Alright, I'm okay with Koeman. Could do A LOT worse, hopefully he doesn't take us down the Valencia route.
http://www.soccernews.nl/news/255313/Koeman_al_in_Engeland_voor_onderhandelingen_met_Southampton Confirms he's in tlaks which have "sped up" over the last couple of days
Also mentions confirmation has come from a twitterer...basically what we have heard repeated in Dutch.
Haha pretty much from from a local source. Work next to a Dutch guy so taking advantage of it before the working day comes to a close!
Interestingly, saw something on Twitter a while ago and bookmarked it. Anyway... A Hibs fan who works as a caddie on Gleneagles golf course caddied for Ronald Koeman on May 27th (the day Poch left) and then tweeted his mate telling him to get a bet on Koeman to Southampton, because he was heading south for talks with Saints in the next day or so. Seems a strange thing for a Hibs fan to make up out of nowhere, so maybe it's true.
Out of interest, did anyone put money on Koeman after reading this thread? If so you owe me a drink, because I put nothing on
I stuck money on him when he just entered the market, but he dropped to 8/1 from 12/1 just as I placed it
So... If we're feeling positive, how does this look: Manager: Koeman Keeper: Boruc/? Defence: Clyne/Chambers, De Vrij/Fonte, Lovren/Maya, Shaw/Targett Midfield: Wanyama/Cork, Schneiderlin Lallana(?), Ramirez/Davis, Jrod/JWP Strikers: Pelle + any of: Lukaku/Bony/Ings/Finnbogason/Lacazette/Aboubakar (Gallagher as back-up) Will £50m + Osvaldo sale get us this?
If only money was enough...however, being able to afford a player doesn't mean he will come if there is a choice. That's why it is good to keep the players you have. Let's imagine a talented, two-footed, England midfielder fresh from the World Cup (let's call him Lallana for the sake of argument)...what are the odds he would join Southampton?
Not a lot stronger than last season, considering how much we might have to spend. I wouldn't buy Pelle; I'd go for someone a lot better. Ings would be nice, but probably a bit expensive considering the risk of him not being able to step up to the challenge. Lukaku and Bony we won't get, Finnbogason isn't good enough, Lacazette is just all pace, Aboubakar may be good enough but I'm not convinced. Picking a striker is a really difficult thing to do, but I hope we hear some new names because I don't like the sound of these really. De Vrij would be nice, as would Martins Indi or Virgil van Dijk. I'd like a new attacking mid, even if we keep Lallana. We're still not quite creative enough. Sigurdsson would be nice.