We had a Welcome Saint Lovren said, but only after the deal was officially announced, so it doubly didn't count!
Really disappointed in the outcome. He was the one i wanted the most but you have to respect the man. He obviously loves Valencia seeing as he has been there so long and is captain (?) and looks very passionate about moving Valencia back up to where they belong. It's a shame but a better outcome than us nearing the signing and a bigger club coming in and getting him
It was never changed either, despite my persistence. It makes me uncomfortable knowing that thread is still out there somewhere, named wrong.
Never really thought he would come here, even the most biased of us can tell coming to Southampton to Valencia is a step down.
Yeah, I'm okay with missing out on Banega. It would have been pretty awesome in a lot of ways. But he was also a guy who I couldn't come up with a compelling reason for why he would want to come here. He wasn't an up-and-comer like Wanyama. Would it only be money, or he just hated Valencia? So I was always a bit worried about that. But the price was so awesome, how do you NOT make that move if you are Saints?!? So this one is just kind of easy come, easy go for me. Would have been nice, but well, we're still looking at some strikers. And we got Wanyama who was the guy I wanted more than Banega.
Let's just be like the Saints of old and make low-risk, low-stress signings like Hallfredsson and Bergessio.
The beautiful thing about having a well-run organization is that what is high-risk for others is low-risk for you. Thus, no stress. It's easier for rich people to get richer because they have so many options. And if they invest money and lose it, it doesn't matter. A poor person every bit of money they lose is food they could have purchased. Saints are rich in the sense that our talent assets on the field and financial assets off it are in good shape. We did not lose even a single halfway important member of the team this off-season. So I'm trying not to be too cocky about it, but our odds of avoiding disaster (relegation) seem pretty decent. And since we have kept a stable squad, there is less uncertainty risk because we know what everyone can do. Last year, we really didn't know which players might not be able to take the step up. I was super-nervous last year because if we did not buy the right player, we would have been relegated. This year, I definitely feel a little more secure. Plus, the alleged transfer fee for Banega was ridiculous. I don't know what the wages were, but recouping the transfer fee wasn't going to be a problem. That was really a situation where we really couldn't lose, while at the same time the amount we stood to gain was phenomenal. It's a bummer he turned us down, but it really doesn't make the existing team any worse. The one guy that we really needed to get right this off-season was Lovren. I'm a little nervous about him. Everyone else we go after, as long as it's less than 20 million I'm generally okay with. I trust MP and NC to get it right, with the knowledge that if they're wrong, we still have last year's squad as a lower boundary and that's good enough to avoid disaster.
I think its unlikely however its all based on an interview he had with the club saying that he loves the club and is looking forward to next season. However he is hardly going to say "oh i will be leaving soon!" Valencia need money and may have to sell... could be something in it still but who knows...
