Saint Victor!

Do we actually want Wanyama with all this baggage? Presumably his wage demands must be very high if he turned down a large pay rise from Celtic. I suspect that Nicola has moved on to other targets by now. Has anyone got a shovel so we can bury this rumour once and for all...though it does have amusement value as we wonder what will happen next to Victor.

 

He might be a good player, but this whole business seems very distasteful and I can't help thinking that we have other areas that need strengthening first. I personally don't want us to sign anybody who would rather be somewhere else, especially if the only reason he comes here is purely based on financial reasons.

 

The telling bit from his agent is that he said he hadn't heard from Southampton for two weeks after our final offer. That probably means he was told it was the final offer at the time. If Nicola has moved on, so should we. This guy (or probably his agent) are trouble....if the move goes ahead, he will be up to the same antics as at Celtic. And as Beddy says, the fans are going to get on his back if he isn't fantastic from kick off...they are probably penning ditties as we speak.

 

Just be cautious to dismiss some of these players from media reports. I am sure the statements from the agents are their words, but sometimes the players get tarnished by their appalling agents.

 

Thats exactly what I mean. I think those two can go on to great things. Obviously, we need a back up. But I can't see this guy in that role somehow.

 

I could have added Beddytare's comment to.

Don't believe all the fuss is necessarily from the player. The agents are the ones spouting here. Sometimes players can have words put in their mouths or misconstrued. Ithink it is nuts to start saying "all this baggage" and " do we really want him if he doesn't want to come to saints" etc,. He is a 21 year old man who has an opportunity to make a good career and financial move. He doesn't love Saints like we do; crikey he probably doesn't even know that much about our beloved club.

Let's just wait and see with this and all the other future rumours about players saying they don't want to come to Saints or agents spouting nonsense. It is an unfortunate part of our game today and I for one will not be saying I don't want someone just because of a quote or an interview. If he turns up then great, if he doesn't so be it.

Let's not throw the baby our with the bath water eh?

 

If a player of better quality comes along in one of those two roles, then great. I love those two, but I don't think it's the best midfield CM partnership in the league. That means we can improve. I don't think any position in our team is the best in the league, although Morgan probably is right up there.

 

I think FLT hits the nail on the head. This window is all about improving not standing still. If we are to compete at the top of the PL we need better players. Simple!

 

Indeed, it's all very well taking a stand over his agents' conduct, but if we take a stand over all our potential signings and end up with nobody that doesn't really help us. I still think we're in the driving seat here, his agents are being castigated by all sides and at some point they must realise that even an offer that doesn't match their apparently ludicrous demands is better than none at all.

 

I totally agree with your statement. However, I don't think Wanyama would necessarily be an improvement. He may be a better footballer than Cork (for example) but that doesn't mean he'd be better for the team. It is after all a team game and Cork is the ultimate team player in my opinion.

Also, its hard to judge how good Wanyama actually is. Playing in Scotland is like the Championship at best. I know he scored a goal against Barcelona but that was one game. Look how good De Ridder appeared on his 'highlight' video.

 

That's true Lff but that's when we have to put our trust in MP and hsi team. If they think Wanyama is one of the missing links then who are we to argue. Not that it will stop us!

 

Sweet Lord his agent seems to be an arch idiot doesn't he. So much so I'm actually beginning to feel sorry for Wanyama himself. Talk about not working positively for your client.....

 

You're right, in fact we don't know for sure how good any player would be for us. Safest option is clearly to sack the scouting team and not to buy anyone.

 

Sorry if this has been posted, and I'm guessing the piece sums up what a lot of people here think.

http://fb.me/BTW1qxqb

Although by posting I'm helping to continue this thread, I would rather it be locked up and the key thrown away!

 

Now now! Thats not what I'm suggesting. I'm just saying that its easy to have 'grass is greener' mentality and assume players are better than what we already have on relatively flimsy evidence.

 

I agree that the quotes from the agent don't necessarily tell you anything about Wanyama himself and I'm not at the point of saying I wouldn't want him here. Having said that, even if it's just the agent that's the problem that still counts as baggage in my opinion. Wanyama has been quoted as saying his agent is "like family" to him which suggests the agent isn't going anywhere, and he's already shown he's not shy of trying to engineer a transfer in search of more money.

That's assuming it's just the agent fee that's the problem. We can't wait forever though and I still think the club have to consider this dead for now and act accordingly. If the deal comes back to life that's all well and good but we can't rely on that happening. Hell, if we look at other players the prospect of nobody being interested at all may make our offer look more attractive to the Wanyama camp.

 

Agreed we need better players as any area can be improved. However, one area that we did quite well last season was defensively in the middle of the park, but too many times we didn't have enough creativity to breakdown intransigent teams. If spending £12m on one player can improve defensively our midfield by say 20%, but spending £12m can improve our creativity by 60% then what is better? I think the latter!

 

I think its the link between defensive midfield and attack that needs strengthening. Creativity wise we are not too bad but we could do with being more clinical in front of goal. If a player can come in and improve on defence but also linking up with attack we WILL see an improvement.

 

Does it have to be one or the other?

 

I don't think Cortese sanctions spending that kind of money based on flimsy evidence. If he thinks Wanyama is worth that much, based on the advice he receives from professional scouts and so forth, I'm inclined to agree.

Of course, I'm sure we have backup targets for every player we want. If making a move for those backups makes Wanyama's agents more amenable then so much the better.