Transfer Rumours The 2015 Summer Transfer Window Thread

  • Please bear with us on the new site integration and fixing any known bugs over the coming days. If you can not log in please try resetting your password and check your spam box. If you have tried these steps and are still struggling email [email protected] with your username/registered email address
  • Log in now to remove adverts - no adverts at all to registered members!
Status
Not open for further replies.
Beefy said:
The arrival of Oriol Romeu as Southampton's seventh summer additionwas warmly received by supporters as another whirlwind summer hurtles to an end at St Mary's. But is the signing of the Spaniard the latest example the club are being forced to move away from their "Best of British" policy?

Before his ill-tempered departure in January 2014, former chairman Nicola Cortese had a long-term vision of following in Barcelona's footsteps by sending out a first-team made up of 50 percent of home-grown players, and Saints have been widely applauded for the way they have promoted from their fertile youth academy into the senior side.

When Southampton took on Everton in Mauricio Pochettino's first game as manager in January 2013, he named five Englishman in a starting XI, which also included Morgan Schneiderlin, who despite his French roots would count as a home-grown player under Premier League regulations having moved across the Channel as an 18-year-old.

But when the two sides renew acquaintances on Saturday, it is likely nine of Saints' line-up will hail from foreign shores, with only Matt Targett and Jay Rodriguez preventing manager Ronald Koeman from naming a team made up entirely of overseas players for what would be the first time in the club's history.

Targett has been hailed by Saints' executive director of football Les Reed as a beacon for the youth set-up, which is envied by clubs all over the world, but it is unlikely that the talented left-back and lifelong Southampton fan will be able to hold down a regular starting spot once Ryan Bertrand -- like Romeu, rescued from the Chelsea wilderness -- returns to full fitness.

Under Pochettino, Sam Gallagher followed in the footsteps of England legend Alan Shearer by making his full Premier League debut against Arsenal, but the raw 19-year-old has now been sent out on a season-long loan to Championship newcomers' Milton Keynes Dons.

Many Southampton fans hoped Schneiderlin's big-money move to Manchester United would pave the way for Harrison Reed to stake his claim for more first-team football, but the Paul Scholes lookalike could be the main loser from the capture of Romeu.

Even James Ward-Prowse, billed as the new David Beckham for his lethal dead-ball skills, could find himself getting saddle sore on the substitutes' bench with the always improving Victor Wanyama, Netherlands midfielder Jordy Clasie, Koeman favourite Steven Davis and now Romeu all likely to be ahead of the Hampshire-born England under-21 captain in the pecking order.

In fairness to Saints, it is not their responsibility to solve the Football Association's quandary of why there are a lack of English players in the Premier League -- only 73 of the 220 starters from the 10 opening weekend games were English -- but their summer recruitment policy could be interpreted as a worrying reflection of the future of English players.

Tim Sherwood, the Aston Villa manager, was not wrong when he told reporters that clubs were being priced out of buying British. To nab talented full-back Cedric Soares from Sporting Lisbon, Saints paid less than half of the £8 million neighbours and Premier League new-boys Bournemouth lavished on another full-back Tyrone Mings, despite Mings having never played above the second tier.

Southampton themselves have benefited from the additional levy imposed on players simply by virtue of being born under the flag of St George by raking in fees in excess of £20m for Luke Shaw and Adam Lallana, both of whom are yet to justify their price tag with their performances for Manchester United and Liverpool, respectively.

As long as Reed is in a position of power, Saints will not be allowed to neglect their policy of giving young British talent a chance, but there is no doubt it is becoming harder for the club to flourish the 'Southampton Way.'

http://www.espnfc.co.uk/club/southa...romeu-arrival-raises-questions-at-southampton
Click to expand...
Nice one Beefy.
 
Beefy said:
The arrival of Oriol Romeu as Southampton's seventh summer additionwas warmly received by supporters as another whirlwind summer hurtles to an end at St Mary's. But is the signing of the Spaniard the latest example the club are being forced to move away from their "Best of British" policy?

Before his ill-tempered departure in January 2014, former chairman Nicola Cortese had a long-term vision of following in Barcelona's footsteps by sending out a first-team made up of 50 percent of home-grown players, and Saints have been widely applauded for the way they have promoted from their fertile youth academy into the senior side.

When Southampton took on Everton in Mauricio Pochettino's first game as manager in January 2013, he named five Englishman in a starting XI, which also included Morgan Schneiderlin, who despite his French roots would count as a home-grown player under Premier League regulations having moved across the Channel as an 18-year-old.

But when the two sides renew acquaintances on Saturday, it is likely nine of Saints' line-up will hail from foreign shores, with only Matt Targett and Jay Rodriguez preventing manager Ronald Koeman from naming a team made up entirely of overseas players for what would be the first time in the club's history.

Targett has been hailed by Saints' executive director of football Les Reed as a beacon for the youth set-up, which is envied by clubs all over the world, but it is unlikely that the talented left-back and lifelong Southampton fan will be able to hold down a regular starting spot once Ryan Bertrand -- like Romeu, rescued from the Chelsea wilderness -- returns to full fitness.

Under Pochettino, Sam Gallagher followed in the footsteps of England legend Alan Shearer by making his full Premier League debut against Arsenal, but the raw 19-year-old has now been sent out on a season-long loan to Championship newcomers' Milton Keynes Dons.

Many Southampton fans hoped Schneiderlin's big-money move to Manchester United would pave the way for Harrison Reed to stake his claim for more first-team football, but the Paul Scholes lookalike could be the main loser from the capture of Romeu.

Even James Ward-Prowse, billed as the new David Beckham for his lethal dead-ball skills, could find himself getting saddle sore on the substitutes' bench with the always improving Victor Wanyama, Netherlands midfielder Jordy Clasie, Koeman favourite Steven Davis and now Romeu all likely to be ahead of the Hampshire-born England under-21 captain in the pecking order.

In fairness to Saints, it is not their responsibility to solve the Football Association's quandary of why there are a lack of English players in the Premier League -- only 73 of the 220 starters from the 10 opening weekend games were English -- but their summer recruitment policy could be interpreted as a worrying reflection of the future of English players.

Tim Sherwood, the Aston Villa manager, was not wrong when he told reporters that clubs were being priced out of buying British. To nab talented full-back Cedric Soares from Sporting Lisbon, Saints paid less than half of the £8 million neighbours and Premier League new-boys Bournemouth lavished on another full-back Tyrone Mings, despite Mings having never played above the second tier.

Southampton themselves have benefited from the additional levy imposed on players simply by virtue of being born under the flag of St George by raking in fees in excess of £20m for Luke Shaw and Adam Lallana, both of whom are yet to justify their price tag with their performances for Manchester United and Liverpool, respectively.

As long as Reed is in a position of power, Saints will not be allowed to neglect their policy of giving young British talent a chance, but there is no doubt it is becoming harder for the club to flourish the 'Southampton Way.'

http://www.espnfc.co.uk/club/southa...romeu-arrival-raises-questions-at-southampton
Click to expand...

There are many angles to this issue of English talent, too many to go into in any real depth, but the main problem yet again is the perceived "strength" of the Premier League.

There are huge gaps in football provision from Primary school onwards, league football in Secondary schools is based on participation for the masses, schools and football clubs are at odds over coaching versus teaching and the system of Secondary aged football is in chaos.

Any pupil who dares to show ability beyond their age is molly-coddled and protected from the sport they've excelled in and they lose the notion of what "real" sport is, the human factor is lost.

With the exception of a few academies, most pay lip service to the end product of youngsters going into the first team and the products are used to occupy a sham U21 league from the point of view of the Premier League towards the FA- just to keep the FA quiet.

The Premier League and its multi billion pound industry cares not for youth development-a global league based in this country will cherry pick the best youth from around the world rather than wait for our youth to catch up.

As far as Saints go, I can only applaud and be proud to watch as the U21s won the cup last season. I think we need to add a layer of real competition in somewhere as the u21 league is so hit and miss. It's refreshing to see Sam Gallacher et El go on loan, and although we all hope he comes back, I suspect many will see this as a pre emptive move to joining a Championship club-not saying that's a bad thing, if that's his level all the best, but some of our youngsters need to be kicked week in week out to learn s trade outside of the comfort zone of the Markus Liebherr Pavillion.

Take JWP as an example, very few could fault his commitment, enthusiasm, role model status and will continue to cheer him week in week out even if he ran over a basket of kittens in his reasonably acquired car- I just think he needs to spend time away from us to carve himself out a real football personality. I think this is where the other clubs are missing a trick, but to be honest a lot do not care as there is no incentive for them to develop youth.

Take the Premier Leagues new darling from Wet Spam. Does one shining star make up for the fact that they haven't really bothered with youth a lot over fat sams tenure-unless it suited him.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Missing Lambo
fran-MLs little camera said:
Villa fan: Yes we have likely as much chance to get relegated as winning the league this season, but you can't hide our ambition that is clear to see.

Beg to differ.... the chances are greater that they will get relegated than win the league. That is also true for the vast majority of teams in the EPL.
Click to expand...

Three relegation places, one winning spot. And that's just the start of it.
 
- Doing The Lambert Walk said:
Somewhere like Derby County would be a good move for Harrison, if he goes on loan. Especially following injury to Will Hughes.
Click to expand...

Agreed but I can't help but think that he's fully capable of deputising for the first choice DMs if required and we need to keep him here. That Everton game... And that was one of the rare opportunities he's really been given to show what he can do.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Saints Fan4Life
letissier86 said:
Agreed but I can't help but think that he's fully capable of deputising for the first choice DMs if required and we need to keep him here. That Everton game... And that was one of the rare opportunities he's really been given to show what he can do.
Click to expand...

He was good against Newcastle too! Would rather keep hold of him as he's that close to being good enough. Closer than Gallagher and the rest of the loanees are anyway...
 
  • Like
Reactions: OddRiverOakWizards and fatletiss
We only have Wanyama and Romeu who are true DMs. It would be good for Reeds development to play a full season of games but we are going to need him here I think!
 
Relentless Saint Supertramp said:
We only have Wanyama and Romeu who are true DMs. It would be good for Reeds development to play a full season of games but we are going to need him here I think!
Click to expand...

VVD can play DM so that makes 3 (hopefully). I'd rather Reed went and got regular 1st team football in a competitive league instead of being a bit part player for us this season.
 
The person I speak to has (re)confirmed we have put in a bid for Koulibaly.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom
Back