Summer Transfer Window 2023

[The Kraken]

4 minutes ago, Toadhall Saint said:

https://www.goodisonnews.com/2023/08/24/double-everton-blow-as-beto-and-che-adams-deals-considered-highly-unlikely/

I wonder if Sean Dyche would be interested in a striker who is (supposedly) good in the air and previously banged in goals for fun in Europe. Going cheap.

[SaintTex]

4 hours ago, Sheaf Saint said:

Swansea won't care who they sell to as long as they get the best fee. Just because we poached their manager, they won't just refuse to deal with us again out of spite if it means losing out on £millions. 

What's more likely is that the player has already signalled through his agent that, for whatever reason, he doesn't want to come to us. Maybe Leeds are offering better personal terms than we would have, or maybe he didn't get on with Martin and doesn't want to play under him again. Who knows.

If we really wanted him, and he really wants to come to us, then I'm sure we would be able to beat Leeds' offer, but I guess it all hinges on Che leaving first.

Well, we let Lavia go to Chelsea for £58mil when we had an offer from Liverpool for £60mil. Yes, Lavia did seem to indicate his club preference late, which obviously Southampton considered. By all accounts Lavia had remained a professional throughout the whole process, so i think the club felt screwing him over for £2mil more and sending him to a club he did not prefer wasn't good business.

I have no idea if Piroe has a strong preference where he wants to play.

[OldNick]

Just now, Lighthouse said:

Why?

Because the club would not want to let a fantastic price be passed. Che will be a free agent and so the business people will want to get the money in.

If we lose him there is no guarantee we wouldn't go up, wheras they know we wont get a penny for him in a few months.

It is a balancing act, you also have to take into account that Che wants to play in the PL

[hypochondriac]

I think if people were honest with themselves, there wouldn't be many who were predicting us to be at this stage of the window having sold off most of our players worth selling, with the others linked with moves away, a week to go until the window shuts and we've brought in one promising youngster, a loanee and a free transfer. I fully expected us to have improved the attack and defence by now, not potentially weaken them further with more outgoings. The only positive is that we have been successful on the pitch which takes the pressure off a bit. I dread to think what the mood would be like had we started like Leeds. 

[James]

1 minute ago, hypochondriac said:

I think if people were honest with themselves, there wouldn't be many who were predicting us to be at this stage of the window having sold off most of our players worth selling, with the others linked with moves away, a week to go until the window shuts and we've brought in one promising youngster, a loanee and a free transfer. I fully expected us to have improved the attack and defence by now, not potentially weaken them further with more outgoings. The only positive is that we have been successful on the pitch which takes the pressure off a bit. I dread to think what the mood would be like had we started like Leeds. 

Irrespective of what happens now we’ve gambled by leaving things very late. Martin said at the weekend that he was confident we’d have a stronger squad by the time the window closes so, whilst he doesn’t control the transfers, we’ll have to trust him on that for the moment. Given the stage we are at you would hope we’d be targeting the likes of Piroe (maybe we are but he wants to go to Leeds?) as if we bring in the young midfielder from Holland or a striker from the SPL then its a pretty big ask for them to be firing straight away. 

[redandwhitey]

On 19/08/2023 at 00:49, hypochondriac said:

Eh? I think you have misread or misunderstood the post. My response was to smirking Saint talking about newly relegated teams who had lost players who were starters. I did ask him what he meant by starters but I assumed he meant starters from the previous season. If he didn't mean that then I find it highly questionable the idea that Watford lost 9 of their starting championship 11 after the season had started. 

Watching today’s video, would people prefer Sulemana or Piroe

[jayrivers]

15 minutes ago, Rebel said:

That and the fact Sports Republic want the £150M or whatever it was they put in to the club before relegation back and that is where most of the money made from selling players will be going.

Haven't they explicitly said that any money made will be put back into the club. This wont always be on transfers, but there has been zero suggestion of this from the club. It's just some assumptions from posters.

[hypochondriac]

1 minute ago, James said:

Irrespective of what happens now we’ve gambled by leaving things very late. Martin said at the weekend that he was confident we’d have a stronger squad by the time the window closes so, whilst he doesn’t control the transfers, we’ll have to trust him on that for the moment. Given the stage we are at you would hope we’d be targeting the likes of Piroe (maybe we are but he wants to go to Leeds?) as if we bring in the young midfielder from Holland or a striker from the SPL then its a pretty big ask for them to be firing straight away. 

I think Martin said something about getting more in this week. I wonder if he's disappointed. 

[hypochondriac]

1 minute ago, redandwhitey said:

Watching today’s video, would people prefer Sulemana or Piroe

Totally different players and positions. 

[jayrivers]

6 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

I think if people were honest with themselves, there wouldn't be many who were predicting us to be at this stage of the window having sold off most of our players worth selling, with the others linked with moves away, a week to go until the window shuts and we've brought in one promising youngster, a loanee and a free transfer. I fully expected us to have improved the attack and defence by now, not potentially weaken them further with more outgoings. The only positive is that we have been successful on the pitch which takes the pressure off a bit. I dread to think what the mood would be like had we started like Leeds. 

I don't know to be honest. Martin has always said that the team would be different come the end of the window. 

We still, today, have a very strong team which is a size of 26. So I would expect as we sell players now, then we will be replacing / strengthening. 

[Turkish]

2 hours ago, sadoldgit said:

You have to feel sorry for those who have been badly misadvised in the Circle of Trust, despite the irritating smugness. Still, as we have seen by those hanging on every word from the likes of Donald Trump and Boris Johnson, perhaps they have now learned a valuable lesson.

Never trust a narcissist!

Personally I’d never trust a Jew hating, terrorist loving Corbynite who dismisses rioting and acts of terror as being “all for a good cause” Or someone who spends their day trying to prove things against Jews, or someone who misrepresents facts about child killlers to support their own arguments on internet forums. 
 

never trust someone who loves a terrorist!

[Miltonaggro]

One thing to consider as a cause for optimism. When Wilcox came he joined with Man City on the crest of a wave, his stock as high as it is likely to get. Bit of a coup for Saints. I don’t think he joined to be a hatchet man or a yes man, and the board could have employed a hatchet man or a yes man much, much cheaper. Ankersen being miles away from the day to day in Turkey and France is also a positive, particularly if it’s by design. 
 

Fuckety frustrating at the mo but we have to wait for the close of the window. Let’s hope that this last week is positively Koemanesque! Keep the faith chaps, imagine a convincing win tomorrow and that daft sticker album filing up a bit next week. 

[Mr Brightside]

https://www.leedsunited.news/news/leeds-signing-nadiem-amiri-is-a-double-boost-in-hunt-for-instant-promotion-hurts-southampton/

Pretty cocky. Let’s hope it doesn’t pan out that way.  No mention of Piroe. 

Edited 24 August, 2023 by Mr Brightside

[Jimbo]

16 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

I think if people were honest with themselves, there wouldn't be many who were predicting us to be at this stage of the window having sold off most of our players worth selling, with the others linked with moves away, a week to go until the window shuts and we've brought in one promising youngster, a loanee and a free transfer. I fully expected us to have improved the attack and defence by now, not potentially weaken them further with more outgoings. The only positive is that we have been successful on the pitch which takes the pressure off a bit. I dread to think what the mood would be like had we started like Leeds. 

Predicted exactly this back in May, common sense really after last seasons £150m down the drain.

[Saint86]

12 minutes ago, Turkish said:

Personally I’d never trust a Jew hating, terrorist loving Corbynite who dismisses rioting and acts of terror as being “all for a good cause” Or someone who spends their day trying to prove things against Jews, or someone who misrepresents facts about child killlers to support their own arguments on internet forums. 
 

never trust someone who loves a terrorist!

I for one am just missing the Napoleonic wars chat...

[Saint86]

6 minutes ago, Mr Brightside said:

https://www.leedsunited.news/news/leeds-signing-nadiem-amiri-is-a-double-boost-in-hunt-for-instant-promotion-hurts-southampton/

Pretty cocky. Let’s hope it doesn’t pan out that way.  No mention of Piroe. 

That article is written as if Leeds have a decent shot at promotion... It's not going to pan out that way 😄

[The Kraken]

Just now, Miltonaggro said:

One thing to consider as a cause for optimism. When Wilcox came he joined with Man City on the crest of a wave, his stock as high as it is likely to get. Bit of a coup for Saints. I don’t think he joined to be a hatchet man or a yes man, and the board could have employed a hatchet man or a yes man much, much cheaper. Ankersen being miles away from the day to day in Turkey and France is also a positive, particularly if it’s by design. 
 

Fuckety frustrating at the mo but we have to wait for the close of the window. Let’s hope that this last week is positively Koemanesque! Keep the faith chaps, imagine a convincing win tomorrow and that daft sticker album filing up a bit next week. 

Meh, I’m quite positive about where we are.

I find it a good thing that we’ve only so far lost 3 or 4 genuine first choice players from last season (Salisu, JWP, Lavia plus Livra). It’s been great to see three ex-loanees come in and have such instant impact; Tella with goal impacts, Smallbone looked very tidy in midfield, and Stephens installed as club captain. A week to go yet but we’ve still kept hold of KWP, Perraud, ABK, Tella, Adams, Sulemana, Alcaraz; before the window I genuinely thought we’d lose all of those. Flynn Downes looks to be a great signing for this level, Shea Charles looks like an absolute prospect, and Sam A-A is a star in the making. And we’ve got 7 points from 9 playing football that is easy in the eye.

I’m thoroughly enjoying the season so far, I very much like the incoming players who have come in and generally replaced the key players we have lost. A week of mayhem to go, but I see much positivity in where we are.

[hypochondriac]

6 minutes ago, Jimbo said:

Predicted exactly this back in May, common sense really after last seasons £150m down the drain.

Bollocks did you predict we would have a week to go with no strengthening of our centre backs or attack. You might have predicted we would sell a lot or most of our good players but you don't have to be Nostradamus to predict th

[Miltonaggro]

1 hour ago, The Kraken said:

Meh, I’m quite positive about where we are.

I find it a good thing that we’ve only so far lost 3 or 4 genuine first choice players from last season (Salisu, JWP, Lavia plus Livra). It’s been great to see three ex-loanees come in and have such instant impact; Tella with goal impacts, Smallbone looked very tidy in midfield, and Stephens installed as club captain. A week to go yet but we’ve still kept hold of KWP, Perraud, ABK, Tella, Adams, Sulemana, Alcaraz; before the window I genuinely thought we’d lose all of those. Flynn Downes looks to be a great signing for this level, Shea Charles looks like an absolute prospect, and Sam A-A is a star in the making. And we’ve got 7 points from 9 playing football that is easy in the eye.

I’m thoroughly enjoying the season so far, I very much like the incoming players who have come in and generally replaced the key players we have lost. A week of mayhem to go, but I see much positivity in where we are.

Agree with all of that. Really looking forward to SMS Saturday afternoon, been a while since that was regularly the case. 

Edited 24 August, 2023 by Miltonaggro

[23rdSaint]

1 minute ago, Miltonaggro said:

Agree with all of that. Really looking forward to SMS tomorrow afternoon, been a while since that was the case. 

Hope it's not tomorrow afternoon!

[hypochondriac]

1 minute ago, Miltonaggro said:

Agree with all of that. Really looking forward to SMS tomorrow afternoon, been a while since that was the case. 

The pieces are there to smash QPR on Saturday and give everyone a boost before the window closes. I'd love us to get a comfortable win where we end up a few goals clear. I can't remember the last time that happened. 

[The Kraken]

1 minute ago, Miltonaggro said:

Agree with all of that. Really looking forward to SMS tomorrow afternoon, been a while since that was the case. 

You really are excited, the game isn’t until Saturday! 😉

[Hopper]

With the Everton move looking likely to be falling through, you've got to think a renewed effort to find terms with Adams might be the play now. Perhaps with a break clause if we fail to get promotion?

[BERMUDASAINT]

Blast from the past still at it.

 

According to Fabrizio Romano, Ryan Bertrand, who did not make a single appearance last season due to a knee injury, is fit again and training with Chelsea's loan development group. 

[Smirking_Saint]

30 minutes ago, jayrivers said:

Haven't they explicitly said that any money made will be put back into the club. This wont always be on transfers, but there has been zero suggestion of this from the club. It's just some assumptions from posters.

Are you expecting us to spend 140m in the Champ ?

[Suhari]

28 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

I think Martin said something about getting more in this week. I wonder if he's disappointed. 

It's starting to get a litlle bit squeeky bum time.

SR did shell out a good amount of ££ last season. Would like to think they are happy to do so again, but maybe the ill-conceived 'spend to save us' January fun was too much for Dragan.

Hopefully there's a busy last week before anything SLAMS shut.

And a win on Saturday too, of course.

[AlexLaw76]

1 minute ago, Smirking_Saint said:

Are you expecting us to spend 140m in the Champ ?

Not sure anyone does. bit of a daft point really

[Smirking_Saint]

Just now, AlexLaw76 said:

Not sure anyone does. bit of a daft point really

Exactly 

[hypochondriac]

Just now, Suhari said:

It's starting to get a litlle bit squeeky bum time.

SR did shell out a good amount of ££ last season. Would like to think they are happy to do so again, but maybe the ill-conceived 'spend to save us' January fun was too much for Dragan.

Hopefully there's a busy last week before anything SLAMS shut.

And a win on Saturday too, of course.

I don't believe all this doom mongering about only selling things to cover the spending from last year. I'm sure some of it is that but we obviously want to make some decent signings as well and I'm confident we will do over the next week. The key is if we can effectively replace everyone who has left or is leaving in that time and I'm not confident we will be capable of doing that. 

[AlexLaw76]

Just now, Smirking_Saint said:

Exactly 

I think many expected more than what we have done. By the sounds of it, so does the manager (maybe)

[hypochondriac]

3 minutes ago, Smirking_Saint said:

Are you expecting us to spend 140m in the Champ ?

I'm not even that fussed about the amount spent. I just really think we need a refresh of some of the squad and a strengthening throughout the team including some of our strength in depth which we really don't have at the moment. Four players minimum I would say. 

[Midlandsaint]

Che been offered a 3 year deal earlier this summer, still on the table

[Ex Lion Tamer]

4 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

I don't believe all this doom mongering about only selling things to cover the spending from last year. I'm sure some of it is that but we obviously want to make some decent signings as well and I'm confident we will do over the next week. The key is if we can effectively replace everyone who has left or is leaving in that time and I'm not confident we will be capable of doing that. 

I know some people have a low opinion of our board but they (the board) would have to be raving lunatics to look at the sales of Lavia and Tino and think, "right, the thing to do now isn't to invest in new young talent, but to try to get back the money we spent last year".

Edited 24 August, 2023 by Ex Lion Tamer

[Dusic]

Interesting moment for the club to leak an offer of a contract being on the table.

As with Piroe and Swansea, don't see why we would allow Adams to run his contract down.

Surely its either sign a new deal or be sold.

If the window passes and he doesn't sign one I don't see it being a huge amount more likely in Sept or Oct.

Still think he goes this window.

Edited 24 August, 2023 by Dusic

[The Kraken]

1 minute ago, Dusic said:

Interesting moment for the club to leak an offer of a contract being on the table.

Yep, I thought that too…

[Ex Lion Tamer]

1 minute ago, Dusic said:

Interesting moment for the club to leak an offer of a contract being on the table.

Makes me think he is on his way and we're trying to manage fan opinion? 

[S-Clarke]

So a week to go - only 3 or 4 working days if you don't count the weekend or bank holiday.

Still lots to be decided in my eyes.

Outs -

Lyanco?

Moussa?

Adams?

ABK?

Aribo?

Sulemana?

Onouachu?

McCarthy?

KWP?

Tella?

In's - 

RB - If KWP is sold.

CB - if one of the CB's is sold

CM - Need one of those whatever

Attacker - If 2 of Moussa/Sulemana/Tella are sold, we need 2 additional attackers.

ST - If Adams and Onouachu leave.

As a squad, I think if we keep what is here today and add an additional CM then we're pretty much covered. That doesn't sound too daunting.

But....if we get late bids for some of the questionable ones above then we better have our ducks lined up, as we will need replacements sharpish.

Edited 24 August, 2023 by S-Clarke

[Toadhall Saint]

As has been said EFC can’t get 5m together 

 

https://www.goodisonnews.com/2023/08/24/everton-transfer-news-emerges-on-che-adams-as-southampton-want-payment-now/

[Golac's Cunning Stunts]

24 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

Bollocks did you predict we would have a week to go with no strengthening of our centre backs or attack. You might have predicted we would sell a lot or most of our good players but you don't have to be Nostradamus to predict th

...don't have to be Nostradamus to predict the rest of your sentence?

[Smirking_Saint]

5 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

I'm not even that fussed about the amount spent. I just really think we need a refresh of some of the squad and a strengthening throughout the team including some of our strength in depth which we really don't have at the moment. Four players minimum I would say. 

Yeah we need reinforcements, I don’t see why we havn’t moved for a CB yet really.. I do wonder if we’re waiting for more dominoes to fall and are gambling on better options in a week but.. Id say we need 1 x CM and 1 x CB.. no more than that

A striker if Che leaves and a further CB if ABK leaves

[Ex Lion Tamer]

1 minute ago, Smirking_Saint said:

Yeah we need reinforcements, I don’t see why we havn’t moved for a CB yet really.. I do wonder if we’re waiting for more dominoes to fall and are gambling on better options in a week but.. Id say we need 1 x CM and 1 x CB.. no more than that

A striker if Che leaves and a further CB if ABK leaves

An unnamed club has bid for Nathan Wood and it may well be us

[Smirking_Saint]

31 minutes ago, Saint86 said:

I for one am just missing the Napoleonic wars chat...

This is the part of the window that’s effectively Wellington holding the battlefield… almost time for Blucher to win the day

[Smirking_Saint]

1 minute ago, Ex Lion Tamer said:

An unnamed club has bid for Nathan Wood and it may well be us

Hopefully, I like the look of him

[Chez]

1 hour ago, SaintTex said:

Well, we let Lavia go to Chelsea for £58mil when we had an offer from Liverpool for £60mil. Yes, Lavia did seem to indicate his club preference late, which obviously Southampton considered. By all accounts Lavia had remained a professional throughout the whole process, so i think the club felt screwing him over for £2mil more and sending him to a club he did not prefer wasn't good business.

I have no idea if Piroe has a strong preference where he wants to play.

Liverpool never offered £60m, if the incredibly long and detailed account in The Athletic is anything to go by

https://theathletic.com/4771295/2023/08/23/chelsea-liverpool-caicedo-lavia/

 

[Crouchie's Lawyer]

1 hour ago, Lee On Solent Saint said:

Possibly holding out for other interested clubs? Think that was mentioned earlier. 

Given we signed Che from Birmingham, it may not be too far fetched he may be holding out for a move to Wolves to move back up to the midlands?

I think the most catastrophic scenario is if we are holding out to sell Che before we replace him and we get a bigger offer on deadline day. This will leave us with very little, if any chance of getting a replacement lined up in time for the season (or at least until January but we all know what January signings are like)!

Arma has shown promise so far this season but I don't see him as the main up top guy. He seems to play better out on the side, utilising his pace more.

Mara hasn't shown any sign of the potential we signed him for and after his performance against Gillingham, I don't want to see him used as anything more than a back up for the time being. I'd go so far as to say I would ship him out on loan or try and sell him and have Ballard as the back up.

Onouachu hasn't really been given much of a chance but the chances he has been given show exactly why this is. Slow and poor control on the ball just does not fit out system. Really shows the gulf in class between the English leagues and Belgium leagues. Hopefully we can come to some kind of arrangement with Genk to send him back but what a piss poor knee jerk signing that was.

Ballard, as alluded to above, I would like to see in and around the squad but we do not know if he is capable of stepping up from the younger teams into the big boy team and cutting the mustard at this level. Squad player yes, but unless he has some kind of Harry Kane Tottenham breakthrough season when given a chance and smashes them in for fun then I see this season as being one where he gets used to being in the squad and having the odd cameo here and there.

In my opinion, we need another striker, regardless of what happens with Che, arguably two if Che does go. If we sign one now and Che subsequently leaves and we are unable to bring in another one at that point, at least we have the one to replace Che already through the door but we simply cannot gamble on not having the goals we need from a main striker this season.

If we haven't enquired about Piroe then the board are putting their head on the chopping block if they are trying to be smart and sign ANother who may be just as good, may be better or judging by some of our gambles over the last few years, could be dramatically worse. If we have approach Piroe and been told to do one over our handling of the RM situation (or an expensive 'Saints' tax added on top of the £12m) then fair enough. If the player has stated he does not wish to join us then fair enough but I hope it is not us resting on our laurels.

To me, the risk of us being left with a choice of Arma, Mara, Onouachu and Ballard going into the first half of the season as we have sold Che at the last minute and can't find a replacement is a hell of a lot more problematic than the risk of having to cover one more player's wages for 12 more months should we end up with both Che and Piroe.

SR can't try and play smart all the time, sometimes they have to play it safe. Piroe is the safe option here.

[Toadhall Saint]

Interesting comments from the gaffer re Che/contract etc

https://footballleagueworld.co.uk/major-update-shared-on-southampton-man-amid-premier-league-transfer-interest/

[Chez]

1 hour ago, hypochondriac said:

I think if people were honest with themselves, there wouldn't be many who were predicting us to be at this stage of the window having sold off most of our players worth selling, with the others linked with moves away, a week to go until the window shuts and we've brought in one promising youngster, a loanee and a free transfer. I fully expected us to have improved the attack and defence by now, not potentially weaken them further with more outgoings. 

I thought it would pan out just like it has. We'd sell all our good players and because the squad size was massive, we'd bring very few in. I expected a lot of deals to happen at the end of the window, they always do, making it very hard for us to plan and reset. Did you really think it would be different to that?

I certainly didn't think we'd do as well as replacing Lavia and JWP with Downes and Charles. The proof will be in the pudding, but on paper, that's about as good as it get in the championship. 

I must admit, I did think Che would have gone by now and Piroe would have signed for us by now. Scoring only five goals last season obviously hasn't helped. 

[LGTL]

An extremely convenient time for the club to leak about the contract. 

“Oh we tried so so hard to keep him” incoming on deadline day…

[Rebel]

Sports Republic want the money they put in to the club back before its too late.  Its that simple - they are not going to throw more good money after bad.  Once they have that moneyback guaranteed by player sales and/or parachute payments - and they are probably fine with getting it back in instalments over the next 2 or 3 years -  any additional money we make from player sales or the parachute payments we can probably spend on strengthening the team. And give us a shot at promotion.

They bought the club to make money - and buy selling players - being in the Championship doesn't fundamentally change that.  Its not like the Premier League TV money made us profitable anyway is it.  Unless you are a big six (or is it 7 now) club all the TV money you make and commercial revenue you generate gets eaten up by players wages and transfer fees.  If you are lucky you make some money on selling players - but if you don't spend it all - and more - on buying new players you get relegated.

I don't really see why anyone would buy a mid table premier league football club to make money.

 

 

[S-Clarke]

Just now, LGTL said:

An extremely convenient time for the club to leak about the contract. 

“Oh we tried so so hard to keep him” incoming on deadline day…

As long as he's adequately replaced then so be it, but if he's not then major questions will have to be asked - as they'd have dropped a striker bollock on the 2nd deadline day in a row.