Definitely a good chance it's a step too far for him, but that's also why he can't really pass up the opportunity. He has barely gotten a chance a top-flight football, and now a club that consistently plays in Europe/often in CL made him what (if Transfermarkt's figures are correct) their third-largest incoming transfer ever? The odds of that coming around against aren't great. Take your shot.
What? He clearly wasn’t “mentally up for the championship” because he just left. And is Sulemana not up for it? You know that?!
Bro we are in the championship. Not in the premier league. Every time Sulemana has come up against a big physical defender he has struggled. Every time tella has come up against it.. he has banged in goals
I repeat - Sulemana hasn’t yet played in the Championship. So you’re basing this on…absolutely nothing. Remind me how many goals Tella “banged in” against the same defenders Sulemana was playing against last season? Answer - the same as Sulemana.
Losing Charly and Che would be like losing Lallana and Lambert. Here's something to be positive about; Sam Amo-Ameyaw. Our sh*t club that never does anything right, scouted him last summer, and convinced him to join us, for free. He has a ceiling higher than both Tella and Sulemana.
I bet he doesn’t get 17 goals & 5 assists like tella did. (Tella would have got even more than that this season too in this team. Well. That’s if we didn’t sell our striker as well)
I’ll repeat what I said earlier - I would prefer Tella to have stayed, but I totally understand why he’s decided to go, and I also understand why the club hasn’t stood in the way of a £20m offer for him.
100% and I hope it goes well for him! For him as a decent person but also for the fact there’s a nice sell-on clause…
I think we need to wait and see if he stays first. But if he plays 39 games this season (as Tella did last), I’ll take that bet, yeah.
I don’t think he’ll play 39 games by the way, because we have a multitude of choice in the wide areas, which is precisely why it was okay to sell Tella.
Deal (obvs only counts if he stays and plays for saints). I’ll give £50 to charity if he scores 17 goals. And if he doesn’t, you give £50 to the charity of your choice. Proof posted on here
There's no guarantee that Tella would have got 17 goals again this season. Different teammates, different manager. Players don't always transition very well. Look at Torres from Liverpool to Chelsea for a famous example.
Going to repeat myself here but… Our transfer policy is not confusing. There are three ‘buckets’ of players we are picking from. (Exc. free agents) 1. It’s pretty obvious that we’re prepared to spend £10m+ on players who we think are viable long-term (Shea Charles and seemingly Nathan Wood) because we think they will grow into starting calibre PL players over time and/or be a saleable asset with a strong profit. 2. However, we are not prepared to shell out on jobbers who might not be useful in 1yrs time, and then be stuck with them on long-term deals bloating the squad and soaking up the payroll. We will acquire these players on loan because they are handy to good at this level but past record suggests they’re not suitable PL starters and don’t warrant the long-term commitment at this point. Enter Fraser and Holgate. 3. We can also acquire some rising talents that PL clubs have no interest in selling, but can be talked into loaning: ex. Downes. They’re too good for the Championship but are stuck in a backlog at their club. All of the above is perfectly sensible business and means the ownership have acknowledged the error of last season bloating the squad by just signing a mish-mash of different profiles for millions and millions each time and not moving anyone out. What they simply must get right - and this is the crux of it all - is that those who don’t want to stay and tell Martin they prefer to go are adequately replaced and that we end up with a dressing room that is both talented enough for the task at hand and also has grit and attitude to get stuck into the challenge ahead, something that has been sorely missing for too long.
All of this is sensible btw. It’s the actual player selection that is the problem. This whole strategy relies on them being able to select successful players. Letting Tella go suggests they still haven’t learned much IMO. They still think that ‘potential’ is equivalent to ‘success’.
I understand where you’re coming from totally, but my slightly grumpy Saints fan hat - which I’ve got on right now - has me saying if someone doesn’t want to be here then they can just **** off. Especially the ones who couldn’t be arsed to even put up a fight last season and meekly surrendered. We’ve suffered a weak dressing room, declining standards and people pulling in different directions for too long and if it takes a cull to bring that to an end and inject some character (which RM has commented on us lacking) then good.
There does need to be a line though, with they ‘you don’t want to be here? **** off!’ approach. At some point you say, well good for you that you have a contract at a club that is going places - and you are a part of that. If you want to leave then you will be doing it next year, and as a premier league player.
Tella wasn’t here. And while he was away he developed into exactly what we need - a talisman player. Anyway; you’re right. Every player is ultimately replaceable. But he is the one attacking player that I really wanted to stay. He’s a guy that can make something happen from nowhere. He’s proven he can do the hard graft on loan at Burnley. He’s a quality player. Would have been a great story for him to smash it here this season. I would have loved the romance of it all. But yeah football - especially at st Mary’s - is purely about profit nowadays.
