Confirmed: Armel Bella-Kotchap signs for Saints

And there's a certain amount of forward momentum to be gained there. Sign young players -> play young players -> have them reach the upper echelons of football -> more young players want to join you. Very few transfers are bidding wars, where the player goes to whichever team submits the best offer. The vast majority these days involve the player agreeing to move to a team (or teams), and then the teams agree a fee thereafter. And with every team in the PL paying good wages, increasingly with young players, they seem to be making that decision based on promises of playing time and a history of delivering on it...there's a reason so many starlets end up with the same teams, like Dortmund, Ajax and Leipzig.

The hope is that we'll also have the money to add a few more established players along the line, as well. You can buy good young players at a lower price point, so long as you're willing to risk giving 19-21 year olds a real shot in the lineup. It's much harder to buy established players for that, so we'll need a combination of gambles on potential and more significant outlays on production if we're to move up through the table over time.

The overall direction is very good, though. There has been a market inefficiency in the PL for a number of years, with no one stepping forward to be that finishing school for future world-class players. It makes all the sense in the world for it to be us, and it finally appears that we have management that agrees.

 

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He’s a nice lad.

 

Apart from one or two nutcases we always sign nice players.

 

Seems like he's a class act already. Maybe we should play bochum in a pre season friendly

 

Anyone else's eyes struggle to re-adjust after reading that much white text on a dark background?

 

Can someone explain why the club would only put an option to extend his deal to 5 years, rather than just signing him up to a 5 year contract in the first place?

Presumably it's in case he flops and we want to get rid sooner, like we'd have wanted to with Hoedt?

 

Yep, and let's be honest, if a 20-year-old defender comes in and is as good as hoped, we will be trying to renew him at the halfway point of that deal because he'll deserve a pay rise and we'll want additional contract security. If talks hit a wall and it's stalemate, then being able to stick an extra year on the deal to keep his value higher and/or get another season of performances out of him, feels like a smart move.

 

A bit like this forum and I'm firmly in the Nutcase department

 

You are not alone dear boy. I believe I was the founder member.

 

I'm travelling in the nutterbus for sure.

 

As Nigel would say "Everyone on the Nutter Bus"

 

Another article on ABK

https://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/football/southampton-transfer-armel-bella-kotchap-27315959

 

“More than once had Reis complained that his protege was prone to mental flights of fancy, apparently also incited by his environment. This was one of the reasons why Bella-Kotchap was repeatedly dropped from the Bochum squad.

“Sometimes the youngster stands like a rock and is convincing even against the league's top strikers, but time and again the German U-21 international, born in Paris, makes hardly explainable lapses. Not only does he lose crucial duels, but his sometimes careless manner could drive any coach up the wall.

“In addition, he lacked discipline on the home stretch of the season that has just come to an end, was late for training and did not present himself as if he absolutely had to be called up at the weekend.”


This is quite worrying as Mo was showing similar traits towards the end of last season.

 

Isn't the new assistant manager more defence-focused, or have I dreamt that? Presumably one of the main objectives this season is to improve defensively, both with signings and coaching.

 

He'll only be as good as the raw materials he has to work with. He'll have to coach the careless, half-arsed mistakes out of them.

 

I asked a Bochum-supporting friend her opinion & she replied "Damn, Bochum losing so many players. He's alright. His defending is good". So fairly neutral...!

 

F*ck, that sounds exactly like Salisu.

 

I thought exactly the same!

Open minded about him, so let's see what happens. Positive about the new keeper and assistant manager appointment, just hoping we get one or two players with more experience and leadership qualities into the squad. Plenty of time still for that to happen. Also good that Saints are trying to bring improvements into the backoffice with this chap from Man City. Hopefully specialist coaches will come soon for preseason training. So far, so good.

 

The long, data filled analysis of him on The Athletic last week said (basically) that he’s got all the tools but is understandably raw. He also plays high line defence leaving big spaces but attacking the ball confidently. It’s high risk, high reward defending, but when it goes wrong it will look like high comedy.