Who's belittling Southampton? We all know you've got good players but I think most are saying that your players are going for a lot of money considering what they've achieved so far. £16mill for Chambers is probably the most crazy, he's only played about 20 games! No one doubts that Southampton's academy has produced a lot good players in recent years but, no offence, they leave before they've even had a chance to flop so you can blame Wenger and other managers if they don't turn out as you expect but there's nothing to prove that they'd have done better if they'd stayed.
YV I'm not sure whether we would have improved the players had they spent longer with us. There is a feeling that O-C left too early and the same opinion is generally held by Saints fans with regard to Shaw. My drift was more to do with the fat that Ferguson would have brought more out of O-C and Walcott at Man Utd. I'm afraid I think Chambers is good yet will struggle to make an impression at Arsenal and his move was foolish. It was a good bit of business for Saints although the fact that we are now awash with money from transfers seems to make little sense. I'm a bit negative about Wenger . I don't think he really has contributed to bringing on British talent and there is a degree of satisfaction seeming Arsenal raided by the likes of man City for their better players.
Player power will dictate what happens now - personally, I think if he kicks up a fuss like Lovren started to then he'll go. I hate all this player power stuff - if we all went on strike from our jobs and kicked up a fuss, we'd be fired.
Can't see it. He's got 2 years left on his contract and he's injured already. Seems an unlikely fee, so it'll either be less or won't happen. His behaviour over the coming days might determine what happens to this transfer. I get the feeling that your board have changed their mind about him leaving, possibly due to your fans' understandable reaction to everyone else going.
I'd take Rodriguez for seven million, that's for sure. Twenty million for a player currently injured is high, but might not be out of the question for me for a player who scored 15 last year. I wouldn't pay 15 million for Schneiderlin, just because the last thing we need is another deep lying midfielder.
Fair enough. I do think Rooney has massively underachieved there and Ferguson wasn't ever the kind of manager that goes out and runs training everyday so I'm not sure how much input he had anyway. I'm not going to defend Wenger though. No way!
So we're going to sell him for the same price we bought him for? £27 mill for Schneiderlin, £20mill for Rodriguez.
You mean like Allen at Liverpool or Fellaini at Man U? Or perhaps you have some examples where it actually worked?
£20m is ridiculous for rod. As has been said, injured and 2years on contract. Unless he's about to sign a new deal then 20m is a dream
Well we wouldn't let him go for less than £15mill. We don't need to accept insulting offers like £7mill.
The saints fans attempted to get above their station, claiming they weren't far off ourselves and that in a year or two they would be on par with us, laughable but seeing them get ripped apart puts them in their place and I don't feel much sympathy for their club as football is a hard, tough sport and if they believe they can reach the heights of challenging for top four then good luck to them as they have money in the bank, a rich owner and a good youth system so lets see if they can make the leap forward. In terms of their youth system I admire thier approach but now their fans can move away from claiming to be on the verge of something great as they need to rebuild and there is more chance of them being relegated then progressing.
There's a story doing the rounds the we about to sign Miguel Lopes from Sporting Lisbon and Naughton is off to Swansea. Anyone know anything about this?
Schneiderlin not very happy about the "going nowhere" decision, it seems!... http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2892...southampton-for-opposing?ICID=HP_HN_HP_RI_0_1
The Southampton situation is really interesting. Whatever you say about the fire sale that is going on they have brought in a hell of a lot of money for what they initially invested in those players. Reminds me a bit of us bringing in young talent a few years back like Lennon, Huddlestone and Carrick for practically peanuts. Then sell them off for silly money if they really succeed. Then reinvest it. Whether that happens with Southampton remains to be seen, but although it is likely to be a rocky season for them, they do have a chance to build something really good in the future and establish themselves as a top half team.
Sorry, we're not Liverpool! I've read the reports, but I can't see the sense behind the Lopes move. He's hardly had an impact anywhere else, though he would be on loan, I guess. The Naughton to Swansea thing's been hanging around for a couple of weeks now. I think we may be either negotiating for other players from the Swans or waiting til his replacement's in.
