben Brereton in the Chilean team. He continues to play well over the next few seasons linking up with Armstrong, Harvey Elliott, ex-Saints Sam Gallagher. Ben Brereton gets called up to the Chilean Copa America team and scores on his debut. Wild scenes everywhere. His is now the talk of the nation. Starts playing with the likes of ex-Arsenal/Man U Sanchez, Vidal, playing against Neymar, Messi and looking great. Comes back to Blackburn as Ben Brereton-Diaz. This season he has been on fire and unstoppable. The fans love him. He has energy, power, goals. The lot. Goes back to Chile and gets their faltering World Cup Qualification back on track. He is now a God in Chile. No joke. There are pictures of him as God, his social media went from 10k to 1.2m overnight. Whenever he is in a poll for best player of the week the Chileans go mad and vote for him. It's mental, slightly weird, but I bl**dy love it. He's still only a youngster as 22 years old. 

Importantly though. He is out of contract this season but we do hold a 1 year option on his contact. It's a bit like the scenario we had with Armstrong. We are in negotiations with him, and from what I've heard, he really enjoys being at the club, but money talks. With his new found fame in Chile, sponsorship deals, scoring goals etc then it will take a huge contract for us to keep him here. Unfortunately, I believe it won't happen unless we get promoted this season. My gut feeling is that he will not go in January but he will go in the summer. 

Whatever happens, he has the attributes to become a top player. Do I think he will sign for Southampton? Who knows? Leeds or Sevilla are probably ahead of Saints right now. Bielsa, a huge figure in Chilean football, has been watching Brereton for a long time and is a huge fan. Sevilla, again, huge links with South American football, are a big draw for a guy with a huge Spanish following. 

[Chris cooper]

4 hours ago, Tim Southampton Rover said:

Alright Saints. I'm a Blackburn fan and I know we signed Shearer, Flowers, Kenna all those years ago...but let's not hold a grudge. Stop trying to sign our top players on the cheap. Just remember you also sold us Davies, Østenstad and we sold you Ripley, Slater....it's very tit for tat but let's stop this right now! 😉😂

WOW, firstly, what a story Ben Brereton-Diaz is having. If you haven't read much about it then I will summarise his entire career here:

He has Man Utd pedigree as a youth player. Didn't work out at his boyhood club, Stoke City. Signed pro for Forest, made a name for himself in some high profile games, Blackburn signed him on loan. He was a complete flop. So, we spent our entire budge and signed him for £6m. Once again, he was a flop. Booed on the pitch, booed off the pitch. Couldn't score to save his life. He was on the verge of going on loan to Ado Den Haag to escape and rebuild his career under ex-Saints manager Pardew. Suddenly, Boom! Pandemic hit. No loan spell, no fans. After the lockdown, he returned to the Rovers team slightly bigger in size, stronger, faster. He started putting in good performances. In the meantime, and i'm not bulls****ing you here, a Chilean playing Football Manager noticed he was half Chilean. Suddenly there was a huge social media push to get Ben Brereton in the Chilean team. He continues to play well over the next few seasons linking up with Armstrong, Harvey Elliott, ex-Saints Sam Gallagher. Ben Brereton gets called up to the Chilean Copa America team and scores on his debut. Wild scenes everywhere. His is now the talk of the nation. Starts playing with the likes of ex-Arsenal/Man U Sanchez, Vidal, playing against Neymar, Messi and looking great. Comes back to Blackburn as Ben Brereton-Diaz. This season he has been on fire and unstoppable. The fans love him. He has energy, power, goals. The lot. Goes back to Chile and gets their faltering World Cup Qualification back on track. He is now a God in Chile. No joke. There are pictures of him as God, his social media went from 10k to 1.2m overnight. Whenever he is in a poll for best player of the week the Chileans go mad and vote for him. It's mental, slightly weird, but I bl**dy love it. He's still only a youngster as 22 years old. 

Importantly though. He is out of contract this season but we do hold a 1 year option on his contact. It's a bit like the scenario we had with Armstrong. We are in negotiations with him, and from what I've heard, he really enjoys being at the club, but money talks. With his new found fame in Chile, sponsorship deals, scoring goals etc then it will take a huge contract for us to keep him here. Unfortunately, I believe it won't happen unless we get promoted this season. My gut feeling is that he will not go in January but he will go in the summer. 

Whatever happens, he has the attributes to become a top player. Do I think he will sign for Southampton? Who knows? Leeds or Sevilla are probably ahead of Saints right now. Bielsa, a huge figure in Chilean football, has been watching Brereton for a long time and is a huge fan. Sevilla, again, huge links with South American football, are a big draw for a guy with a huge Spanish following. 

Bielsa massive favourite if Leeds are tracking him .. sounds just wot we are looking for .. but sadly won’t be able to compete with Leeds or Sevilla we are skint.. 

[verlaine1979]

23 hours ago, TWar said:

Yeah I read it again and realised what you ment and edited. Apologies, it's late and my reading comprehension is a bit lower!

One other question - xG only counts shots/headers/other attempts on goal, right? I.e. if you're put through on an undefended goal but you fail to control the pass, that wouldn't count towards xG as there'd be no actual attempt on goal. 

[TWar]

9 hours ago, verlaine1979 said:

One other question - xG only counts shots/headers/other attempts on goal, right? I.e. if you're put through on an undefended goal but you fail to control the pass, that wouldn't count towards xG as there'd be no actual attempt on goal. 

Failing to control a pass does count, yeah, it judges times when the ball is in your effective range of control, even if you don't control it.

[Rickman42]

Just chiming in on the striker debate above:

 

Che has pleasantly surprised me in recent weeks. He seems to be playing freely and with confidence. If he can continue to build into the 'leading man' role then it could get very interesting. Armstrong reminds me of when we first signed Che...lashing at chances, taking too long to release the ball. I think its only a matter of time before it clicks for him. Neither of them are the final product!

Broja has the 'it' factor and I really do believe he can make chances out of nothing...remember his solo effort against West Ham when he hit the post? His cross for Redmond that he somehow didn't turn into the back of the net? He's going to be a star in the future with his combination of height, speed and composure in front of goal.

 

As for striking options long-term...with Shane Long and Broja out the door at the end of the season, I could see us make a move for Eddie Nketiah possibly? If he's really seeking first team football as he claims to be in the media, then he would fit the mould of player we would normally sign.

[HarvSFC]

Eddie Nketiah hasn't shown anything in senior football to date. He will be free in the summer, but he'll also be 23. He should've pushed for a move sooner in his career, as a highest league scoring season of 3 with Leeds in the Championship doesn't shout out talent. At least there's no dangers of another Brewster/Solanke, as he'll only cost a small fee.

[Saint Garrett]

Ralphs already said we won't be signing a new striker in January.  Think if we were going to sign someone it would be in the "10" position, but that would surely require one to leave.

Will be interesting to see where we target, as historically, we don't do much business in January.

[Turkish]

10 minutes ago, Saint Garrett said:

Ralphs already said we won't be signing a new striker in January.  Think if we were going to sign someone it would be in the "10" position, but that would surely require one to leave.

Will be interesting to see where we target, as historically, we don't do much business in January.

I can see us doing a deal with West Brom for Johnstone. He's out of contract in the summer so we get him for a low fee and Forster goes there on loan for the rest of the season with no loan fee and us covering a percentage of his wages.

[Saint Garrett]

7 minutes ago, Turkish said:

I can see us doing a deal with West Brom for Johnstone. He's out of contract in the summer so we get him for a low fee and Forster goes there on loan for the rest of the season with no loan fee and us covering a percentage of his wages.

Yup, it'll be a cheap option regardless.

[HarvSFC]

I really hope we get taken over before the new goalkeeper signing. There's got to be an international goalkeeper* like Boruc/Niemi out there. Johnstone seems like a signing for signings sake, cheap option and we've made errors with goalkeepers previously. Forster, McCarthy and Gunn hamstrung us and prevented us from making any further goalkeeper signings, despite it being a weakness for three and a half years now. A 28 year old who has spent the majority of their career in England's second tier is not it.

*I know that Johnstone gets called up for England, but Pickford and now Ramsdale are the uncontested two goalkeepers in the country.

[Turkish]

23 minutes ago, HarvSFC said:

I really hope we get taken over before the new goalkeeper signing. There's got to be an international goalkeeper* like Boruc/Niemi out there. Johnstone seems like a signing for signings sake, cheap option and we've made errors with goalkeepers previously. Forster, McCarthy and Gunn hamstrung us and prevented us from making any further goalkeeper signings, despite it being a weakness for three and a half years now. A 28 year old who has spent the majority of their career in England's second tier is not it.

*I know that Johnstone gets called up for England, but Pickford and now Ramsdale are the uncontested two goalkeepers in the country.

Boruc has to be one of the best signings we've made in recent years. Free transfer for a experienced international goalkeeper probably our best keeper since Niemi, also a great character. 

[Chez]

1 hour ago, Turkish said:

I can see us doing a deal with West Brom for Johnstone. He's out of contract in the summer so we get him for a low fee and Forster goes there on loan for the rest of the season with no loan fee and us covering a percentage of his wages.

WBA are in the mix for promotion. Keeping him (and gaining from his talent) and allowing his contract to wind down might be more beneficial to them than the few million they will get from selling in January. Can't see it myself unless they have a very good alternative lined up. 

[Chez]

35 minutes ago, HarvSFC said:

I really hope we get taken over before the new goalkeeper signing. There's got to be an international goalkeeper* like Boruc/Niemi out there. Johnstone seems like a signing for signings sake, cheap option and we've made errors with goalkeepers previously. Forster, McCarthy and Gunn hamstrung us and prevented us from making any further goalkeeper signings, despite it being a weakness for three and a half years now. A 28 year old who has spent the majority of their career in England's second tier is not it.

*I know that Johnstone gets called up for England, but Pickford and now Ramsdale are the uncontested two goalkeepers in the country.

Is he any better than McCarthy?

[Whitey Grandad]

11 minutes ago, Chez said:

Is he any better than McCarthy?

Aren't they all?

[Turkish]

13 minutes ago, Chez said:

WBA are in the mix for promotion. Keeping him (and gaining from his talent) and allowing his contract to wind down might be more beneficial to them than the few million they will get from selling in January. Can't see it myself unless they have a very good alternative lined up. 

[verlaine1979]

Claudinho at Zenit just put in a very good showing at #10 against Chelsea. Doesn't seem to have too high a price tag either.

[Miltonaggro]

On 03/12/2021 at 16:36, Turkish said:

Boruc has to be one of the best signings we've made in recent years. Free transfer for a experienced international goalkeeper probably our best keeper since Niemi, also a great character. 

Plus a bona fide nutcase! What's not to like.

[SuperSAINT]

Blast from the past: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-10296859/Southampton-Newcastle-keen-Slovakia-midfielder-Albert-Rusnak.html

[Chez]

On 02/12/2021 at 16:27, Tim Southampton Rover said:

Alright Saints. I'm a Blackburn fan and I know we signed Shearer, Flowers, Kenna all those years ago...but let's not hold a grudge. Stop trying to sign our top players on the cheap. Just remember you also sold us Davies, Østenstad and we sold you Ripley, Slater....it's very tit for tat but let's stop this right now! 😉😂

WOW, firstly, what a story Ben Brereton-Diaz is having. If you haven't read much about it then I will summarise his entire career here:

He has Man Utd pedigree as a youth player. Didn't work out at his boyhood club, Stoke City. Signed pro for Forest, made a name for himself in some high profile games, Blackburn signed him on loan. He was a complete flop. So, we spent our entire budge and signed him for £6m. Once again, he was a flop. Booed on the pitch, booed off the pitch. Couldn't score to save his life. He was on the verge of going on loan to Ado Den Haag to escape and rebuild his career under ex-Saints manager Pardew. Suddenly, Boom! Pandemic hit. No loan spell, no fans. After the lockdown, he returned to the Rovers team slightly bigger in size, stronger, faster. He started putting in good performances. In the meantime, and i'm not bulls****ing you here, a Chilean playing Football Manager noticed he was half Chilean. Suddenly there was a huge social media push to get Ben Brereton in the Chilean team. He continues to play well over the next few seasons linking up with Armstrong, Harvey Elliott, ex-Saints Sam Gallagher. Ben Brereton gets called up to the Chilean Copa America team and scores on his debut. Wild scenes everywhere. His is now the talk of the nation. Starts playing with the likes of ex-Arsenal/Man U Sanchez, Vidal, playing against Neymar, Messi and looking great. Comes back to Blackburn as Ben Brereton-Diaz. This season he has been on fire and unstoppable. The fans love him. He has energy, power, goals. The lot. Goes back to Chile and gets their faltering World Cup Qualification back on track. He is now a God in Chile. No joke. There are pictures of him as God, his social media went from 10k to 1.2m overnight. Whenever he is in a poll for best player of the week the Chileans go mad and vote for him. It's mental, slightly weird, but I bl**dy love it. He's still only a youngster as 22 years old. 

Importantly though. He is out of contract this season but we do hold a 1 year option on his contact. It's a bit like the scenario we had with Armstrong. We are in negotiations with him, and from what I've heard, he really enjoys being at the club, but money talks. With his new found fame in Chile, sponsorship deals, scoring goals etc then it will take a huge contract for us to keep him here. Unfortunately, I believe it won't happen unless we get promoted this season. My gut feeling is that he will not go in January but he will go in the summer. 

Whatever happens, he has the attributes to become a top player. Do I think he will sign for Southampton? Who knows? Leeds or Sevilla are probably ahead of Saints right now. Bielsa, a huge figure in Chilean football, has been watching Brereton for a long time and is a huge fan. Sevilla, again, huge links with South American football, are a big draw for a guy with a huge Spanish following. 

Brighton linked with Brereton today in a £20m move.

[FarehamSaintJames]

55 minutes ago, Chez said:

Brighton linked with Brereton today in a £20m move.

We won’t get him unfortunately.

Plus I think if he joined he’d be better suited to a different formation and Ralph’s too stubborn.

[Wade Garrett]

2 hours ago, FarehamSaintJames said:

We won’t get him unfortunately.

Plus I think if he joined he’d be better suited to a different formation and Ralph’s too stubborn.

Hopefully Ralph won’t be part of the equation.

[Wade Garrett]

1 hour ago, Yozzman said:

Out of interest who are you suggesting for the job?

Not sure to be honest.  There are plenty out there who would do better though.

[Roo1976]

Okay lets just dream a bit after all its nearly Christmas.  Lets just say we have new owners by end of the year (not too long left i know) and we get given

a considerable amount to spend in January £60m (i know never gonna happen), could we trust Ralph to galvanize the squad together enough for

targeted transfers to become effective?.

[TWar]

1 minute ago, Roo1976 said:

Okay lets just dream a bit after all its nearly Christmas.  Lets just say we have new owners by end of the year (not too long left i know) and we get given

a considerable amount to spend in January £60m (i know never gonna happen), could we trust Ralph to galvanize the squad together enough for

targeted transfers to become effective?.

I think the squad is already almost there. If we spent £30m on a high quality attacking mid, our answer to Raphinha or Neto then we score a lot more goals. Another £20m on a top CB so Salisu isn't our only one worth anything then our defence would sure up. Remaining £10m in prising Johnstone from West Brom and we're away.

The team doesn't need much galvanising imo, just needs a couple of game changers. A bit more star power in positions that right now we have relegation level players in.

[Red]

29 minutes ago, Roo1976 said:

Okay lets just dream a bit after all its nearly Christmas.  Lets just say we have new owners by end of the year (not too long left i know) and we get given

a considerable amount to spend in January £60m (i know never gonna happen), could we trust Ralph to galvanize the squad together enough for

targeted transfers to become effective?.

No. He has found nothing from his home/known markets of Germany/Austria/Europe - why would you think he will suddenly discover a gem?

[Matthew Le God]

6 minutes ago, Red said:

No. He has found nothing from his home/known markets of Germany/Austria/Europe - why would you think he will suddenly discover a gem?

Do you know his level of input into the signing of Salisu?

[TWar]

15 minutes ago, Matthew Le God said:

Do you know his level of input into the signing of Salisu?

Also he described Livramento as his number one target, so he probably had some role in one of our best signings in years.

[Red]

8 minutes ago, Matthew Le God said:

Do you know his level of input into the signing of Salisu?

Is that the same Salisu that was not fit to play for well over 6 months as Ralph thought he was not ready, and is only playing as we have no other options - Ralph preferred Vesty to him (says it all really about Ralph's thoughts of Salisu). Salisu is promising but only that - he has a lot of mistakes in him and has been arguably responsible for a fair few of our goals conceded.

IMO, and yes it's only my opinion (before you fly off on another one) Ralph had minimal input in his transfer in any case.

And whilst I mentioned Europe, it should be obvious to anyone but you clearly that Ralph's "known" markets are Germany and Austria. I honestly can't decide if you are a details anorak, or a troll?

[Sarisbury Saint]

1 hour ago, TWar said:

I think the squad is already almost there. If we spent £30m on a high quality attacking mid, our answer to Raphinha or Neto then we score a lot more goals. Another £20m on a top CB so Salisu isn't our only one worth anything then our defence would sure up. Remaining £10m in prising Johnstone from West Brom and we're away.

The team doesn't need much galvanising imo, just needs a couple of game changers. A bit more star power in positions that right now we have relegation level players in.

Good call.And a new manager.

[TWar]

21 minutes ago, Red said:

Is that the same Salisu that was not fit to play for well over 6 months as Ralph thought he was not ready, and is only playing as we have no other options - Ralph preferred Vesty to him (says it all really about Ralph's thoughts of Salisu). Salisu is promising but only that - he has a lot of mistakes in him and has been arguably responsible for a fair few of our goals conceded.

IMO, and yes it's only my opinion (before you fly off on another one) Ralph had minimal input in his transfer in any case.

And whilst I mentioned Europe, it should be obvious to anyone but you clearly that Ralph's "known" markets are Germany and Austria. I honestly can't decide if you are a details anorak, or a troll?

I think he was injured? There is no way he is only playing now as we have "no other options". Salisu has been exceptional this season.

Last season Salisu was injured for ages and then when finally fit he trained for a month or two to get used to our system. At the end of the season he was forced to play left back as our only fit left footed defender. Vesty played and Ralph got him playing well too, which is a pretty good endorsement of him as Rodgers can't seem to do so, but Salisu is better in pretty much every way.

To say he is some flop and Ralph doesn't rate him is wildly disingenuous. 

Edited 12 December, 2021 by TWar

[Badger]

41 minutes ago, Red said:

No. He has found nothing from his home/known markets of Germany/Austria/Europe - why would you think he will suddenly discover a gem?

This for me is the great unknown quantity, what input and final say does a manager have in the recruitment process and final decision making ? Not just here but elsewhere nowadays.

In the days of Ted Bates and Lawrie they were regarded as the "brains" and decision makers for identifying players and bringing them in. Probably the same for a few more afterwards as well, including Branfoot, up to Dave Jones. But was Strachan responsible for all the signings whilst he was in charge (Williams and Telfer aside)? Its often trotted out on here that he wanted Malbranque and Rupert said no you can have Neil McCann instead or similar. Then there was Delgado, who no one will take responsibility for.

Moving away from us for a minute, Howe has been slated on here for the AFCB recruitment and spending, how do we know that was his choice not the recruitment DoF etc ? Similarly, I wonder if Ole really wanted Ronaldo and his ego, or if was presented to him by SAF and the board. 

In Ralph's case, we just don't know if he has gone to the board wanting Orban or Hinterigger (both mentioned on the internet, so possibly or possibly not any mileage in it) only to be told, no we're signing this Ghanaian  kid from La Liga, he's only played 20 games and may not be ready for 12 months but he's half the price of those you've asked for.

There may be just criticisms of Ralph on the back of results, and some  team selections, but the day of judging a manager alone for the signings made are long gone in my view.

I'd like to think the recent recruitment shows more promise than it did a couple of years ago under the Dream Team of Les and Wilson.

[Badger]

1 hour ago, adriansfc said:

 

Managers out of work who might be attracted to premier league - Koeman, Valverde, Favre, Setien, Nuno, Pirlo, Jesse Marsch, Fonseca.

 

Read a couple of these names on a list someone linked yesterday. Don't know about all of them but:

Koeman - mistake to go back ?

Favre - 64 , does he want a new country and a relegation scrap in it ? Might have been a decent shout at the end of a season.

Nuno - interesting, but I had doubts it would work for him at Spurs. Obviously a difficult club, and he walked in at a poor time with the toxic Levy - Kane battle being played out, but part of his success at Wolves was down to the agent connection they had.

Marsch - don't know a lot about him, but he's taken RB Leipzig to a mid-table slump. (Similar story for Van Bommel, sacked after a few week).

Fonseca - this too is an intersting name to throw into the mix, but am left wondering why he's regularly been jilted at the alter, by both spurs, and Newcastle (who even preferred Howe who wasn't too popular on here either).

Sad fact is we're unlikely to get a proven name on the up,(and given our attempt to be clever and unearth one in the past this may not be a bad thing), so we're left looking in the bargain basement for someone to rehabilitate their career.

 

 

[saint77]

2 hours ago, Red said:

Is that the same Salisu that was not fit to play for well over 6 months as Ralph thought he was not ready, and is only playing as we have no other options - Ralph preferred Vesty to him (says it all really about Ralph's thoughts of Salisu). Salisu is promising but only that - he has a lot of mistakes in him and has been arguably responsible for a fair few of our goals conceded.

IMO, and yes it's only my opinion (before you fly off on another one) Ralph had minimal input in his transfer in any case.

And whilst I mentioned Europe, it should be obvious to anyone but you clearly that Ralph's "known" markets are Germany and Austria. I honestly can't decide if you are a details anorak, or a troll?

Salisu was signed with an injury that the club new would take at least 6 months to sort other clubs were ahead of us but we’re put off by the injury but we took the gamble which appears to of paid off 

[It's There]

1 hour ago, Badger said:

Read a couple of these names on a list someone linked yesterday. Don't know about all of them but:

Koeman - mistake to go back ?

Favre - 64 , does he want a new country and a relegation scrap in it ? Might have been a decent shout at the end of a season.

Nuno - interesting, but I had doubts it would work for him at Spurs. Obviously a difficult club, and he walked in at a poor time with the toxic Levy - Kane battle being played out, but part of his success at Wolves was down to the agent connection they had.

Marsch - don't know a lot about him, but he's taken RB Leipzig to a mid-table slump. (Similar story for Van Bommel, sacked after a few week).

Fonseca - this too is an intersting name to throw into the mix, but am left wondering why he's regularly been jilted at the alter, by both spurs, and Newcastle (who even preferred Howe who wasn't too popular on here either).

Sad fact is we're unlikely to get a proven name on the up,(and given our attempt to be clever and unearth one in the past this may not be a bad thing), so we're left looking in the bargain basement for someone to rehabilitate their career.

 

 

I would add Wenger to the list!

[Turkish]

2 hours ago, Badger said:

Read a couple of these names on a list someone linked yesterday. Don't know about all of them but:

Koeman - mistake to go back ?

Favre - 64 , does he want a new country and a relegation scrap in it ? Might have been a decent shout at the end of a season.

Nuno - interesting, but I had doubts it would work for him at Spurs. Obviously a difficult club, and he walked in at a poor time with the toxic Levy - Kane battle being played out, but part of his success at Wolves was down to the agent connection they had.

Marsch - don't know a lot about him, but he's taken RB Leipzig to a mid-table slump. (Similar story for Van Bommel, sacked after a few week).

Fonseca - this too is an intersting name to throw into the mix, but am left wondering why he's regularly been jilted at the alter, by both spurs, and Newcastle (who even preferred Howe who wasn't too popular on here either).

Sad fact is we're unlikely to get a proven name on the up,(and given our attempt to be clever and unearth one in the past this may not be a bad thing), so we're left looking in the bargain basement for someone to rehabilitate their career.

 

 

Would take Nuno, he’d make us tough to beat. I see the hipsters choice from a few years ago Paco Lopez is out of work, he was the guy we simply had to appoint around the time Pellegrino came in I think it was. Another name from the part Rudy Garcia who I believe turned us down once. Could see us trying to be clever though and going for someone like Daniel Farke. Whoever it is though we’d have tracked them for years. 

[Matthew Le God]

19 minutes ago, Turkish said:

Could see us trying to be clever though and going for someone like Daniel Farke. 

How is that 'clever'? Is this your attempt at humour? 🤔😉

Edited 12 December, 2021 by Matthew Le God

[Ex Lion Tamer]

6 hours ago, adriansfc said:

3 years in Ralph is not the manager of a year or two ago. Maybe just stale, maybe too stubborn, maybe not as good as we thought. I'm not sure, but the decisions are consistent terrible. 

New manager or not, we need another DM in January. Romeu is out too much and without him we're screwed. No one else can protect the defence in the same way and our CBs always seem to be written off as shit whenever Romeu is out. Maybe they are shit, but we can keep clean sheets when people are fit. Wonder how they'd get on with the peak Wanyama/Scheiderlin/Davis midfield in front of them. I miss that quality (and 433). It could be recreated with Armstrong, JWP and a decent new signing in there. But I guess we're stuck with 4222 until Ralph leaves. 

Managers out of work who might be attracted to premier league - Koeman, Valverde, Favre, Setien, Nuno, Pirlo, Jesse Marsch, Fonseca.

Maybe none would come, who knows. But there are actually quite a few decent options out there unemployed which is rare. I'd role the dice with any of them, even Koeman just for the change and wildly optimistic hope that Saints is some sort of magical fit that brings the best out of him rather than a brief anomaly in a rubbish managerial career. 

Pirlo is a terrible shout, he was a disaster at Juve

[Ex Lion Tamer]

1 hour ago, Matthew Le God said:

How is that 'clever'? Is this your attempt at humour? 🤔😉

 

[Jeremy Corbyn]

Athletic saying Dele Alli available on loan in Jan.  Appreciate he's been out of it for a couple of seasons but he's much better than what we have if he returns to any sort of form.  Good mates with KWP too.

[Rickman42]

Dele Alli available for loan in January - 

Considering his best mate is Kyle Walker-Peters and they spent the summer training together in Dubai, it might not be unreasonable move from us! We clearly need a different number 10 option!

[Turkish]

3 minutes ago, Jeremy Corbyn said:

Athletic saying Dele Alli available on loan in Jan.  Appreciate he's been out of it for a couple of seasons but he's much better than what we have if he returns to any sort of form.  Good mates with KWP too.

Personally i always thought he was over rated but sad that a player who was once being touted as the next star of English football with Real Madrid meant to be interested struggles to get a game at Spurs now. Always came across as a bit of a knob, but miles better than we've got, we could do with a few knobs to be fair rather than a team of son in laws, like Lord Duck calls them

[SuperSAINT]

9 minutes ago, Rickman42 said:

Considering his best mate is Kyle Walker-Peters and they spent the summer training together in Dubai, it might not be unreasonable move from us! We clearly need a different number 10 option!

Wage$

[Jeremy Corbyn]

9 minutes ago, Turkish said:

Personally i always thought he was over rated but sad that a player who was once being touted as the next star of English football with Real Madrid meant to be interested struggles to get a game at Spurs now. Always came across as a bit of a knob, but miles better than we've got, we could do with a few knobs to be fair rather than a team of son in laws, like Lord Duck calls them

At his best he scored 18 league goals in one season for Spurs, he was immense.  That was a while ago now though.  

[Lighthouse]

Right now the benchmark is set by Elyounoussi so I’d take even a half-arsed Dele Alli. 

[S-Clarke]

55 minutes ago, Rickman42 said:

Dele Alli available for loan in January - 

Considering his best mate is Kyle Walker-Peters and they spent the summer training together in Dubai, it might not be unreasonable move from us! We clearly need a different number 10 option!

Wages would rule that out almost straight away, even 50% would be breaking our structure I'd have thought.

He'll end up at Newcastle without doubt.

[Ivan Katalinic's 'tache]

25 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

He'll end up at Newcastle without doubt.

A sentence which will be applied to many a player in January, no doubt.

[TWar]

Would take Alli in a second. Excellent player.

Has been poor of late for Spurs but even if he reproduces 25% of what he had a couple of seasons back he is miles ahead of what we have right now. Reminds me of Lingard to West Ham last year, but better.

As said by others, little chance we get him. Wages will be huge and we are one of the least well off clubs in the league. Everton, Newcastle, West Ham, or Leicester may have an eye on him.

[Matthew Le God]

Dele Alli is very close mates with Walker-Peters. They went on holiday together this summer. Maybe that could help a loan come to fruition.... 

[AlexLaw76]

2 minutes ago, Matthew Le God said:

Dele Alli is very close mates with Walker-Peters. They went on holiday together this summer. Maybe that could help a loan come to fruition.... 

what loan move? are interested?

[Turkish]

10 minutes ago, TWar said:

Would take Alli in a second. Excellent player.

Has been poor of late for Spurs but even if he reproduces 25% of what he had a couple of seasons back he is miles ahead of what we have right now. Reminds me of Lingard to West Ham last year, but better.

As said by others, little chance we get him. Wages will be huge and we are one of the least well off clubs in the league. Everton, Newcastle, West Ham, or Leicester may have an eye on him.

If he reproduces 25% of what he produced for spurs a couple of season ago that'll be about 10 appearances and 2 goals in a season. Brilliant. 🙄