Ok, i've got a bit of a bee in my bonnet about this, but I would like to gauge the opinion of this forum via a poll. To my mind, it is a bit of a no brainer to sell Gaston to help to finance the signing of a quality CB and possibly a GK as well. I just don't see a future for Gaston here under Poch and it is better to sell now than watch his value slowly deteriorate IMO. We are well covered in midfield and attack and I see Steve Davis and JWP as better options for Gaston's position in the team and we also have a wealth of young talent almost ready to step up in those positions. It is at GK and CB where we don't seem to have any academy players ready to break into the side, that's why i'm advocating us to strengthen these vital positions via the transfer market. It has been the club's policy to upgrade the team through transfers since 2009, so why stop now?
The january window is for desperate purchases only. We're not desperate so we have no need to get involved. Also, we havnt all given up on gaston, who could still b a good squad player and an ace up the sleeve.
Have gone for keep Gaston and buy quality CB and GK. That presumes two things: we don't need the money from Gaston's sale and that good players are available to buy. Gaston is good enough for us to keep and use sparingly (as now)...the only reason that people want to sell him is his purchase price. Imagine he cost 2 million...we would all be happy to have an occasional player of that quality in the team. So if he's happy to stay under the present circumstances and Nicola doesn't need his sale price, I have no problem. We should only purchase players if top quality come along, because we are unlikely to push for the top or be relegated now, so there is no need for emergency purchases this season (providing Boruc is back soon).
If the right player is available for a good price than why not go in for him. Would ideally like a pacey winger who can make an impact off the bench but not desperate for one. Would like Saints to look into signing Tom Ince as he would be available for a decent price. No need to buy a keeper before the summer. The keeper market isn't good at all in January - no one wants to sell their keeper mid season.
None of the above really. Ideally I'd like a winger of sorts and a centre back to start. I don't think we have enough creative players as it is so I wouldn't want to sell Ramirez and buy a centre back. Another keeper would be nice but I'd accept Kelvin Davis as back up for the rest of the season and then we can look for a keeper in the summer. I don't think January is just for panic/desperation buys but I won't be too fussed if we don't add anyone.
I don't see getting a keeper to be very important, as soon as Boruc is back we're set, and how many sides really have two top-level keepers? A CB is vastly different, because CBs have a higher rate of attrition (as we've already seen - I don't apply the same standards to Boruc because his injury was a freak accident) and our backups are clearly not up to the job. I don't know whether I want one to immediately displace Fonte or not, as he's been very good this season, but without a doubt we need to strengthen there.
Not sure we need to sell Ramirez to fund signing another player, let alone a player in a different position. I don't understand why some people are so keen to get rid of Ramirez. If you look at our bench this season, we seem to have more defence-minded players on it, with rarely anyone who could change the game. Here are some recent examples of who we had on the bench: v Everton: Gazza, Clyne, Yoshida, Hooiveld, Reed, Ramirez, Gallagher v Cardiff: K.Davis, Hooiveld, Fox, Reed, JWP, Ramirez, Gallagher v Tottenham: Cropper, Fonte, Yoshida, Reed, JWP, Ramirez, Gallagher v Newcastle: Cropper, Yoshida, Fonte, Schneiderlin, Lallana, Ramirez, Gallagher The Newcastle bench was obviously stronger and we could change the game due to Lallana being on there as well.Of the rest, Ramirez is the only one I believe could come on and change the game. I feel that it would be pointless to sell Ramirez without having a replacement signed as we already lack game-changers, and we can see what effect they can have from the two games against Chelsea this season. For CB, I would want a quality CB because that's how we're going to improve, buying better than we already have. This subsequently raises the standard of our cover.
This has been the club's transfer policy under Cortese, buying quality at a good age for future investment, however, when it comes to Gaston, I think this one of those occasions when a player doesn't "fit" into the club. This could be that he isn't suited to the pace and physicality of the English game and isn't the right type of player for a high pressing style of play. I have been rooting for Gaston since he arrived here but how long can we afford to have a £12 player warming the bench. It just seems sensible squad management to use resources to strengthen positions in the team that we are clearly lacking depth in.
Don't think so, although I wouldn't complain if we got one. We will certainly need a CB in the summer assuming we don't get one this month, but we certainly don't need another CB for the short term.
I can't really vote, because a) I don't want a new keeper, and b) I think any new CB should be both quality and "back-up", as in I see absolutely no need to be displacing Fonte, but we need someone who is as good as Fonte, who could step in if one of our CBs was injured or out of form or whatever. Basically we ideally need 4 CBs who are all of similar quality, but the current pairing has to stay as long as they are both fit and playing well. We won't get our count of quality CBs up to 4 in this window, but we can at least get it up to 3.
I've gone for nothing. Boruc is back in a week and we won't have to worry any more (plus Kelvin is ok). We need to strengthen at CB but there's not much available in January, and it will be tough to find someone who can be Lovren's partner for the next three seasons. If we can find the right deal, great. If we lose Maya, we will need to replace. Otherwise, we can probably wait until Summer.
I don't have a preference for what happens in the transfer window, I guess. If we get a good price for Ramirez, sell him. If NC and MP think he is more useful here, then keep him. If Yoshida goes, I'm not all that hung about a replacement since he hardly played at all and was kinda crap when he did. He's not any better than Hooiveld to me. And if we get in an emergency situation where three CB's are all injured and Yoshida is needed, we're going to lose that game anyway. Might as well give an academy guy a shot, rather than waste a lot of money on a crap CB who will then immediately be superfluous in the summer when we bring in another, good CB. OTOH, if we have an Astori or someone like that then why not go ahead and do it? So yeah, no particular preference for me as to players either coming in or leaving. I'll give them Saints benefit of the doubt during the window that they know what's up, and then after the season see how things worked out.
I don't see what's wrong with having a £12m player on the bench, Chelsea were able to bring on two players against us who changed the game, Oscar cost roughly £20m and Willian cost around £30m. The problem may be that he feels that having cost that much he should be starting, if this isn't the case, I don't see what the problem is. It seems as if we'll be spending this type of money on players more often, so the ultimate aim will be to have players of that quality on the bench. Whether he is good enough for the Prem is a different matter, but I don't think his price should come into it. If he wasn't in the squad, which players on the bench would you expect to be able to effectively change a game? The likes of JWP, S.Davis and Cork when they come on are normally a like-for-like replacement, and it's a lot to put on a youngster to expect them to have such an impact, which is why I feel we should keep Gaston, he gives us something different.
