Gosh one of their posters is a little special. Basically asking why he doesn’t want to take a 1.5m per year, circa 40% pay cut
Cant fault him for his effort when playing, but never been quite good enough to be a regular player for us. Bit surprised he didn’t want to leave a couple of years ago as he was always going to be a squad player/backup here, but can’t knock him for not doing so. Would hope the deal is a permanent/loan with obligation to buy just so we know that we have him off the wage bill and can hopefully go for some other targets. That would leave us with 4 senior CBs, so unless the 3 at the back is the standard formation, we probably could shift another one if we are after this experienced centre back.
Wolves opening the cheque book. £27.5m on Guedes and £38m on Nunes They’re both Portuguese shockingly
There is something super suspicious about their business arrangements with Portuguese signings. Very large fees for players who you would never expect to go to wolves if you really were honest about it
It’s not suspicious, it’s obvious. Jorge Mendes owns a stake in the club or something so encourages his clients to go there. I’m sure he also has connections within the Portuguese game to get players not on his books to go there as well. As far as I’m aware it doesn’t break any rules as they are still paying decent fees for the players. What was happening at Watford a few years ago was far dodgier What is strange to me is only Jota and possibly the goalkeeper have moved on to a big club after going to Wolves, would’ve thought more of them would want out
But it also seemed like they were underpaying on wages. At least it seemed to be when they first came up. So he encourages his clients to go there but as you say - they don’t move on. So perhaps there is something weird where the player gets 40k a week and he takes 10k directly one way or another. It just seems odd May not break rules but doesn’t seem right. Especially that 40m striker who was worth not even a quarter of that and who his home club got a fraction of the total fee. That seemed like a Bebe style bung to agents and third party owners. But why that would be necessary I have no idea. It definitely doesn’t seem completely above board
Fabio Silva was regarded as one of the best prospects in Europe at the time and seen as the next big striker, so £40m wasn’t too outlandish. Portuguese clubs always seem to get big fees for their players as a rule, I assume because third party ownership is very common over there so bumps prices up as everyone wants their cut. If you’re bored and interested have a look at Falcao and his ownership in his prime, was crazy and was why he cost Atletico 90m or whatever it was when he moved from Porto
Sky sports just had a "portuguese football expert" on talking about Southampton's long standing interest in Goncalo Ramos (Benfica striker). We apparently met with the club to discuss potential terms. Wolves also keen and submitted offer of loan (€5m fee) with obligation to buy (€30m fee) - so I think that prices us out.
I read a rumour about him on ugly inside yesterday - so it seemingly isn’t completely made up Maybe I am being foolishly over optimistic but that might not price us out. A 5m loan plus 30m obligation doesn’t necessarily mean his value is considered to €35m. Part of that is potentially “interest” due to not paying now. Although that said I doubt a first instalment would be significantly more than 5m anyway Maybe a sell on would help as we actually would sell him? When as discussed above wolves don’t seem to - even though that is really how I would expect the Mendes model to work - get his players in the shop window for bigger transfers and bigger contracts Interesting that we have apparently had long standing interest.
Apparently he has been linked with Forest (of course), Newcastle, Everton, Wolves and Leeds. I’d suggest are chances are pretty low regardless of the fee Although that is pretty much every club that needs and wants a striker - except for forest who want 5 of them very position it seems. I’d expect Dennis and Maupay would mean they are out of the running there if Maupay gets completed. Otherwise that would be getting silly (it already kind of is) But it would suggest loads of clubs are after the same players. Three on that list have been linked with Che as well.
Seems like a very decent option, but we aren't getting him ahead of wolves with Mendes as his agent I'd highly imagine
Another obvious snag as well as the fee. But I can’t imagine they sign ALL of his clients. But perhaps the ones they want? But if so you have to wonder why Newcastle and Forest would have even bothered Reading about this has unveiled another potential blocker in the transfer market - the champions league qualifiers. Happened with Van Dijk all those years ago. Unlikely to directly impact us given most of our targets but a flurry of activity might be triggered on / around 24th. For example if this guy is nailed on for wolves I’d expect it to be pretty much immediately after the qualifiers. Especially if a loan as those are quicker And then other clubs move down their list and things get moving perhaps ? It does seem like we are impacted by being one of many premier league sides after at least one striker and there only being so many that are likely to be available (and even fewer available to us)
Ramos is good and is the kind of multifunctional forward player that we seem to be attempting to turn the Armstrong Twins into. I’d like it but he feels too established, somehow to be Saintsy. We’re digging in the deeper crates usually.
The rumour that we have met with Rui Costa is at least somewhat positive given that it isn’t accompanied by a story saying that we have backed away. But it is probably in their interest to show there is loads of interest I do expect that we are way down the list though
Apparently Semmens was In Portugal on Saturday. That's why he wasn't say with Ankerson and Kraft. Interesting.