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Who was the last signing that genuinely got you excited?

Midfield_General

By Midfield_General
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Midfield_General

Midfield_General

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Feels like there's a general lack of excitement about the place at the moment, which made me wonder: who was the last player that got you genuinely excited when you heard they'd signed for us? 

I don't mean players who turned out to be good, or who we'd already had on loan like THB or Downes. I mean players who you saw get announced and thought 'wow, I never thought we'd get him', or who you'd not heard of but got really excited about when you read about them or saw their YT reel. 

Seasons of signings of 'potential', damaged goods or solid Championship-level performers has got me reaching back a bit. My last one was probably Boufal. Had never heard of him before, but his skills videos were off the charts and he'd just scored 12 in 35 from out wide in France. Genuinely thought he was going to be a Mané-esque world-beater. 

Before that it was probably Pelle: a proper physical, goalscoring centre forward, brought in by a great manager who rated him, who'd got 26 in 33 the previous season and had hair to die for. 

Who was yours? 

S-Clarke

S-Clarke

Posted
Posted

If we go way back, Lambo for me. I remember when it started to leak, out of nowhere on a Sunday night via some Bristol journos and then it was done and dusted by mid-day on the Monday. That was a classic transfer for me. Signing the best player in L1, top goal scorer in L1, beating Championship clubs to his signature. (Boro I think).

If we go back to the PL years, it was probably Gaston. He'd just turned up at the Olympics and was regarded as one of the top young players in the world at that point, the saga went on forever, like most drawn out PL signings tbh. Genuinely excited by that one as a newly promoted club, then even more so in 'that game against Villa (tm)', but then he vanished after that which was a shame -  was never quite good enough for the PL consistently. His best time in England came during his loan spell with Boro in the Championship.

  • Like 2
64saint

64saint

Posted
Posted (edited)

Kevin Keegan, it was pure theatre the way Laurie and the club stage managed and announced it at the Potters Heron pub. 

Just imagine it now, us signing the two time winner of the European player of the year and no one getting so much as a sniff of it happening, ( well apart from our very own Circle of Trust of course !! 🙄). 

Edited by 64saint
  • Like 5
hypochondriac

hypochondriac

Posted
Posted
4 minutes ago, tdmickey3 said:

Gaston Ramirez

Or

Ali Dia

I was very excited by ramirez. Lawro said there was no way he was signing for Southampton. It was the first signing that showed we meant business. 

  • Like 2
Turkish

Turkish

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, S-Clarke said:

If we go way back, Lambo for me. I remember when it started to leak, out of nowhere on a Sunday night via some Bristol journos and then it was done and dusted by mid-day on the Monday. That was a classic transfer for me. Signing the best player in L1, top goal scorer in L1, beating Championship clubs to his signature. (Boro I think).

If we go back to the PL years, it was probably Gaston. He'd just turned up at the Olympics and was regarded as one of the top young players in the world at that point, the saga went on forever, like most drawn out PL signings tbh. Genuinely excited by that one as a newly promoted club, then even more so in 'that game against Villa (tm)', but then he vanished after that which was a shame -  was never quite good enough for the PL consistently. His best time in England came during his loan spell with Boro in the Championship.

I agree with you about Ramirez. He was so highly regarded it seemed unreal we'd signed him. He was incredible in that Villa game, looked a cut above everyone else but never really did much after that aside from the off moment of class. In hindisght it was the wrong move for us and for him as his career never went anywhere either.

  • Like 1
OldNick

OldNick

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Posted
6 minutes ago, 64saint said:

Kevin Keegan, it was pure theatre the way Laurie and the club stage managed and announced it. 

Just imagine it now, us signing the two time winner of the he European player of the year and no one getting so much as a sniff of it happening, ( well apart from our very own Circle of Trust of course !! 🙄). 

In a way it was like us signing Ronaldo as he was so high profile.

  • Like 1
ally_uk

ally_uk

Posted
Posted

Osvaldo seemed like a real coup at the time..

 

When he scored that worldie against City. I thought yep we got some quality here 🤣🤣

  • Like 3
SuperSAINT

SuperSAINT

Posted
Posted
44 minutes ago, Midfield_General said:

Feels like there's a general lack of excitement about the place at the moment, which made me wonder: who was the last player that got you genuinely excited when you heard they'd signed for us? 

I don't mean players who turned out to be good, or who we'd already had on loan like THB or Downes. I mean players who you saw get announced and thought 'wow, I never thought we'd get him', or who you'd not heard of but got really excited about when you read about them or saw their YT reel. 

Seasons of signings of 'potential', damaged goods or solid Championship-level performers has got me reaching back a bit. My last one was probably Boufal. Had never heard of him before, but his skills videos were off the charts and he'd just scored 12 in 35 from out wide in France. Genuinely thought he was going to be a Mané-esque world-beater. 

Before that it was probably Pelle: a proper physical, goalscoring centre forward, brought in by a great manager who rated him, who'd got 26 in 33 the previous season and had hair to die for. 

Who was yours? 

Not excited like a kid, but Downes & THB loans excited me because I knew they were championship-ready. 

  • Like 1
UpweySaint

UpweySaint

Posted
Posted

Tino was a big one for me. He was highly rated at Chelsea and we could all see why from his early games - I was telling people we might have the next Gareth Bale! 😅

I was gutted to see him leave us so soon and think if he can stay fit he will be England’s right back within a few years (or could play further forward).

Honourable mentions for Gabbiadini, Osvaldo and Ramirez. Caceres was an odd one too but felt like a coup - a fair bit of pedigree but his spell with us feels like a weird anomaly in his career and it never really happened.

 

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Midfield_General

Midfield_General

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13 minutes ago, UpweySaint said:

  Caceres was an odd one too but felt like a coup - a fair bit of pedigree but his spell with us feels like a weird anomaly in his career and it never really happened.

Yeah he was a weird one. Really felt like we’d pulled something big out of the bag and brought in some highly experienced international class, then I don’t remember him ever actually playing for us. Don’t remember ever hearing that he was trouble or even that he had injuries, he just never featured. Very odd. 

Edited by Midfield_General
TheAlehouseBrawlers

TheAlehouseBrawlers

Posted
Posted

I can’t really remember being genuinely ’excited’ about a signing since Keegan. That was crazy.

I remember the first exciting signing coming a few years after I first started going, and that was Peter Osgood in 1974. I couldn’t believe we’d signed him, despite being a Saints fan he was bit of a hero to this young nipper. I loved Bally too so that was another.

Keegan was on another level.

  • Like 3
Midfield_General

Midfield_General

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6 minutes ago, Barsiem said:

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/fc-southampton/alletransfers/verein/180

Transfer history for anyone with a terrible memory (like me!)

I think I'd go Osvaldo - seemed a real coup at the time 😅

We did have several in a few years - Mane, Tadic, Vvd, Alderwiereld. 

I was excited for Forren as well, which I guess proves I shouldn't get exicted

Funny to think how divisive Tadic was amongst some of the fanbase before he moved on. Then he went to Ajax and had a hot spell where for a while he legitimately looked like one of the best players in the world. 

Miltonaggro

Miltonaggro

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Midfield_General said:

Feels like there's a general lack of excitement about the place at the moment, which made me wonder: who was the last player that got you genuinely excited when you heard they'd signed for us? 

I don't mean players who turned out to be good, or who we'd already had on loan like THB or Downes. I mean players who you saw get announced and thought 'wow, I never thought we'd get him', or who you'd not heard of but got really excited about when you read about them or saw their YT reel. 

Seasons of signings of 'potential', damaged goods or solid Championship-level performers has got me reaching back a bit. My last one was probably Boufal. Had never heard of him before, but his skills videos were off the charts and he'd just scored 12 in 35 from out wide in France. Genuinely thought he was going to be a Mané-esque world-beater. 

Before that it was probably Pelle: a proper physical, goalscoring centre forward, brought in by a great manager who rated him, who'd got 26 in 33 the previous season and had hair to die for. 

Who was yours? 

The McMenemy years were like wish-list bingo, loved supporting through that time.  Beyond the obvious names, Dave Watson as a kid, then Koeman when he was coming in as manager - I was a centre back as a youngster, my old man had played at a high standard and those two were the two he told me to watch, heroes both.  Latterly, a difficult call as we've been buying potential rather than nous, but the first Koeman window after the levelling of the squad had a plethora of interesting incomings of character.   

  • Like 2
Sunglasses Ron

Sunglasses Ron

Posted
Posted
25 minutes ago, sfc4prem said:

I was genuinely excited by Van Dijk

Agreed, was one that took a bit of time to get over the line but felt like a landmark signing when it finally happened.  I was in Peppa Pig world when it got announced!

Saint Scott

Saint Scott

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Posted (edited)

Fonte for sure, stepping down a league took guts which thankfully paid off for him and us.

More recently VVD, but the less said about that tosser the better

Edited by Saint Scott
  • Like 1
Holmes_and_Watson

Holmes_and_Watson

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Posted
2 hours ago, Wade Garrett said:

Shit my fucking pants when I heard Strachan had signed Paul Telfer.

 

1 hour ago, Miltonaggro said:

Then constipated for a month when he turned up with Paul Williams!

Probably the two signings that taught me to do a bit of digging and get a grip. I couldn't get past that they'd been part of a relegated defence. Both were really good for us, Telfer in particular. Loads of other folk were telling me that they were going to be good aquisitions, but I wasn't for listening at first.

Mind you, I was still sniffy about Scottish Premiership signings for quite a while...

I was pleased when we got Le Saux, Lambert, Tadic, Ripley, Osman (the hair), Wright...

S-Clarke

S-Clarke

Posted
Posted (edited)
2 hours ago, Saint Fan CaM said:

Lallana. Massive. 🤣

In truth, probably Ings.

Ings was a funny one, I remember that one dividing fans a bit - then when we made that permanent, quite a few people voiced their annoyance that £20m of Ralph's first transfer window budget was going on a crock!

But it worked out, one of our best signings in PL times. Goes to show that the opposite can often happen, I felt somewhat underwhelmed by Bertrand on loan but he was a super addition.

Edited by S-Clarke
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LuckyNumber7

LuckyNumber7

Posted
Posted

Ramirez. Had just been watching him in the Olympics that summer and he looked like a rising star, so to then see us getting linked with, and then signing him just after getting promoted felt like a real statement of intent. 

  • Like 1
S-Clarke

S-Clarke

Posted
Posted (edited)
35 minutes ago, LuckyNumber7 said:

Ramirez. Had just been watching him in the Olympics that summer and he looked like a rising star, so to then see us getting linked with, and then signing him just after getting promoted felt like a real statement of intent. 

I remember it breaking on sky sports news on their yellow ticker, way before the days of the chuckle brothers they currently have on there, it was a bit more authentic. Things were much better and simpler back then, football seemed more fun - not sure if that's just me getting old though. It doesn't feel the same anymore with the money that's thrown around on transfers, all feels a bit broken.

Edited by S-Clarke
  • Like 1
spyinthesky

spyinthesky

Posted
Posted

Keegan.

European Footballer of the Year

No way can that be beaten.

But under McMenemy we had Osgood, Ball, Shilton, Watson.

Ivan Golac was a good un too.

Ronnie Eklund was another but unfortunately didnt last long

  • Like 1
SNSUN

SNSUN

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Posted

Probably THB on the back of an excellent season at promoted Burnley, especially as we knew he'd be ours if we went up. 

This summer I'm mildly excited by the signing of Ronnie Edwards to see how he copes on the Prem stage. He comes with a decent reputation. 

Weirdly the last transfer I can remember being excited about before those was Nathan Redmond. He'd been good for Norwich and I remember giving the wife some hell about it. 

Finally Rickie Lambert. League One, Million spent, best striker at that level. After a shitty couple of years before that, after the Liebherr takeover it finally felt like we were on to a good thing.

  • Like 1
S-Clarke

S-Clarke

Posted
Posted
14 minutes ago, Daft Kerplunk said:

Alderweireld suggested we were on a different track, which we briefly were. Exciting times, even if they ultimately led nowhere.

I think they did lead somewhere, two incredible seasons for a club like us and two seasons in Europe. It won't ever get better than what we did under Koeman in those years.

Daft Kerplunk

Daft Kerplunk

Posted
Posted
20 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

I think they did lead somewhere, two incredible seasons for a club like us and two seasons in Europe. It won't ever get better than what we did under Koeman in those years.

It was fun but the measure of a successful club should be over a longer period than 2 seasons. It isn’t impossible. 

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