I don't disagree with SR deciding not to spend £20m on a future prospect. As we all know that's really not what we need right now. Though if they've spent that time and effort failing to land an expensive prospect and also now fail to land any further attacking targets then it just makes SR look even more utterly incompetent.
Also, worthing noting, this stuff happens all the time in transfer dealings. Chelsea nicking Mudryk from under Arsenal's noses; Spurs doing to Bournemouth what Chelsea did to them with Willian, and nicking Danjuma after he's had a medical and done promo shots. It's not just Southampton, and I don't think we're inept - just broke at a high-risk point in our recent history. Deals are about holding out, patience, not looking desperate, so well done Saints for keeping their poker face. And well done Villareal for now being all of £300,000 better off. And well done Nicki J, for getting relegated in his first half season in England. Bompey's new owners are just trying to flex. They're Todd Boehly on a budget.
I meant more from the indication we don’t want to spend a big fee due to our position in the league. If we want to get a striker then we are going to have to pay for it, they are the most expensive players to buy
I'm sure we can find a 19 year old prospect playing in the Albanian second division with excellent stats for passing the ball while wiping his brow and singing I'm a little teapot.
No, they only bought us because they’re “not arsed”. Not being arsed is in fact the defining characteristic of their business model. Their USP as it were.
TBF to SR Alcaraz looks like a proper find. I don't get that feeling with Jackson. I feel if they are willing to splash 25mill on a CF we've got a good shot of staying up. Alcaraz has provided one of things we were badly missing - creativity from midfield. Now we just need a clinical striker to finish off the chances he'll create.
I'm not fussed we're not signing Jackson, I'm fussed we've not signed a striker. This Jackson didn't seem all that and I thought he was more of a winger anyway.
One thing we all know is that money basically makes a team. You only need to look at Newcastle to see that just having some market power has got them those 4 or 5 difference-makers, which they probably didn't have to worry about meeting asking prices for. They picked who they wanted/needed, and bought them. Not a massive expenditure relative to some clubs, but enough to get them what they wanted in all key spots. For every other team outside the clubs with ****loads of state cash, we rotate our status each season. We had our run - two Europa campaigns, a few big league finishes, and then team was duly rinsed out, primarily by Liverpool. Brighton are there this season - duly getting pillaged by Chelsea, and they will not be up there next season, so I hope they enjoy it while they can. Brentford and Fulham too - enjoy it while you can. Hopefully the fans realise it doesn't last long before it's their turn to be where we are this season. It's a rotating merry-go-round - do a bit well, and you might lose a few key players; do too well, and your manager's gone, and taking your very finest 2-3 players with him. That's our lot in life, in general, and I think SR will eventually manage to steady those ups and downs, but for now, we are probably in a place a club like ours is long overdue.
I completely appreciate that signing players can be difficult with a lot of moving/changing parts, but Ralph wanted a striker well over a year ago, and not getting one in the summer has meant we're now sitting bottom of the league. If we don't sign one this window, there's no way we'll stay up. It would be inept and unforgivable. We should have a long, long list of options considering how long we've needed one, and it's baffling no one's been signed yet. It is the most glaringly obvious thing that we need. If we sign one before the window shuts, then great, but I feel like someone should have been signed and settled in well before now considering how desperately we need one.
I don't see us bringing in a GK this window. If the guys on TSP are to be believed we would have seen McCarthy by now if it weren't for his untimley injury. Not that he is a huge improvement given that we brought in Bazunu in the summer to try and improve on our GK situation.
Who could have possibly thought that signing a 20 year old keeper, with just 2 seasons in league 1 under his belt, to be a regular starter in the toughest league in the world could back fire? A fair few of us said exactly this at the time and sadly look to have been correct. The only youngster we brought in that definitely looks ready to start at this level is Lavia. Edozie does look very good too but is lacking a bit of end product. Don't get me wrong, Baz, ABK, Mara & Larios are good prospects but just not going to keep us up this season. ABK started well tbf but not sure he is quite ready.
I don't think Bazunu has done an awful lot wrong in all honesty. The stats don't tell the whole story - how is he meant to save shots from 8,10, 12 yards when teams get behind our defence and cut the ball back or keep free headers out from set pieces?
