David Luiz Ahmed Elmohamady Tom Heaton Neil Taylor Jose Izquierdo Robbie Brady Willy Caballero Marko van Ginkel Gary Cahill Nathaniel Clyne Scott Dann Wayne Hennessey James McCarthy Mamadou Sakho Andros Townsend Patrick van Aanholt Joel Ward Connor Wickham Muhamed Besic Yannick Bolasie Josh King Theo Walcott (apparently he's already been signed by someone...) Olu Aina Marcus Bettinelli Gaetano Beradi Barry Douglas Christian Fuchs Matty James Sergio Aguero Eric Garcia Sergio Romero Andy Carroll Henri Saviet Phil Jagielka John Lundstram Jack Rodwell Ryan Bertrand Paulo Gazzaniga Danny Rose Charlie Austin Kamil Grosicki Branislav Ivanovic Andy Lonergan Lee Peltier Hal Robson-Kanu Fabian Balbuena John Ruddy I don't know what the average number of senior players released each year is. But, unsurprisingly, that does seem like a lot this year.
Try to build the team from that list that would've seemed the most impressive circa 2015, but which would be the most useless today. My entry: Ruddy Ivanovic - Sakho - Jagielka - Rose Rodwell - McCarthy Bolasie - King Wickham - Austin
So he has! I didn’t realise he was only 31, he looked so slow and immobile last time he played for us.
And if we go abroad: David Alaba (signed by Real Madrid) Donnarumma Jerome Boateng Lionel Messi (although I do think he will agree a new deal with Barca, main reason why they signed Aguero) Calhanoglu Sergio Ramos There will be a load more but they're the high profile ones I can think of. You could make a SERIOUSLY good XI with free agents this summer.
https://www.lequipe.fr/Football/Actualites/Romain-perraud-brest-vers-l-angleterre/1259168 Saints almost there on the signing of Romain Perraud - french left back. Very closely linked to Leeds for the past year or so but they refused to pay £15m+. With his contract running out in a year we look set to sign him for €10m+
Been linked to Celtic and Real Madrid. Maybe if we squeeze Brest a bit more then we can really milk them over this.
He's contracted to Brest until 2025, I think Leeds were very interested at a much cheaper price before he signed an extension a few months ago.
Andros Townsend is not re-signing his contract because he wants to play Champs League football. He will have to move abroad as he isn’t going to play for an English top four.
Good shout. Crazy to switch 38 Premier League games though for (likely) just 6 CL games and a handful of derbies. He’s only 29 so has a few more seasons in him at top level.
I was quite surprised by this list. Other than Bertrand, Hesketh and Sims who are all pretty obvious, none of the other 8 players got anywhere near the first team and seem pretty unfamiliar to me. I might be mistaken but I cannot recall these many academy players being released at the same time. Despite the comments this week about Jankewitz, you wonder how many other academy players have a long term future at Saints. Slattery seemed good a few seasons ago but he is 22 now and would have broken in by now if he had a future at this level. Will Smallbone was being touted a lot before being injured and maybe he will be able to stake a claim in the first team. Other than Nathan Tella, the other academy players who came off the bench do not look too promising. I just wonder whether Tella could be the only breakthrough in 21/22 and then find ourselves waiting a few seasons before the academy starts delivering again.
Wish our newspapers were as good at covering sport at L'Equipe. The detail in that small article surpasses what you get in the English press. I enjoy this newspaper when in France and I think the journalism is pretty good although it's coverage of cricket is useless!
Surely it would be a surprise if they were players close to the first team. Releasing players nowhere near the first team (to use your words) hardly seems a surprise at all to me.
I think Ian’s surprise is the sheer number that have been deemed not good enough. But then we’ve known the Academy is midway through a hiccup, this just goes to show it.
