23 mil torres he goes along comes suarez..... if suarez goes someone else will turn in. thats all. sure he's world class if anyone is in the prem but mein gott... its huge sums
As an outsider you are reading the papers as most people do and their 'spin' from the time Cortese went was that we were in meltdown and Katharina Liebherr was looking to sell. She and the new board have stated publically that she is not looking to sell and that we are not looking to sell anyone. It is the media that have warbled on about 'Saints need the money' and 'Liebherr's looking to sell'. I read on a Man U board when the Luke Shaw bid was 'announced' that 'Saints will bite our hands off for that amount because they need the money'. This is a club that has massive debt saying that our club with a 'tiny debt' needs money!!!! Yes we have some debt but we are in a much better financial state than virtually every other club in this division!!!! We aren't going to become more profitable by selling off players to pay off small debts, we will only become more profitable by doing better on the field, creating a larger fanbase and making more money. So the truth is that if the Saints Board were asked 'Do you want to sell anyone' they would say no, no-one. The reality is that a bid as large as £27m for an 18 year old defender that may never be worth more is a bit different to selling off the family jewels. We could well do some business there and buy 2 top notch players for the club with that money. However selling Lallana for any less then £30m is not the same. What he brings to the Saints on and off the field is worth much much more to Saints than anyone else. We could not buy an equivalent player even for £30m. Maybe in terms of footbally ability we could but not what he brings to Saints in Leadership, inspiration and off the field as well. He is pretty much one of the key components of the 'feelgood' factor that surrounds Saints at the moment and for him to be sold for £20m would lead to scenes that would surpass when Keegan Sold Andy Cole. There would be fury from the fans and the board would be under immediate pressure.
I can't answer that really. I am an old romantic and pretty loyal. I have worked for a pittance rather than move on (and that would've tripled my salary) because I liked the job I was in, I liked the owners and I liked being the top man rather than a department leader In a footballers position I think it is probably 50/50. It may hinge on many things. Is he settled? Does his wife want to move North? Does he really want to move? He is already on big money compared to the real world. He probably will move on but talk of £20m is crazy, if the club sell for that they will have to board themselves in to their boardroom
Really interesting thanks for the post. From my point of view I would be very nervous if we were to spend £30 million on him, that's not because I don't rate him but because we are not in a position to go spending big like that on one player.
I like Lallana but he's not worth £30m (Southamptons view apart) and its a large part of our budget for what I would say is a non-important area of recruitment.
Shearer was a northerner playing in the south before returning. Redknapp is a good shout. I cant think of many though. Les Ferdinand at Newcastle?
thought it was obvious i was taking the piss considering we was interacting with a saints fan on here and shearer used to play for them then went back home. just wondering if he is hoping they have another Le tiss then in Lallana and he remains loyal to them. dont know about les, not sure where he was from.
The made it even more obvious, I just decided to respond anyway Edit: just googled it and Les was born in London
We sold Torres and got Suarez yes... but it hasn't always been sell one great striker- buy another. Before Torres we have to go way back to Owen to find a striker who was of any use to us. After Owen we had Morientes, Cisse, Baros, Voronin, Kuyt (was OK), Crouch (was OK)... and I'm sure more that I'm forgetting. We've gone long times without a top striker. Took a long time after Owen to get someone decent again. With £80million it helps our odds of getting someone good again- but doesn't guarantee it! We spent a bugger-load on Keane and Carroll and neither of those were good enough despite their cost. Rodgers struck gold with Coutinho and Sturridge- but that was now 3 transfer windows ago... he hasn't brought in anyone that is an improvement over existing team since (ready to step into first team). We've been crap in the transfer windows. Suarez is a guaranteed good player. We can spend £80mill and not have any guarantee of a decent player in return. Especially given our recent track-record in transfers.
I was going to make a similar point but one thing stopped me; You pointed out a gap between Owen and Torres, point another one out...
Forwards we've done well with over the years- minus the large gap between Owen and Torres- but same issue can be addressed in other positions too! Considering Owen left in 2004 (or was it Jan 2005) - anything going beyond that is pretty old history anyway- two owners and 4+ managers ago. But Owen and Fowler before him came through our youth. Before Torres you have to go a long way back- Dalglish? To find our last good striker purchase. That's (guessing) 20 years before Torres to find a striker we purchased that was really top quality. (Don't think we have an Owen/Fowler in our youth program today.) We've seen the Owen to Torres gap in other positions though- specifically full backs: Left back. Riise was the last top quality left back we had. Yeah, Enrique is good when not injured. We sold Riise 6 years ago. Still haven't got a Really good player in that position. We sold a good player (aging though) - and never got a really good replacement. There wasn't another Riise to take his place. Right back. We sold Arbeloa 5 years ago. Johnson was OK for a season or two- but it's now been 5 years since we had a really good quality Right back. We never got the next Arbeloa! (Flanny has lots of potential).
We were- but I used other positions because it fit my argument... lol... The next great for any position "striker, defender, midfielder" isn't guaranteed to come along. Selling Torres and getting Suarez is an anomaly not the norm imo. I suspect if we sell Suarez we will be back with a Kuyt/Crouch level player... someone good but not *wow fantastic*. If we sell Suarez, Sturridge will be our "star striker" - but as good as getting goals as he is (or has been)- he doesn't create them as well.
Also... as I pointed out in the edit (you quoted me before my edit apparently)... Before Torres, yes we had Owen and Fowler who were fantastic... but they came through academy- of which there doesn't appear to be the next Owen/Fowler- no one singularly outstanding who is a striker. Our last world-class striker signing before Torres was Ian Rush!!!!!! 1980.
