⚽ :saints: The Summer 2019 Transfer Thread

Edit : moved by @BTripz to this brand shining new thread

Dilemna

4 weeks ago we’d all have said let his contract run down #squad player.
Even Shane seems to admit that he couldn’t see any reason to as for a renewal.
Now?

Imho, his strength is his speed and strength. that will dim with age. We have one year left of him. Is that enough?

From experience we haven’t seen anything positive from granting players extensions.

But then if he keeps this run going…

So yes, #dilemna At least he fits the Bazza spec of a player nobody wants to buy from us

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One more year I’d say.
Who gets Let Tiss’s number post Long?

Boufal

:sunglasses::lou_eyes_to_sky::heart_eyes:

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Don’t, you’ll start @Barry-Sanchez off on one again…

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It is a difficult one though, would we expect Shane to get much game time for us in 2021 season?

(Obviously putting :star_struck: glasses on, he’d be a useful squad member for our first tilt at UCL qualifying stages after a full season with Ralph)

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Very blunt article

As he says, 4 or 5 games (or goals) isn’t enough to warrant a new deal just yet. I see nothing wrong with letting him enter the last year of his deal and if he starts next season well and Ralph sees merit in keeping him then offer him a short extension. He clearly wants to stay but he ought to earn it. As you say his pace and work rate are his strengths and you would naturally expect both to lessen with age, and at 32 I’m not sure how much mileage he has left. His finishing is still pretty dreadful… that miss yesterday when he hit the post…

I do like him though and have respect for the way he goes about it on and off the pitch.

Austin will be the one moving on and there will definitely be clubs after him. I’d expect to recoup more than the £4m we paid for him, albeit not a lot more.

Boufal is getting more game time at Celta Vigo so perhaps he will leave permanently. Cedric isn’t getting a game so he’ll be back unless there are any takers. I’d be a bit surprised if we couldn’t sell him to a lesser Italian/Spanish or Portuguese team.

Carrillo will almost certainly be back. Is he mobile enough for Ralph to get a tune out of him? Possibly not. He hasn’t really pulled up trees in Spain so I doubt they’d be wanting to make it permanent. But Pellegrino is in charge so you never know.

Now we are safe, maybe give Forster a game and get him in the shop window? Let other clubs know he’s still around.

Slightly off topic but so far I must admit that I don’t think there is much if anything between Gunn and McCarthy. One hardly warrants the number one shirt over the other. Both have conceded goals they probably should have saved and both have come and flapped at their fair share of crosses.

Take whatever offer you can for Stephens.

Has Hoedt done enough to earn a permanent move? I think he’s been injured of late. He’ll probably be one to go out on loan again.

Is it time for Gallagher to go now? We keep loaning him out and then giving him just a few minutes here and there without much in the way of performances. Maybe he is one for Ralph to work with in the summer to see if he warrants a place in the squad.

I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see Lemina go. Whilst Ralph has stated he likes him, he is one of the few who could command a decent transfer fee and with the resurgence and emergence of Romeu and JWP respectively (plus PEH of course) we have demonstrated we can cope without him.

Elyonoussi has been a massive disappointment it has to be said. No goals and no assists. Considering he was Tadic’s replacement it is remarkable we managed to stay up. This truly shows the scale of the job Ralph has done in the way he has got goals from almost all of our midfielders.

Just a few thoughts at this early stage but I really hope we can back this manager with at least a few important signings.

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I would like to see Boufal have a pre-season with Ralph.
Long is probably worth a year extension.
I would take a bag of chips for Elyounoussi.

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Great post @Simon-says

I agree with about 98% of what you say there. I reckon Ralph needs one flair player. Would that be Boufal? Not sure but he fits that bill. Would we take Solly March?

Left back really, REALLY needs to be sorted this window. Out with the old, in with the new. I would not want Targett to be 1st choice, though a stat for the archives - 1st goal in the 67’ ending a run of 67 games without scoring. I think that is what the commentator said anyways. That means Bertie has to be let go. No passion and keeps letting in crap goals he should be defending better.

We all know where our deficiencies are, it’s whether we can plug those gaps or not

I think a right back should be a more urgent acquisition. Valery has had a pretty good season but Stephens is the only cover we have there.

I agree about Boufal and I hope I’m wrong but I just cannot see his attitude/ego flying with Ralph. I’ve never doubted his talent but his temperament is under question. Ralph has players running through walls for the cause. Is Boufal capable of that?

I’m not convinced but if anyone can, Ralph can.

I wonder if we’ll go back in for this lad again. Might provide competition for Valery because as it stands nobody is pushing him for his place. Ramsay is lurking in the background but not really a threat.

https://readsouthampton.com/2019/04/25/how-we-think-southampton-might-line-up-next-season/rwb-joakim-maehle/

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Yes. Agree. Problem is we are a bit like a leaky boat. Lots of holes to plug and as we already know, no money is going to be spent by the owner, so what do you do?

I reckon we need a right back, centre back and centre forward. Try and move on Cedric, Hoedt and Austin.
Can’t see us doing much more than that.

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Ideally we should also offload:
Clasie, Elyounoussi, Carrillo, Forster and Stephens.

Fucking Carrillo. I had almost forgotten about that lump.

Has Barry not mentioned moving on Gao?

Bang on. Anything more would be a bonus.

I think it’s safe to say that Ralph will be working on 4-2-2-2 in the summer so will be looking for the right players to suit that system. We are too ropey at the back for that at the moment so a solid organiser at the back is a must. Then he needs pace up front for the press. I think we ideally want Redmond in the attacking midfield two not upfront so that he can carry us forward up the pitch rather than rely on him for goals.

Reasons to be excited for a change!

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Barry has been strangely silent since we secured our safety with 2 games to go.

Another season where he was wrong about our impending relegation due to the owners. :joy:

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