Might just be that we're stuck waiting for other things to happen. Last summer we were talking about how saints are in the middle of the transfer food chain so odds are we need to wait for other clubs to make a move...i.e We won't bid on Clasie until Man Utd buy Morgan, Man Utd might not buy him if they get approval from Bayern for Schweinsteiger etc. I imagine once the window is officially open we'll send the loanees back and buy Vilhenna in quick order, everything else needs to be somewhat reactive, hence the wait.
A few signings have been announced, but you will note (as with Milner) that the start date is July 1st.
The vast majority of the announced signings are out of contract players. Plus don't forget that Saints are still low fry for the media gossip columns. We signed Bertrand last summer without any media getting wind of it until hours before the official announcement The majority of leaks seems to come from the selling clubs end.
Sadly, I don't think he's done enough for us to keep him after his initial impact. He hasn't done anything that one of our youth team may provide really - running around a lot and being neat but with little end product. We may as well play isgrove and hope he improves rather than spending 5millioj
Totally agree The club principle is the academy pathway and signing Elia would go against that model. Yes he is better than them now, but they'll only have the chance to improve with game time and he would be a block
Makes sense...a player like Elia would just act as a path blocker (which we know Les Reed feels strongly about).
£12m? No chance at that price as he hasn't shown anything like that value. £1.2m maybe but if not it would be a goodbye from me and keep the space for new player or Hesketh from the youth team
Again, still not sure I would want to pay that considering how he's performed. While he needs more of a chance, that is a lot of cash. There will be better out there for less. Will Hughes from Derby may be similar in price? (That's just one example off the top of my head)
I like Djuricic a lot, great skill set and plays with his head up like Tadić does. Was great coming on against Villa, as has been said. Has taken a while to get used to the the PL but now he has I really hope we keep him. Elia on the other hand, I'm not so sure about. Almost won me over with his brace against Newcastle but he is this season's Jonno Forte, without being Jonno-quick. I know Ron likes him but there are certainly better options about.
I like Djuricic, and I would sign Elia. I think he will offer something to the squad, especially with the European games also. He hasn't been great, but he hasn't been terrible, and maybe a pre-season will get him up to speed.
I like Djuricic and I liked Elia. Djuricic is probably worth retaining but I agree that Elia isn't at the price. Get the money down to a couple of million and I'm sold. Djuricic is also a tad pricy to be fair. I have confidence in the club's policy.
They're decent players, they would have a role in the team. But I believe with should not be happy with that and try to find even better players out there.
We are pushing for Champions League - so any signing has to be viewed as someone who can and will propel us into top four - sorry but I from what I have seen of him he will do that...
That is not realistic though. You're basically demanding a top four finish. It is pretty hard to break into the top four. We would have to improve by ten points to do it. And we don't have the money or the cachet to just bring in a bunch of awesome players. Plus we are looking at possibly replacing Schneiderlin, Alderweireld and Clyne. Yes, we will hopefully get a ton of money if those guys leave but it's not that easy to just pick up another three players that good. Then there's the GK situation. We can sign SOME players who MIGHT potentially be superstars. But to sign ALL players who WILL be superstars when at the same time we also need to deepen the squad if we want to make a go of it in Europe seems very unlikely. If we can pick up a few squad players for cheap we should do so.
You'll have to get used to the silly level of expectation. Just wait til we have out first season that falls below the upward graph curve. The **** will hit the fan amongst some fans. Your post above is spot on. We will sign some players again that don't quite deliver (Mayuka) and then the black box will be broken or the loss of Paul Mitchell will be th reason. We are a club that unfortunately will have to keep the doors revolving with players coming in and leaving, but as you said above, to expect players to be automatically be good enough for Europe is just laughable. We're not big enough for that. I have confidence that the club will get it right more than they get it wrong. Next year we might finish 10th-12th, not win a cup and I promise you that the fans will be in uproar.
Don't quite share your pessimism on us fans. Yes, you have the natural disappointment after a defeat. Where we all analysis why the team didn't perform and good players become terrible, but whenever I talk to saints fan who were disappointed with the way we finished this season they have always seen the bigger picture.
Really? You wait and see what happens if we have one season that is a "backward" step.... I've seen it before. Were you around here during the first 3 months back in the prem?
