You’ve said this before and while he’s undoubtedly a hard player for us to replace, look at the top ten goalscorers in the league at the moment. Half of them (DCL, Bamford, Vardy, Son, Kane, Wilson) joined their clubs for less or the same as we originally paid for Ings and most of them on lower salaries too. Son and Wilson were the most expensive of that lot at around £20m each. You can even scroll down that list further and find others (Maddison, Zaha, Barnes, Gundogan) who moved for fees in that range (our Danny is down in 16th). To make out that he’s irreplaceable and it’s some cataclysmic calamity if when leaves is just not reality. I’ll agree it’s not easy, but it’s so rare that any signing is a ‘sure thing’. Unless you’re buying a proven talent at or above our level there’s always risk and I’ve not seen us shopping in those kinds of markets since we were in League One! Difficult, yes. Impossible, no.
And also, even when buying a proven talent for big ££ it doesn't necessarily work out (yet), despite EVERYONE thinking it would. Step forward Timo Werner.
There was a rumour yesterday (not sure how reliable) that we're interested in Tammy Abraham, but I imagine he'd go for more than we might get for Ings given his age. West Ham, Villa and Leicester are all interested too and all three of those would be better moves at the moment. Ivan Toney is doing great at Brentford, but I imagine he'd be around the £25m-£35m mark, like Watkins was, so I doubt we'd afford that. So Ings is definitely replaceable, but obviously I don't want him to go. I've always thought he won't get the big move he's after given his injuries and age. And now I've just looked at his Premier League goal stats and I think him moving is more unlikely when other strikers like Abraham and Toney are out there. I know he had really bad injuries at Liverpool, but other than last season's 22 goals, his best returns in the PL are 11 with Burnley in 14/15, 8 with us this season and then 7 with us in 18/19. I imagine he'll get double figures this season, but his stats, age and injury records don't exactly make good reading for a club considering a £20m/30m transfer fee.
In some ways, he’s in that Vardy situation. Jamie Vardy is such a weird case because he’s an old player who is key to his team but with numbers that would fit at any team in the league. As an investment, he’s a horrible proposition for a buyer unless they have cash to burn because he’s high fee, high salary but also relatively short term and with no possibility of resale to recoup any of it. Ings is in a similar state. High output (his earlier seasons he often played wide) but coming to the tail end of a career with two big knee surgeries. I could absolutely see him moving to a CL club on a free if his deal runs down but it makes a summer deal tricky for everyone involved.
Yeah him leaving on a free next year is a worry, but all the in-the-know reporters say he’s happy to sign, just wants reassurances about a sale should it materialise. Maybe I’m kidding myself but I just don’t think the investment on Ings (from a big club/team in Europe) would make much sense, especially with the covid impact on finances. There would be much better buys than Ings. I can see him signing the contract, not getting a move and staying with us for the next 4-5 years. No idea why I’m optimistic about it, maybe it’s the weather.
I hope you're right, but if that's the case, I wish he'd be sensible and get on with it and sign. The limbo isn't doing anybody any good, least of all him.
Danny is a gamble for anyone, us included. Having said that he’s done well with us physically and we have broken everyone near enough. I think other moves will determine interest. When Kane hops the channel i fully expect spurs to offer 6mill.
I'm purely speculating, but I'd guess that he was holding off due to the 'release clause' issue. Since then we've dropped down into a relegation battle (of sorts), so he's probably now holding off just to make sure he'd actually still be a Premier League player if he stays with us.
Step forward Magic who said Werner would flop because he is a glorified Dwight Gayle On the subject of summer I think we will sell Vestergaard to fund rest of the squad. Based on the season he has had should attract some decent offers and with Bednarek and Salisu we don’t necessarily need to go and sign a big money replacement (we obviously need to get somebody as a replacement in the squad)
If I was Vesty I would look for a move too. Basically ridiculed by all and when finally could prove his worth we have the cheek to want him.
I haven’t been on here in ages, come back and join in with the discourse in progress and this is the thanks I get? Honestly. I’m under appreciated in my time. Quick, someone make a pun so the mods stop paying attention.
The issue is that Ralph clearly likes Bedders (and rightly so), but he's shoe horning him in, now we have 3 decent central defenders and no full backs. He probably looks at him (at right back) in training and thinks he looks solid. The problem is that he's probably up against Redmond and to be fair most of us would look solid against Redmond too. Fast forward to matchday and oh sh*t, Redmond isn't playing on the left for the opposition, it's actually Saka, Grealish, Richarlison, Raphinha and co. Queue proverbial fish out of water.
I thought we were welcoming Elyounoussi back with open arms after he's been ripping it up in Scotland
Although tbf you rate Wesley Hoedt... https://readsouthampton.com/2021/01...wesley-hoedt-clashes-with-teammates-at-lazio/
Thats the trouble with buying sh*t players. One thing him not being of any use to us but another that we are stuck with the pr*ck
So what we thinking for score predictions? I'm going 2-1 loss, we take the lead they score 2 goals in the first 10 minutes of the second half then defend like heros. We get a last minute equaliser chalked off by VAR because Che's sleeve is offside #feelingconfident
Kayne Ramsay is playing for the B team (are they called that now?) today, so presumably won't even be involved tomorrow.