Coming home? Jokes aside, it sounds as if he could retire early. Why not give us a season o 2 on low wages, for old times sake
I've wanted us to sign him for years, was great in his Dundee United days, as you say playing with Armstrong. He's older now but has found his feet a bit more after a difficult start abroad, worth a punt on a free, I'm sure Ralph could get the best out of him.
For me it's Redmond, Vesty, and McCarthy. I was in two minds about Vesty, but because he could attract a decent transfer fee, I've plumped for him to help with project re-build. There are some others such as Stephens, Djenepo, Diallo, Bednarek who haven't covered themselves in glory, but wouldn't raise a lot of money and am happy for them to be half decent squad players. Hopefully Minamino won't be back as haven't been very impressed with him either. What must Tella think, seemingly being behind Redmond, Walcott, and Djenepo in the pecking order?! I can only hope that Ralph was resting him to give the others 'one last chance' as he knows Tella will be a big part of the 2021/22 season. Ultimately 15th is a fair representation of where we should be. It's hasn't all been doom and gloom. We got to a cup semi-final, we topped the league (albeit only for 48 hrs), we proved we can be in and around the top 10 when we are injury free and consistent. KWP, Armstrong and JWP have been great. Danny has still banged in the goals when fit. Che is improving every week and Tella and Salisu have got real potential. Onwards and upwards for next season. It's not easy being a Saints supporter, but it's a job we all signed up for, so let's pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and go again next season, safe in the knowledge that we don't support our blue, easterly neighbours.
Yeah but the media tend to only care about the top half of the table. I expect they took a five second look at our position, and points total, and made their judgement solely based on that. Also, even if it was a 6/10 overall, the true story is that the first half was 9/10, and the second half 3/10 (at best), which is much more telling.
Slightly concerned by Ralphs comment "next season it won't be as easy" - suggests he realises he's got a bag of crisps to spend.
Not sure how Diallo can be criticised at all. At 21 and in his first season in England he has been bloody brilliant in my opnion. Same age as Tella yet he has done a lot more for us this season - we just judge Tella differently because he was signed young with no transfer fee.
And playing in a far more thankless position too. I think he's shown a lot of promise (plus looked like getting back to his early season style against West Ham).
I wasn't criticising Diallo, but for me he's not up there with Salisu and Tella in terms of immediate impact yet. It's probably harder for a CM to come in all guns blazing as they are expected to run the game from their position. Age doesn't come into it for me. He's been a decent squad player, but yes, i agree, he has really good potential.
I really don't think Saints are in the position to be signing prospects for 10m. Diallo isn't Premier League standard at the moment, and that's all we should be concerned with. We shouldn't have signed him in my opinion. West Ham bought Soucek for just 5 million more than we got Diallo for. And now it's being reported that we can buy Thomas Delaney for a similar fee. Would much rather see Saints signing players in the 24-28 age range (for now at least).
But those sorts of players have no resale value. Players like Salisu and Diallo, should they do well, will attract larger clubs. Salisu undoubtedly will sooner rather than later. If a takeover fails to materialise we will have to rely on player sales to keep investing in the squad. Salisu will fetch somewhere between 40 and 50 million I reckon, should be realise his potential while at Saints. Should we get taken over by decent owners, the problem goes away and we can spend more to get players in who are in their prime or are approaching it.
