I certainly wouldn't say no to that. But Saints maintain they don't do knee-jerk business in January. In fact, the last player we bought in a January window was Bertrand and he'd been with us since the previous transfer window. Tbf, you're right about pace. Offhand, I can't think of a single player either, who relies so much on it. But, like FLT says, he could come back as a different style of player. Then again, if his knee is actually 100%, there's no reason why his pace will have disappeared. I'm optimistic.
Hey JWP... I wasn't aiming at that specifically as I posted same time! Just a few inferring "that's it" for Jay. It'll be tough for him, but not over just yet. On your post I did say I agree about pace, but he has other attributes that can still give us a good player.
Young Villa striker from early 80's (my Dad showed me a video, honest ) .. who had the world at his feet. Two great seasons, winning the league and then the European Cup (Champions League to you young bucks) and then a bad knee injury gave him a stuttering next 8 years where he hardly played. Could have been amazing.
Only for a loan signing if that. Your statement about Mane or Pelle would be true with or without Rodriguez at the moment. They are our 2 best attacking players so if we did lose them to injury we would have a hell of a job to replace the goals in the team. I don't want Saints to spend a hugely inflated asking price unless they really have to. So I would prefer a loan signing.
Yeah to be fair though I was hoping to sign a striker in January before this came out. This just enhanced it further for me. Doesn't always have to be hugely inflated and even if it was it depends on the position we were in and where we ended up, If say we are 7th going into January and we overpay for a striker by say 4/5million but we then finish 5th/6th then for me that would of been worth slightly overpaying for as it worked for us on the pitch. PS. I know it's not quite as black and white as that, just a hypothetical situation.
Mane has 3 goals this season and we're just about a third of the way through it. Mane has been very good this season. That puts into perspective just how good Rodriguez was that season. I'd love to be proved wrong, but I can't see Mane getting 15 goals this season. He'll need to get 12 goals in the next 26 games. Very unlikely. Even Pelle will have to go some to get 15 without a penalty, but I don't think he can do it. Of course it's a different side and a head to head comparison is unfair. They are different types of players. Mane is a great player. It's a shame they couldn't have been playing together with Rodriguez still at his best..at their best they are both electrifyingly good players. It isn't ideal Long has been suffering with injuries and Rodriguez is now going to be out long term again. Really we need to make another big signing in January to replace Rodriguez now and fear for the worst. It needs to be someone with pace incase Mane gets injured, especially with Long injury prone at the moment and Pelle getting played into the ground. Someone that can make an impact off the bench would be ideal as they would be struggling to get starts. Someone that can cover the wing and centre forward would be even better. Finding a decent player with all these things is asking a lot and going to be very difficult (if not impossible) to find without spending a ludicrous amount of the transfer fee. If Pelle gets injured then Long can do a decent job at centre forward if he can stay fit now, but it would be nice to have more cover with Rodriguez out long term again. More so with Long's injuries, Ramirez still not in favour and Tadic is also prone to getting injured.
Just as we are not planning to sell in January, neither will other teams. Hard enough to find a reliable striker at the best of times, but to get one in January will mean looking for a PL quality player at a team desperate for money...which means discounting all PL teams.
Or, we look down the list of potential targets we have in the famed Black Box and decide if any of those are worth a bid now or a 4 month loan. We did it with Elia and Djurcicwhatshisname last season.
Fantastic, but I do wish they'd included Rickie's 60 yard pass which led to the last goal in that collection!
But we were never going to sign a Premier League player from a Premier league club, so the risk/difficulty is no different. We sign a player from Europe or lower league.
Rickie's goals and other assists aside, that must be one of his finest moments in a Saints shirt. And it's easy to forget after more than a season and a half without him just how important Jay was for us as well. Let's hope he does at least get back to match fitness and then we can take it from there. I'm not writing him off yet anyway.
Really rate Stekkers actually. Forster ain't gonna be walking straight back into the team that's for sure.
Stekkers is doing a great job. I really hope he stays. It is actually good for Fraser as there is no need for him to come straight into the team. He can take his time and get just right, unless Stekkers has a back twinge again.
It'd be unbelievable if we could get him on a pernament deal, having 2 top quality GK's on the books would be a massive coup for a club like Saints.
