So as promised, I'm giving some snippets from a conversation I had with somebody very high up in the Southampton structure (not on the playing side) and feel I can do this without revealing anything sensitive. This was about 4 hours before the game at the hotel in Milan.
1) Koeman genuinely had his head turned by Everton. The club weren't thrilled with his youth policy but were keen for him to stay. He was incredibly misleading with his promises to stay and then his ultimatums to leave and it was a frustrating period for the club.
2) He was never close to being sacked in January.
3) They are happy with what they have seen from Puel who takes a genuine and keen interest in all levels of football of the club and has made it clear that it's a priority of his. The brand of football, as we all know, is a firm priority too.
4) Very very high hopes for Redmond and real excitement about his potential.
I didn't ask any invasive questions about transfer policy moving forward or anything like that, it wasn't really in the spirit of a wonderful conversation that encompassed all manner of topics.
Another thing to just note is the morale of the team seems to be absolutely brilliant. They were incredibly relaxed leaving the hotel and on their walk around he area and seem to genuinely enjoy each other's company.
Hope this is interesting to you, there's nothing earth-shattering but a few interesting insights.
), but Sam did talk of his uncertainty about his future at Saints....with his disquiet about not getting opportunities until recently. With only 18 months on a presumably fairly low contract, he is at a crossroads in his career. We've had players leave who have had a smoother career path than young Sam, so we can't assume that he will choose Saints. He seems to be a thinker....always a dangerous thing
....a case of watch this space.
