Well, yeah of course he wanted to land in the best situation possible. I don't really have a problem with this. Austin didn't demand to leave. He was told he was unwanted. We signed him to a contract which obligates us to pay him a salary. There's no reason he should just be like "Oh, don't want to live up to your end of the bargain? Let me help you at my expense." Austin has leverage because we agreed to a deal that we regret and because we spent foolishly. Neither of those things is his fault.
I wish Austin all the best, he now leaves with my blessing (I’m sure he’ll be thrilled). His previous reluctance to go to West Brom did not imo reflect well on his character. But that’s over now.
Well he did in Newcastle by all accounts but his Mrs didn't wanna move there. Maybe he's an optimist?
Maybe he thought Palace would replace Zaha with him, that’s a possibility I suppose. I think him and West Brom always looked like a perfect fit - didn’t do JRod’s career any harm, did they? - and was very disappointed that he turned them down initially. To me, it didn’t look good that a 30 year old striker would rather risk sitting on the bench in the PL, than go to one of the biggest clubs in the Championship, where there is a good chance he’ll be banging in goals for fun. I hope he does, btw (bang goals in for fun).
He might have if Saints weren't demanding 8m or whatever it was at the time. And maybe Austin did get a better offer in the end. I was obviously not to the discussions, but I figure that's what happened. As time ticked down, Southampton realized that they need move Austin, and they needed to take what they could get. West Brom decided that Austin was the best deal out there for them, and were willing to offer Austin a better contract. Austin realized other teams weren't going to come for him, and West Brom was the best move. Saints give up a little of their transfer fee which enables West Brom to up their wages to Austin to the point where it becomes more attractive to him to move to West Brom than finish his contract at Southampton.
I'm just saying I completely understand why he didn't want to take his first offer and wait around to see if anything better comes. Well within his rights to do so. I'd be in no rush to move to ****ing Birmingham either tbf
I wasn’t about to start sending Charlie hate mail or anything, but if he’d still been a Saints player this morning, having turned down West Brom, I’d have been very disappointed in him. But all’s well that ends well, as they say. It’s not like anyone was asking him to go to Pompey btw.
https://www.southamptonfc.com/news/...so-first-interview-southampton-11-august-2019 No problem with the language and he is saying all of the right things.
Of course I hope he lands on his feet, ready to start, but he has to get used to the league and his team mates (hint: they fall over a lot....be prepared ). Hope the fans show some patience.
Agreed. Needs to get used to Hasenhüttl’s different systems also. Given that we’ve got some players who still can’t do that after about 9 months, it’d be a bit optimistic to expect KD to straight away. If I was RH, as much as I’d be tempted to throw him straight in based on the performances of others, I’d realistically be targeting the Sheff Utd fixture after the international break. I’d also use that time to tell both Vestergaard and Stephens that they have to play a lot lot better to keep their shirt. Longer term Bednarek & Danso in a back 4, Bednarek, Danso, and 1 other (preferably Yoshida) in a back 5.
Not putting pressure on him, because yes of course he will need time. But one of the things I like about Danso is he should settle in fairly quickly. He’s really not a foreign player so much as an English player who just happened to go “on loan” to a different league for a couple of years. Also, at that age the brain is still at its peak and you are learning new things all the time and not set in your ways. Plus, he has played forward and midfield in his earlier dats so he is cultured for a CB. Mostly to me he just needs time because he is still young and raw. Those are players we should be targeting, but they come with risks and patience is necessary. But among the targets available to us, Danso is a nice pickup because he doesn’t have any other things to worry about other than Hasenhuttl’s system and generally getting better. Same with Che Adams.
He could still yet represent England at full international level. (Edit: Ops...no he can't, he's played competitively for the senior Austria side)