January 2023 Transfer Window

[Chez]

  On 09/01/2023 at 19:26, SOTONSEASTSIDE said:

Gakpo comes to mind, but hey jesus wept for having an opinion!! FFS

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We didn't lose out on Gakpo due to a low bid. It's been widely reported that a fee was agreed between clubs, the player just chose not to come as he wanted to go to a big club. 

[The Curse of St Mary's]

  On 09/01/2023 at 20:53, Chez said:

We didn't lose out on Gakpo due to a low bid. It's been widely reported that a fee was agreed between clubs, the player just chose not to come as he wanted to go to a big club. 

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Van Gaal persuaded him to stay at PSV and wait for bigger move.

[Saint Garrett]

  On 09/01/2023 at 20:35, Saint Matty 76 said:

Lyall from SSN said on Twitter that Argentinian striker Alcaraz was in Southampton whilst he was actually just bordering a plane in Argentina, so I think it's worth taking what they say with a pinch of salt.

On the off chance they are right about 2 players close, they definitely meant Alcaraz as one of them given Lyall's tweet.

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Skysports have no idea. They never do. Their sources are basically everyone else on twitter. When was the last time they broke a story, rather than just reported a story that was already in the public domain?? 

[Saint Garrett]

…

Edited 9 January, 2023 by Saint Garrett
Dupe

[SotonianWill]

  On 09/01/2023 at 20:56, The Curse of St Mary's said:

Van Gaal persuaded him to stay at PSV and wait for bigger move.

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fair play to him, seems like a genius now. 

[Chris cooper]

  On 09/01/2023 at 20:09, saintant said:

Beto looks perfect for us. A big powerful centre forward who looks quick and has good skill. He's strong in the air and scores plenty of goals. Hope we get him.

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He’s definitely a unit .. quick and strong 💪🏻 moffi looks the more prolific tho

[Chez]

  On 09/01/2023 at 21:04, Chris cooper said:

He’s definitely a unit .. quick and strong 💪🏻 moffi looks the more prolific tho

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Pretty similar goal records.

Beto has scored 17 in last 44 games (last two seasons in Italian top flight). 11 from 32 the season before (in Portugal's top flight).

Moffi 18 goals in last 52 games (last two seasons). 15 from 34 the season before that. (all in French top flight)

 

[Master Bates]

  On 09/01/2023 at 21:16, Chez said:

Pretty similar goal records.

Beto has scored 17 in last 44 games (last two seasons in Italian top flight). 11 from 32 the season before (in Portugal's top flight).

Moffi 18 goals in last 52 games (last two seasons). 15 from 34 the season before that. (all in French top flight)

 

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Can we have both please?

[leeham_69]

  On 09/01/2023 at 21:16, Chez said:

Pretty similar goal records.

Beto has scored 17 in last 44 games (last two seasons in Italian top flight). 11 from 32 the season before (in Portugal's top flight).

Moffi 18 goals in last 52 games (last two seasons). 15 from 34 the season before that. (all in French top flight)

 

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get both!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[woodsaint1]

I wonder if one of the signings which might go under the radar is Tete (Shakhtar, on loan to Lyon). Was reportedly on the verge of signing for us due to the Ukraine war until the PL blocked FIFAs ruling on any mid season moves. Given our links to Jackson, it seems that we're still interested in a winger

[Lee On Solent Saint]

  On 09/01/2023 at 21:16, Chez said:

Pretty similar goal records.

Beto has scored 17 in last 44 games (last two seasons in Italian top flight). 11 from 32 the season before (in Portugal's top flight).

Moffi 18 goals in last 52 games (last two seasons). 15 from 34 the season before that. (all in French top flight)

 

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Standard of the French League isn't particularly great, as we have seen with Diallo and Perraud

Edited 9 January, 2023 by Lee On Solent Saint

[verlaine1979]

I assumed since Udinese only bought Beto this summer that there's no chance they'd sell him. But according to Wikipedia it was an obligation to buy after his loan year, so possibly less of an about-face if they do cash in.

[austsaint]

  On 09/01/2023 at 15:52, Maggie May said:

From Escape from Alcatraz to Escape with Alcaraz. 

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I'm awarding this post of 2023, (at this stage).    

Can someone enlighten me with a reason we need a CB like Keane when ABK, C.C. and Salisu with back up from Lyanco appears well good enough.    Especially if we see more of a 4-2-4 set up and the midfield is strengthened along with Lavia's return to full fitness.    Other areas seem much more important to me.

[Chez]

  On 09/01/2023 at 21:45, Lee On Solent Saint said:

Standard of the French League isn't particularly great, as we have seen with Diallo and Perraud

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from the highlights videos, I'm a Beto man, but no idea if either are what we need or will work out. Udinese will want €30m for Beto, so realistically, he ain't coming here. Not seen anything written other than that one snippet linking him to us in a larger story, all be it, it was abour Alcaraz to Saints. And we know how that turned out!

[pimpin4rizeal]

  On 09/01/2023 at 19:00, Saint Garrett said:

I don’t agree with you. It’s not like you start negotiations in January. They could and should have had a new striker in the door to play against Forest, we have known we’ve needed a striker since Broja went back to Chelsea last May. 

A new striker would have lifted the fans, and who knows, might have been the difference between us winning and losing against Forest! 

IMO, this is not a standard window, because we are bottom and desperate. 

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This! 
it should be the absolute priority and needs to be done as fast as possible .. che is missing chances pretty much every game where if he could have put us in front like vs forest could have totally changed the complexion of the match .. we keep finding ourselves behind and him not taking chances is a huge part of that..

tbh we should be going all out to get the striker before worrying about anything else.. (I do like the look of our signings though)

not sure on moffi or Beto myself but if we got ings I’m convinced we are staying up.. we need to get the man for the job here not bargain basement as this will be one of the most important signings we can ever make.

[Le Timmier]

  On 09/01/2023 at 21:52, austsaint said:

I'm awarding this post of 2023, (at this stage).    

Can someone enlighten me with a reason we need a CB like Keane when ABK, C.C. and Salisu with back up from Lyanco appears well good enough.    Especially if we see more of a 4-2-4 set up and the midfield is strengthened along with Lavia's return to full fitness.    Other areas seem much more important to me.

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Probably means more 5 at the back still to come

[CB Fry]

Apologies if this is already been mentioned but I read in the Athletic piece about our multi club model that the new Bournemouth owners are about to take a stake in Lorient. 

This to me makes the Moffi sale to us significantly less likely. 

Are we going to get to place in ten years time where every club is part of some bloody chain of clubs?

[Convict Colony]

  On 09/01/2023 at 21:16, Chez said:

Pretty similar goal records.

Beto has scored 17 in last 44 games (last two seasons in Italian top flight). 11 from 32 the season before (in Portugal's top flight).

Moffi 18 goals in last 52 games (last two seasons). 15 from 34 the season before that. (all in French top flight)

 

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I give goals against Italian defenders a higher weighting than french ones.

[Charlie Wayman]

  On 09/01/2023 at 21:45, Lee On Solent Saint said:

Standard of the French League isn't particularly great, as we have seen with Diallo and Perraud

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Yet the French have this annoying habit of winning the odd World Cup?

[Saint86]

  On 10/01/2023 at 08:13, Charlie Wayman said:

Yet the French have this annoying habit of winning the odd World Cup?

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France didn't win the world cup, Argentina did... and only two Argentina players are from Ligue 1.... 🤷‍♂️

5 from the prem, 10 from La Liga, and 4 from Serie A.

Edited 10 January, 2023 by Saint86

[Sunglasses Ron]

Sorry if asked already but what's the general feeling about our transfer activity given our league position?  I'm assuming here that we get in the two or three other players that we are being linked with, which should provide a far more potent attack.  That said, all the other clubs are probably going to strengthen too.  

Statistically, we seem very likely to go down, but I guess there's still half a season to go  / 'only' 4 points to make up and we have no option than to throw the proverbial kitchen sink at staying up.  What we're doing must been seen as positive (i.e. we're not going down without a fight) but I guess you wonder about the financial implications if the most likely scenario plays out.

Of course, the biggest threat to our chances of staying up is our beloved Nathan Jones.  I hope I'm wrong but I just can't see any way we stay up at the moment with him in charge.

[Give it to Ron]

  On 10/01/2023 at 08:56, Sunglasses Ron said:

Sorry if asked already but what's the general feeling about our transfer activity given our league position?  I'm assuming here that we get in the two or three other players that we are being linked with, which should provide a far more potent attack.  That said, all the other clubs are probably going to strengthen too.  

Statistically, we seem very likely to go down, but I guess there's still half a season to go  / 'only' 4 points to make up and we have no option than to throw the proverbial kitchen sink at staying up.  What we're doing must been seen as positive (i.e. we're not going down without a fight) but I guess you wonder about the financial implications if the most likely scenario plays out.

Of course, the biggest threat to our chances of staying up is our beloved Nathan Jones.  I hope I'm wrong but I just can't see any way we stay up at the moment with him in charge.

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My feelings haven’t changed we still haven’t replaced Ings with a goal scorer.

Everyone knows we need one yet  with our magical black box and scouting network we can’t find one better than Adams, Armstrong or Shane Long!

Why we didn’t go for Ineacho or Nketiah in summer I find baffling both score goals in Prem. 

[tajjuk]

  On 10/01/2023 at 08:13, Charlie Wayman said:

Yet the French have this annoying habit of winning the odd World Cup?

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Because their league is weak and PSG aside most of the clubs are pretty poor, which means there are plenty of opportunities for them to blood youngsters and this is a good route for them to earn money by selling them on to bigger leagues.

Of Europe's 'big 5' leagues, the French league is very firmly 5th in that ranking and it's only really there because of PSG. 

You can see it in European competitions, they have only won the European Cup once, Marseille in 1993 and only had 6 finalists. Both Holland and Portugal have won it a lot more.

They also have never won the UEFA Cup/Europa League either, and again just 5 finalists. 

In the last 25 years they haven't won a single European trophy and only reached the final of either competition 4 times, and that is with PSGs massive spending power of the last 10 years. 

In terms of quality of league, finances, big clubs, top players Ligue 1 is quite a bit behind Serie A. 

[waylander]

  On 10/01/2023 at 08:13, Charlie Wayman said:

Yet the French have this annoying habit of winning the odd World Cup?

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But where do their best players play (other than PSG)?

[sadoldgit]

  On 09/01/2023 at 21:58, pimpin4rizeal said:

This! 
it should be the absolute priority and needs to be done as fast as possible .. che is missing chances pretty much every game where if he could have put us in front like vs forest could have totally changed the complexion of the match .. we keep finding ourselves behind and him not taking chances is a huge part of that..

tbh we should be going all out to get the striker before worrying about anything else.. (I do like the look of our signings though)

not sure on moffi or Beto myself but if we got ings I’m convinced we are staying up.. we need to get the man for the job here not bargain basement as this will be one of the most important signings we can ever make.

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I expect if it was that easy and straightforward for a club of our size to get the player in that we want at the price we want straight away then it would have happened. There seems to be this perception that no one at the club starts to think about transfers until the day the windows open. They have made it clear that they are always working on transfer possibilities, the reason these players don’t magically appear on the opening days of the window is because it is not that easy to attract the quality you want when so many other clubs are competing for similar players and you don’t have the budget of Manchester City. Any agent worth his salt will hold out for the best deal for his client. We have to wait until we become the best deal.

[OldNick]

I saw a glimpse on SSN that Saints were after a Celtic player but didnt catch who it was. If the clip of him driving through the midfield to score was not unusual he looks an exciting positive player.

[saint lard]

  On 10/01/2023 at 11:00, OldNick said:

I saw a glimpse on SSN that Saints were after a Celtic player but didnt catch who it was. If the clip of him driving through the midfield to score was not unusual he looks an exciting positive player.

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Probably Maeda. It’s been mooted. 🤷🏻‍♂️

[PDobbo]

  On 10/01/2023 at 11:00, OldNick said:

I saw a glimpse on SSN that Saints were after a Celtic player but didnt catch who it was. If the clip of him driving through the midfield to score was not unusual he looks an exciting positive player.

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Yes I saw the end of that too, I think it was Maeda they were talking about. 

[Pamplemousse]

 

No ide how reliable the source is but suggests we're looking at Doku, who Rennes don't want to leave because of injuries to other players

[The Kraken]

A young forward with 2 goals in 54 appearances his club, sounds right up our street.

[Convict Colony]

  On 10/01/2023 at 09:14, tajjuk said:

Because their league is weak and PSG aside most of the clubs are pretty poor, which means there are plenty of opportunities for them to blood youngsters and this is a good route for them to earn money by selling them on to bigger leagues.

Of Europe's 'big 5' leagues, the French league is very firmly 5th in that ranking and it's only really there because of PSG. 

You can see it in European competitions, they have only won the European Cup once, Marseille in 1993 and only had 6 finalists. Both Holland and Portugal have won it a lot more.

They also have never won the UEFA Cup/Europa League either, and again just 5 finalists. 

In the last 25 years they haven't won a single European trophy and only reached the final of either competition 4 times, and that is with PSGs massive spending power of the last 10 years. 

In terms of quality of league, finances, big clubs, top players Ligue 1 is quite a bit behind Serie A. 

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[saintwbu]

  On 10/01/2023 at 11:15, Pamplemousse said:

 

No ide how reliable the source is but suggests we're looking at Doku, who Rennes don't want to leave because of injuries to other players

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I remember him coming on during the Euro’s and looking absolutely electric as a youngster, not sure if he’s pushed on much from there but if i’d heard we were signing him after that tournament i’d be excited.

[hypochondriac]

Still no striker then. Doesn't look like we will have one in place to play in our must win game against Everton.

[AlexLaw76]

9/10 window so far?

[pimpin4rizeal]

  On 10/01/2023 at 11:15, Pamplemousse said:

 

No ide how reliable the source is but suggests we're looking at Doku, who Rennes don't want to leave because of injuries to other players

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Oh wow I suggested him in the summer but never thought it would happen, would absolute love this… he was destroying Italy at last euros. pure pace and power would be absolutely insane signing 😍😍😍😍

[SotonianWill]

  On 10/01/2023 at 11:37, AlexLaw76 said:

9/10 window so far?

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Not until a striker is signed will this window be considered anything above a 6/10

[Saint Garrett]

  On 10/01/2023 at 11:15, Pamplemousse said:

 

No ide how reliable the source is but suggests we're looking at Doku, who Rennes don't want to leave because of injuries to other players

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That would be a class signing, not sure I see us spending €8m on Orsic, €15m on Alcaraz, €25m on Doku, and bringing in a CB and spending €20m odd on a striker though.

Annoyingly, if these players were bought at the start of the season, (and I'm well aware they haven't actually signed), who knows where we could have pushed onto this sesaon under Ralph.

However, even if we signed all these and didn't sign a striker, it would still be a failure IMO, as it's the one position we are desperate for and goals win games...!

[SotonianWill]

Looks like a bit of a raw talent from this video, which I don't think is exactly what we need in the situation we are in (already have edozie doing similar). On the plus side he seems more direct than any player we have so wouldn't be fully against him.

Edited 10 January, 2023 by SotonianWill

[saintwbu]

Chance creation definitely feels like a massive issue for us, so maybe our statistic-loving overlords have decided that’s more of an issue than finishing. To be fair to Che there are plenty of strikers with good goal numbers but miss loads of chances, he doesn’t get loads of chances.

[tajjuk]

He's not exactly a goalscorer and doesn't seem to be playing regularly for Rennes this season, only 260 mins in the league and only 1 start (no goals and or assists either).

Seems to be one of those highly rated talents that hasn't quite put the talent consistently on the pitch.

He'll probably win quite a lot of freekicks for JWP though. 

Edited 10 January, 2023 by tajjuk

[Fabrice Fernandes no.1 fan]

  On 10/01/2023 at 11:57, saintwbu said:

Chance creation definitely feels like a massive issue for us, so maybe our statistic-loving overlords have decided that’s more of an issue than finishing. To be fair to Che there are plenty of strikers with good goal numbers but miss loads of chances, he doesn’t get loads of chances.

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Agreed, we don't make enough chances and then when we do, we don't convert enough of them.

The approach seems to be, give Adams 5 chances a game and hope he scores one, rather than giving another striker 2 chances a game and hoping they score one of the two

[Danbert]

  On 10/01/2023 at 11:57, saintwbu said:

Chance creation definitely feels like a massive issue for us, so maybe our statistic-loving overlords have decided that’s more of an issue than finishing. To be fair to Che there are plenty of strikers with good goal numbers but miss loads of chances, he doesn’t get loads of chances.

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While we're far from brilliant at creating chances, our expected goals have us higher up the league than we actually are. The stats say that our big problem is be putting away the chances we create. A problem which I very much hope our stats obsessed overloads will address, because Adam fucking Armstrong aint the answer.

https://understat.com/league/EPL

[kelkel31]

  On 10/01/2023 at 10:02, sadoldgit said:

I expect if it was that easy and straightforward for a club of our size to get the player in that we want at the price we want straight away then it would have happened. There seems to be this perception that no one at the club starts to think about transfers until the day the windows open. They have made it clear that they are always working on transfer possibilities, the reason these players don’t magically appear on the opening days of the window is because it is not that easy to attract the quality you want when so many other clubs are competing for similar players and you don’t have the budget of Manchester City. Any agent worth his salt will hold out for the best deal for his client. We have to wait until we become the best deal.

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We dont have this perception of work starting in January, we have evidence of window after window after window not getting players into the club early in the window even when there are glaringly obvious weaknesses in our squads.

[revolution saint]

Obviously these are only links but seems like we've been linked with Doku, Maeda and Jackson who are all predominantly wide players rather than out and out strikers.  Add them to Orsic, Edozie, S Armstrong, Aribo, Walcott, Elynoussi.  The new lad can also play the role. 

Appreciate we won't sign any or all of the ones linked but it's certainly not a position we're struggling for numbers in, although quality is a different argument.  I'm no different to anyone else - a striker is an absolute necessity. 

My guess is we'll end up with Jackson who can play as a forward even though he's mainly a wide player.

[pimpin4rizeal]

  On 10/01/2023 at 12:06, tajjuk said:

He's not exactly a goalscorer and doesn't seem to be playing regularly for Rennes this season, only 260 mins in the league and only 1 start (no goals and or assists either).

Seems to be one of those highly rated talents that hasn't quite put the talent consistently on the pitch.

He'll probably win quite a lot of freekicks for JWP though. 

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For those who go haven’t seen him he has that explosive factor that you rarely get with players like Henry and mbappe.: insanely fast and looks scary when running at players after the match vs Italy I thought he was destined to be Belgiums next big thing and end up at a Liverpool or something..

This would probably be my dream signing so chances of it happening are slim lol

[trousers]

Dear Sport Republic,

We. Need. A. £20m-£30m bracket. Centre. Forward. To. Stand. A. Chance. Of. Staying. Up.

Thanks in advance,

Trousers (Lord)

[manji]

  On 10/01/2023 at 11:05, PDobbo said:

Yes I saw the end of that too, I think it was Maeda they were talking about. 

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It was Maeda. Scored against Rangers last week. Be a good signing. Yoshida has been at the last couple of matches probably recommended us to him.

[Toussaint]

  On 10/01/2023 at 11:35, hypochondriac said:

Still no striker then. Doesn't look like we will have one in place to play in our must win game against Everton.

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Che isn't the whole problem, yes he snatches at, and misses lots of chances. But our balls into the area are terrible or non existent. I'm not saying a striker won't help, but a few decent balls into the danger areas and a few goals from midfield will also improve things massively. If we can give Che a few decent chances each game, then it is not the end of the world if he misses one or 2, where is if he misses the only opportunity he gets in a game.,  

[Toussaint]

  On 10/01/2023 at 12:41, trousers said:

Dear Sport Republic,

We. Need. A. £20m-£30m bracket. Centre. Forward. To. Stand. A. Chance. Of. Staying. Up.

Thanks in advance,

Trousers (Lord)

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That should do it, why did you leave it so long to wield your power?

[swannymere]

  On 10/01/2023 at 12:46, Toussaint said:

That should do it, why did you leave it so long to wield your power?

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The delay has cost us points, Lord Trousers should be ashamed.