Toby signs for Spurs - official.

I get it, but then at the same time, you don't want to be losing out on a world class player at what is still a bargain price because you've been clinging on to something that ultimately isn't going to bear fruit. It's not like we're financially scraping the bottom of the barrel right now either.

 

If we had a real chance to get him for a pre agreed price, he would be here. Atletico obviously feels are they have no obligation to us and that our legal threats are void.

 

It's a contract between two clubs AM went against it, Saints will not look stupid.

 

Exactly. I think morally (presuming what we've said is correct) we're absolutely correct, but then there's a possible element of cutting noses off to spite faces. I'd rather let AM get away with a fast one, pay 11m and have Toby, than be the upholder of what is good and proper and get and extra million in the bank.

 

Could we not buy him for £11m AND get AM the slap on the wrist they deserve? Go through that long, drawn out process of retrieving the 4 million back from AM through the courts, whilst Toby is our player?

 

At this point I can't say wether we will look stupid or no, it depends on how the situation unfolds.

 

Lets all wait and see. If Toby wants away then good luck to him. I'm sure the club have a replacement already identified.

 

We wouldn't leak it if it wasn't true, that would be a PR nightmare. Saints thought it was a done deal, but AM obviously have been talking to Spurs behind the scenes. Yes we could go here have £11m, but that doesn't matter if everything is agreed with Spurs. I just can't see how people can blame Saints.

 

Would Saints be going down this route if they hadn't received some encouragement from Toby?
Surely someone, presumably RK or Les, will have had recent discussions with him, to confirm he would still be happy to sign for us?
If they have, and he's confirmed he wants Spivs, then I'm guessing we are dicking Spivs around, in retaliation for their dealings with Poch, or going after AM for compo, or both.

 

No one is looking stupid. AM just look dodgy is all(but they can't be stupid for getting extra cash).Saints got played and look like missing out on a player due to AM going against a contract.

 

Why, it's pretty clear. If Toby signs for Spurs with no negative consequences for them or Atletico, then we were wrong in our understanding of the loan clauses. We don't yet know wheter that's true or not, so we have to wait to find out.

 

We don't know for sure wether Atletico are going against a contract. Club thinks so, but they might be wrong.

 

It's football, they will either get a small fine (that no one talks about) or a letter saying don't do it again. Spurs haven't done anything wrong so they will be fine.

 

Yeah, what LTL has said. Atletico seem to be morally in the wrong here but really, that's not something I'm too concerned about. I'm not interested in Southampton taking legal action against Atletico Madrid and maybe winning a payout in a year's time, I'm interested in us signing the player and if we've sat around waiting for the buyout deadline to expire rather than negotiating with AM (which is sharp practice in itself if Atletico made it clear they didn't want to sell for the agreed amount) and then refused to match the Spurs offer then we've missed an opportunity to sign him.

 

I will say again. We wouldn't leak it to the press if we didn't feel we had a strong case. We would end up getting ripped to pieces (PR wise) if we just went "well umm I think they went against it, but that's try it anyways".

 

Now that sounds sensible!

 

They didn't pay us on time so fault is on them. If a agreement is place why should we go above it? Do you know we haven't? The only thing we know atm is AM look dodgy.

 

My guess is that this will likely get resolved by Toby saying "I'd rather go to Spurs". Probably encouraged by a bit of cash from AM and Spurs. Him wanting to come to Southampton is key for the contract to hold by the sounds of things.

 

Why should we go above the agreed amount? Because if we don't the player will sign for someone else. We clearly haven't come to an agreement with Atletico and the figures being talked about aren't so high we can't afford to match the Spurs offer.

 

I said how do you know we haven't gone above it as well.