Surely we can now afford Michael Owen. Instead of wages, Mick Channon can put him on to a few winners.
Despite being on the Football Rumours <spit> site, this one sounds marginally more believable than some of the others... "Here is some stuff I heard from the mouth of one of Saints' first team coaches, who I was talking to during a golfing society event. Southampton are looking to Serie A once again for a signing with Nicola Cortese having a few good contacts at boardroom level over there. The player in question is Romanian U-21 star Denis Alibec from Inter. A fee has been agreed and the player is going to be in the city in the next couple of days to undergo a medical and sign a 3 year deal. Another deal that will go through is the signing of Innocent Emeghara of Grasshoppers. The deal was rumoured in swiss press a couple of weeks ago, but the talk died down. However, Southampton came back with an improved offer and now the two clubs are ironing out the details. The club did also inquire about Xherdan Shaqiri of FC Basel, but didn't get far as some of Europe's biggest clubs are in a bidding war for the player. I was also told that that Cork aside, Adkins may look solely to the continent for any other squad improvements this summer as he feels that while he has a sizeable transfer budget, he believes that English clubs are asking for too much money for their players." The example I was given was Bristol City wanting £6.5m for Nicky Maynard where Saints were thinking nearer £4million.
Denis Alibec looks quality on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denis_Alibec "Currently, Alibec is in rich form for the Campionato Primavera Girone B for Inter's Primavera side having scored 8 goals in 9 appearances. He is a left footed player while being known for his composure, balance, and relaxed way of playing." Sounds like just what we want.
even if it sounds realistic, anything on that site is worth taking with a pinch of salt. The people at the club who know about transfers ie. Cortese, Adkins, Crosby, Wilkins, Les Reed and maybe a few senior admin people, are unlikely to be shouting about deals at a golfing event. They might make things up to spread some rumours mind.
Our financial year end must be close to now; this may have an impact on when signings are completed. NC may not want chunk of cash coming out til start of new financial year. Anyone know what date we were officially bought by Markus?
But he scores goals ... in my book I am happy for him to be a tosser of the Championship if he can get us back to the PL
This is the response from us after Arsenal supposedly bid 6 million for Chamberlain - “It was regarded as derisory, and would not have been accepted even if the club had been on the brink of bankruptcy,”
Rumour has it that Blackpool want Puncheon and we want Matt Phillips in return. Would be delighted with that.
we would be rolling over laughing all day if we pulled that off! once again most of us here would form a convoy to ensure punch went up there - then to kidnap phillips to get him down
http://www.dailystar.co.uk/football/view/199921/SAINTS-SLAM-ARSENAL-ALEX-BID/ I thought that was pretty funny too. "Saints’ executive chairman Nicola Cortese believed to have thrown it straight into the bin with hardly a glance" lol..
Always said that AOC is worth more to us than Arsenal and we don't have to sell. Arsenal need to buy several match-ready players and Alex is still a work in progress. To us, he is an important part of the present and future team. Alex was thrilled to sign a 3-yr deal with us last August and can't expect to be released one year later unless it is in the interests of the club. To be fair, I'm sure he's a good lad and will give everything on the pitch. The problem for him is that he is probably on relatively low money and will not get an increase without extending his contract, something he will not want to do. However, he's got the rest of his career to get big money, here or elsewhere, and too much money can ruin young men (though it's great for old ladies ). Let's hope we see out the rest of the transfer window without another club meeting our demands.
Nothing will happen until his 18th Birthday Fran........Then legally he can make up his own mind. Although his Dad will probably still be his agent. Nothing will happen on that front until after pre season.....if anything is to happen at all Imo.
If he signed a three year deal last August, then he will probably move next summer. With only one year left on his contract then the club would me more minded to sell than they are now. If he doesn't go in this window it would be great if he signed a contract extention. If he chooses not to, then that will speak volumes about his plans.
Notice on Player that when NA was asked if Cork was top of his wish list, he said,'for midfield anyway' and then grinned. So as we all guessed, he has other targets.
