Summer 2013 Transfer Rumour Thread - Mk3

Osvaldo or Damiao wouldn't be signed so we could give Lambert a rest now and then; they'd be signed to play every game. A £17m player doesn't sit on the bench for Southampton.

 

Exactly, I'm not too sure we've got another £17m lying around though, not for just one player at least.

 

The targets we have been after kind of suggest we do, Cortese doesn't strike me as the kind of guy that goes around wasting peoples time enquiring after players we can't afford.

 

Was told we had a budget of around 40m so if correct we do.

 

How would you know we've never had one!

For what it's worth Joe I agree with you on Lambert, I do understand people feeling we need to get a striker in but personally I'm happy as is. Funnily enough I think that even though for years we as Saints fans have complained about other fans under-rating Rickie 'He won't make it in the Championship' 'He'll never do anything in the Premiership' etc., some of us are now doing the same thing. I think last season he proved with aplomb what a classy player he is, and even then some other fans didn't identify his excellent all-round game and still think he's just a goal-poaching target man. At the same time Rodriguez proved he has the potential to become a force at this level, and we should not be looking so eagerly to displace them. If the right player is there, grab them, but I'm not convinced Damiao or Osvaldo are the right players, they are big names and exciting as hell but I fear they would just as likely hinder us as help us. Rickie Lambert is still the foundation of our attack and replace him too hastily and things could easily come crumbling down.

 

Yes, yes and yes. If we get a striker in this window I hope we go for a good fit, rather than simply the most prolific striker we can afford.

 

Well with Chelsea after Rooney it could be Lukaku.

 

Exactly what I've been thinking about Damiao this whole time.

 

Damiao to me is a big risk specially at the price. On the other hand despite his attitude at Roma I can see Osvaldo being a upgrade of what we have.

 

No they wouldn't but I'd prefer to get someone now who may be as good or better than Lambert rather than sign someone who clearly isn't as good as him. There's also the fact that he's 31 and we can't build a team around him forever. I'd rather sign a new striker and possibly change the way we play now when we have the option to play Lambert rather than wait until he's finished before we try and fill the gap.

I don't think the system we used at the end of last season works that well for us offensively. Lambert doesn't have the pace to get behind defences and too often at the end of last season he'd end up drifting into wide areas and leave us with nobody in the penalty area. He scored 1 goal from open play in his last 11 games last season and personally I put that down to the way we play more than any injury. Yes, he can create chances but so can other players we have. In contrast we currently have nobody else who can take those chances as well as him. Getting in another quality striker allows us to rotate them or even play Lambert deeper, a role he should have no trouble adapting to.

 

Osvaldo is a brilliant talent, don't think anybody could deny that, but there are loads of other questions with him.

 

Considering he can play wide positions I also think Osvaldo would be the better fit, possible personality problems aside. It's just that fee...

 

If we are not going to bring in someone fairly prolific then Rodriguez is going to have to step up to the mark and start banging them in, hopefully his pre-season continues in the same fashion as tonights game, he needs to come into the season high on confidence.

 

I tend not to think of the fee, that's down to Cortese etc. They are the ones that know how much money we have to spend. Long as they don't bankrupt the club(which Cortese won't do) it's fine with me.

 

The sad thing is, I'd be a bit disappointed if we signed someone other than Banega for that position now. I know it's not quite right for a Saints fan... we should really be aiming for Ebanks-Blake and Scott Dann.


On fees etc, I'm still waiting for the day that the Premier League makes everyone publish their annual player wage bills. That day is when everyone will stop complaining about Cortese spending loads of money. (oh and it will be massively good for governance of the game)

 

I agree with all you have said. I asked the question so I could understand your earlier comment, however, nobody is irreplaceable. I want us to sign a player equal or as good as those two so we have competition for those striker places. If we have another player, then Rickie and Jayrod MUST deliver again. I think they both can and Jayrod even more than last year, but if they don't deliver then we become lower mid table which is no progression.

Mikey made a comment about people now under estimating Rickie; I'm not, I just don't want to rely on a youngster continuing to develop at the rate he has and our main striker not getting injured or the opposition realising how to stop supplying him.

For me a top quality striker is a must. Please note that I said top quality not necessarily multi million pound cost, but someone at least equal to our two main ones. Not someone to give Rickie a rest, but someone to put him under pressure to continue to perform.

 

Then we release Super Mayuka!

 

Who is as good or better than Lambert that we could sign? Only Van Persie, Suarez, Bale, Benteke, Michu and Lukaku scored more goals than Lambert last season in the league. You are under-estimating how many creates Lambert creates, He created more chances for team mates in open play than any player in the league other than Suarez and David Silva. He was involved in 40% of our goals which is more than Suarez and Bale. Lambert is not the problem with our team at all. We need players like Lallana, Ramirez, Rodriguez, Puncheon and whoever we sign to help Lambert out by chipping in with more goals! I don't see how you can possible say he doesn't suit us when he's creating so many chances for our team whilst bagging 15 goals himself yet our 2nd top scorer only got 6 goals! This is without mentioning our struggles defensively.

He drifts wide to create space for the others sometimes. It's not a problem at all in 4-2-3-1 and a clever run at times. I don't think his age is a problem. After all his game doesn't revolve around pace so getting older shouldn't effect his game as much as it might effect others. I don't agree with him playing in a deeper role. He offers very little defensive contribution and that's fine as a striker but not as a midfielder.

 

From Gulys grasp? Seriously them two are like brothers that never leave each others side.

 

You lot are too clever for me. Improving strikers without squeezing out Lambert is a dilemma that I don't have the answer to (same with both full backs), particularly given NC/MP's obvious intent to buy players at the highest level possible. Signing Lambert mk.II wouldn't help as a player who brought a different gameplan...or seem like the type of player that we would need. Well, whoever we end up with, I'll probably be happy, and intrigued about how Pochettino is going to play this season.