Looks like we're gonna have to spend a bit on 3 or 4 incredible players the black box has found that no other clubs have noticed, finish in the top four so they'll stay the next season, attract a hugely popular manager with a big grin and bring 3 academy players through with 20 year contracts. Or, do half that well and give the London, Manchester and Liverpool clubs a good run for their money (unless some Chinese criminal / businessman invests a billion, builds an 80,000 seater stadium and finds 50,000 more people to fill it) Wouldn't be the Southampton way would it?
Or we can just settle. Settle for eighth. Settle for selling. Selling for no more heroes. Settle for smug Liverpool fans. Football was more fun when we had no idea of the barriers success would bring.
I was convinced for a good while now that Virgil is leaving so it won't come us a shock to me, but if we sell him for anything under a world record fee for a defender, I'll be furious at our board and rightly so. They hold all the cards in this situation.
Yes, it would have been nice to keep him for another season but these days the players have the power. No aspiring player would join or sign a long contract if we stand in players way. Schneiderlin was only held up for a year because so many had already left. I can't get excited about this really. All the players who left have gone to bigger clubs and we have made a huge profit. Now all our players are on long contracts- we will no longer have our promising young players like Bale, Walcott or AOC sold for next to nothing. But also, think about the players who have left since our return to the Premiership. Not one of them has suddenly exhibited untold abilities and none has been sold to a Barca or Real Madrid at a huge profit. VVD is a very good player but he's not Ronaldo! The players we have sold realised market value at the time, and bear in mind that Mané didn't have much left on his contract so a refusal to deal might have made the Clyne deal look inspired. And selling to Liverpool? Who cares? They're the club which pays the most. It just means that we can all have a laugh if they crash and burn next season.
I filled in my club questionnaire today with the promise of maybe winning a new shirt : for the question 'what would make you love Saints more?' I replied if we were to stop selling players to Liverpool. I can only pray that the club read my questionnaire answers before this deal goes through, and in turn realise that 60 million won't make them happy. My increased love will. Your move Saints.
I feel it too - and I question what is it about that club that still holds sway over all these players, when you'd think over 20 years of not winning a league title would banish them from younger players' thoughts - but I think if Liverpool can become in some fashion a laughing stock for poaching so many players from us, and if their 100m cash injection ends up pushing Saints further towards goals such as winning silverware, regular Europa qualification, hopefully competing for top four, and attracting investors who can see how we raise our profile via our Academy and shrewd purchasing, then really it is we who are using them. We've found a club who are willing to pay stupid money, who have some success in their previous purchases from us, and that must make the deal-making process easier. To most, Saints look shrewd and Liverpool look out of ideas.
Do you really think Liverpool feel they have paid over the odds? Of the five players who have signed, how many have really been let downs? We like tot think all of them, but really it is none at all. Clyne is very consistent. Lovren is now a settled and consistent performer. Lallana has been outstanding for some time. Mane is the player who makes them tick. And Lambert was just bait to bring them in. The truth is they got very good value for money. Think about what United spends on players and still drop behind them in the league? Liverpool are not the club people laugh at. That club is us. You may be right, that we needed to sell to make this progress, but it doesn't feel like it.
I feel this way too, but you know, they could have easily bought him direct from Celtic (remember, Celtic fans may well feel the same about Saints, who poach their best players and get extortionate fees for them - it is a food chain, after all), and we should instead feel lucky that we get to have these players for a year or two (minus the inevitable injuries they always get), and make cash off them, purely because of our reputation as player makers, and our permitting them to move on quickly if they can perform at the impressive levels a lot of them do. If you perform under par or inconsistently (Tadic, Boufal), you stay. If you under-perform as manager in the Board's view, Saints are just as ruthless. That is simply the way it is.
I wasn't suggesting Liverpool aren't getting value. If there were two players who have underperformed in Liverpool fans' eyes, though, it is Lovren and Clyne. And we are definitely not being laughed at in this scenario. We are being praised, and Liverpool are the club seemingly bereft of ideas. The fact is, they can't really compete with Man U, Man City, Chelsea etc. They have to shop for high performers below them - and that is effectively Saints players. Everyone else is shopping at CL clubs for genuine winners. They may make a success of these players, but they will often choke at key points in competitions, because they're not buying players with experience of winning trophies. Too many Saints players for sure. You need to sprinkle them about, like a seasoning, not build an entire team out of them!
