Summer 2013 Transfer Rumour Thread - Mk2

Surprised Remy has not moved on yet, would like to see him here but fear wages would be above our pay grade.

 

Yeah though I think it was more wishful thinking on my part than any actual interest from the club.

He's had his problems but I think he's a hell of a signing for Lille at that price, can't help feeling we could have got him. Lovren's a player of similar pedigree though I guess so hopefully we won't regret not going for Kjær.

 

Back to Mikey, Beef, Downthe36 and Dan discussion last night:

Mikey, you said something a few pages back that fills me with dread for next season. You said, "I expect 8th with that spending at least"... This worries me. I expect progression first and foremost. I think most our fans will forget there are 16 other established Premier League teams spending money in this league and if we spend a lot of money again, the expectation level will reach hysteria if we aren't top in October (slight exaggeration).

I see no reason (regardless of signings) why we shouldn't be progressing healthily, however I'm cautious any signings will need time to settle in. Don't expect a rocket-like start.

Dan, I read your views on £20m with interest and understand your feeling. The reality is that we can't sign an Higuain type yet because we haven't progressed enough or aren't big enough yet. This is why we need to spend that sort of money at the next level down, or un earth a real bargain. My real worry on this subject is that a £20m signing is as much about Nicola Cortese telling the football establishment he CAN do it, as it is about signing the right player. Wages are obviously a consideration, so we may find a higher transfer fee for a slightly lower level player happens, so little old Southampton is seen to step up to the plate. Where I do believe Cortese balances this, is that he could probably recoup most if not all of any large fee, judging by the players being rumoured. So it might be his ego with a little safety net.

Interesting reading the little discussion through this morning though.

 

Rely...from memory is on about £60k a week so more than we would pay but agree he is a good player and way too good for the Championship and QPR

 

Ouch. Would have very much liked to see us go for him at that price.

 

Isn't he sweating on the result of a rape allegation still?

 

Likewise. That's one hell of a bargain.

 

Forgot about that,maybe that's why no one has snapped him up yet.

 

How much of a fee would Bony command? Would anyone be disappointed with him instead of Damiao?

 

Seems to be headed for Swansea for around £12m: http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/michael-laudrup-makes-new-12m-4874891

 

They're going to be a fair force next year.......

 

Well the expectation won't just come from the fans. The media will be expecting big things if we sign these players and there's a certain pressure that comes with spending money. I'm not suggesting we shouldn't spend the money but we have to accept there will be more media coverage if we do because it comes with the territory and gives the media a relatively easy story if we get a couple of bad results or don't do as well as they think we should. So if we DO sign all these players and then have a slow start I can already see the full page stories in the tabloids about how "beleaguered Saints boss Mauricio Pochettino is under pressure to produce results after his £50m summer spending spree". Then you'd get the stories about Cortese. "During 'Back me or I walk' showdown talks with the club's owners last May, Saints supremo Cortese is reported to have demanded transfer funds of more than £50m from the Liebherr family and promised them European qualification in return. Despite several big money signings the Saints have started poorly and it remains to be seen how patient the Liebherrs will be." If we were to, say, draw at home to someone like Palace then I can imagine something like a full page graphic showing Palace's entire team were signed for less than Damiao.

Having said all that, I think a statement signing is probably needed for Cortese to achieve his ambitions. Players seem to be somewhat reticent about coming here right now and, as others have said, one big signing could set off a domino effect. The other thing about a statement signing is the playing side doesn't necessarily need to work out that well for it to be worthwhile. Robinho, for example, wasn't a great signing for Man City in footballing terms (he certainly wasn't worth the £32m they supposedly paid) but that signing was unquestionably the moment they announced themselves. It made other clubs and players sit up and take notice and opened up a whole new set of possible signings. We may need something similar, albeit on a slightly smaller scale.

 

What a shame that we're being linked to all these players, before Football Focus has restarted up. I'd love to know what Lawro thinks.

 

Paulinho confirmed at Spurs.

 

No, I'd be happy with Bony.

 

Saints were linked with a big bid for Abdelaziz Barrada of Getafe last season.

Well, he's just signed for Al-Jazira in Abu Dhabi on a four-year deal.

 

Real have apparently sign Illaramendi for €30 mil, could mean that Sociedad move for Schneiderlin may have legs

 

Which will be more than Spider will if he tries to leave!

 

Probably not. I believe all their signings last season were free transfers, so now that they've got some money I think they'll use it for a few signings, rather than spending it all on one direct replacement. Also note their bias towards signing local players. They only have six players whose first nationality isn't Spanish, and of those: Griezmann played there at youth level; Gonzalo Castro has the maternal name Irizábal, so clearly has some Basque in him; and I think Carlos Vela is half Spanish. The only three players for whom I can't find any evidence of immediate Spanish/Basque ancestry are Claudio Bravo, Liassine Cadamuro and Diego Ifrán, and for all I know they might have some too because I only did like five minutes of research.

 

If he leaves I'll cry.