Transfer Rumours Summer 2024

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Such key positions that we keep leaving ourselves short at. Striker, DM, GK. Re sign Che? We still need to bring in a first choice striker. Sign Downes? We still need another DM. Re sign McCarthy, we still need a new first choice GK. I will remain hopeful that this is the year that we learn from our mistakes.
Agree with striker but not so much the other 2. We brought in Lavia, who was excellent, then replaced him with Downes. GK brought in Baz. Personally I don't think he is good enough, certainly not yet anyway, but we still addressed the position by spending north of £10m.
 
Why are well offering Che anything?
He obviously wanted away from Saints, proven he isn’t good enough for the premiership and will stop us buying a better striker who might actually score goals, unlike Che

He’s good enough for a lower half PL team so long as he’s not who you’re relying on to score all your goals imo. If the choices were sign Che but don’t sign another striker or don’t sign Che and sign a new striker, I think pretty much everyone would rather roll the dice with another striker. If we can retain Che and sign a new striker that seems the way forward. I really hope we are selling/loaning Mara and not planning on him being the 3rd striking option.
 
Why are well offering Che anything?
He obviously wanted away from Saints, proven he isn’t good enough for the premiership and will stop us buying a better striker who might actually score goals, unlike Che

Because finding strikers who can trouble international defenders, are rarely injured and know the way of playing is very very difficult. Given that our main striker signing from last season has all sorts of question marks - I'd say availability is the most important ability.

He'd be a very useful squad player (as shown by Wolves etc interest)
 
Agree with striker but not so much the other 2. We brought in Lavia, who was excellent, then replaced him with Downes. GK brought in Baz. Personally I don't think he is good enough, certainly not yet anyway, but we still addressed the position by spending north of £10m.

But we were awful when Lavia missed games and even more awful with Martins system when Downes missed games. Having one DM is not enough. I’d like to see us starting two, let alone having another one to bring on when circumstances arise. I agree we tried to address the GK problem, and yet in the PL we ended up reverting back to the old problem of Forster and McCarthy towards the end. I also agree it’s unlikely we’ll spend on a new no.1 because the club believe in Baz (plus we have so many areas we need to spend on) even though most fans have pretty big reservations after the last two seasons. But he’s out this season, McCarthy isn’t a no.1 PL keeper any more. Really hoping we bring in a new no.1 on loan for the season, even if that is kicking the GK problem down the road until next year.
 
He’s good enough for a lower half PL team so long as he’s not who you’re relying on to score all your goals imo. If the choices were sign Che but don’t sign another striker or don’t sign Che and sign a new striker, I think pretty much everyone would rather roll the dice with another striker. If we can retain Che and sign a new striker that seems the way forward. I really hope we are selling/loaning Mara and not planning on him being the 3rd striking option.
If Mara is the striker we turn to when we’re chasing a game then it will be a long depressing season.
 
If Mara is the striker we turn to when we’re chasing a game then it will be a long depressing season.

You weren’t expecting this anyway?

On paper we have possibly the worst, at best the second worst squad in the league. That isn’t going to change much with one transfer window. We may survive of course but I can’t see some exciting season ahead of us
 
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But we were awful when Lavia missed games and even more awful with Martins system when Downes missed games. Having one DM is not enough. I’d like to see us starting two, let alone having another one to bring on when circumstances arise. I agree we tried to address the GK problem, and yet in the PL we ended up reverting back to the old problem of Forster and McCarthy towards the end. I also agree it’s unlikely we’ll spend on a new no.1 because the club believe in Baz (plus we have so many areas we need to spend on) even though most fans have pretty big reservations after the last two seasons. But he’s out this season, McCarthy isn’t a no.1 PL keeper any more. Really hoping we bring in a new no.1 on loan for the season, even if that is kicking the GK problem down the road until next year.
Very good point on the depth at DM, particularly with Downes. Although it could well be a budget issue.

100% with you on GK, really hoping we don't go into the season with McCarthy as no.1. But I think we will.
 
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I think we’ll be doing the bare minimum £ wise across all positions to hopefully sneak 17th but with a real intention of creating a future squad capable of challenging the season after. Not that I agree but that’s a sound financial stance. I wish & hope for more but I’m not convinced we can or are able.
 
But we were awful when Lavia missed games and even more awful with Martins system when Downes missed games. Having one DM is not enough. I’d like to see us starting two, let alone having another one to bring on when circumstances arise. I agree we tried to address the GK problem, and yet in the PL we ended up reverting back to the old problem of Forster and McCarthy towards the end. I also agree it’s unlikely we’ll spend on a new no.1 because the club believe in Baz (plus we have so many areas we need to spend on) even though most fans have pretty big reservations after the last two seasons. But he’s out this season, McCarthy isn’t a no.1 PL keeper any more. Really hoping we bring in a new no.1 on loan for the season, even if that is kicking the GK problem down the road until next year.

If we did re-sign Lavia on loan, and then didn't play 2 DMs with him and Downes, I would have to conclude that RM is certifiably insane.
 
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I think we’ll be doing the bare minimum £ wise across all positions to hopefully sneak 17th but with a real intention of creating a future squad capable of challenging the season after. Not that I agree but that’s a sound financial stance. I wish & hope for more but I’m not convinced we can or are able.

This is what SR tried to do our relegation season I think. Sign a bunch of talented kids and a couple of more experienced players (DCC, AMN and Aribo) and trust that with the core of the squad we could survive, and then kick on the following season when the kids had some experience of the top flight.

We all know what happened and that experience may have broken some of the younger players/severely harmed their development playing in a team as bad as we were.

They may be looking to do a similar thing again, but hopefully with a bit more of an eye on “if we go down this is what the squad will look like..”
 
I hope Adams does sign. We know he isn't a world beater that will bang in the goals in the PL. But we also know he has a great work rate, is rated by the coaching staff and is a low level prem player that is too good for the championship.

Plus, we would need to replace him if he left, so keeping him would allow us to spend big on one top striker, rather than spread it over two.
I am split. I think it is smart to resign him as no transfer fee. But after watching him for numerous seasons be our starting striker I want something new. He is such a frustrating player to watch considering how many clear chances he misses. His scotland performance has not helped convince me otherwise. This may have been why I was hoping we would give tall Paul a fair shot but will have to wait and see.
 
From the Guardian live, see the bottom line.
"Nigel Farage’s Reform UK appeared to be on course for a dramatic breakthrough according to an exit poll which showed it was on course to win as many as 13 seats.

While there was caution about how exit poll would ultimately translate into seats, it was clear that millions of people had voted for the hard-right anti-immigration party, which has stated that it is out to destroy the Conservative party.

Ben Habib, Reform’s deputy leader, said: “This is a huge bridgehead. This is politically seismic.”

The poll results suggest that Farage, who sparked a political earthquake on the right after he returned as leader of the party last month and announced he had changed his mind about running, was on course to win the Essex seat of Clacton.

Richard Tice, Reform’s chair and the man who stepped aside so that Farage could come back, appeared to be in a strong position to win in Boston and Skegness.

Others who were in a strong position included the former Southampton Football Club Chairman, Rupert Lowe, who was running in Great Yarmouth."

Is Rupert Lowe signing as our Che replacement?
 
A poster on Saintsweb has suggested we have made an enquiry for a midfielder who used to play here. And that they thought it made sense

No idea who of if this poster is the type to consider wingers as midfielders or forwards (as some have suggested a Redmond return)

Enquiry implies they are not a free agent but I guess you could make an enquiry to the player of agent.

So that’s something to think about.

- Jack Cork (the free transfer)
- Hojbjerg (surely wages are too high)
- JWP (can’t see it - too expensive and West Ham won’t sell us both him and Downes)
- Harrison Reed
- Lavia (loan - again seems unlikely)

There could be others I’ve forgotten

Might make a slightly different discussion to the puns …

LeG (the ITK who originally posted that hint about an enquiry) has posted he's "enjoyed reeding all the suggestions" ... Harrison Reed, surely?
 
From the little I’ve seen Reed at Fulham it seems he plays all the centre midfield roles, not just the DM or the 6 or whatever it’s called by hipsters. I’m assuming Palhinha has that position locked down so maybe he is looking to move for more regular playing time, but as I say could be useful to cover all areas if we are going with 3 midfielders again.

If we play 3 at the back then makes sense to have 2 DMs I think to allow the wingbacks to bomb forward so Downes + 1 more. Not sure what that would mean for Aribo and Smallbone who wouldn’t really fit in the formation
 
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I'd rather Downes over Reed without a doubt. We know how good Downes is and he fits our system perfectly.
I think we all would but does an enquiry necessarily mean we aren’t getting Downes. Although it’s difficult to seeing us getting Downes, Reed and O’Riley. That’s a technically a “new” midfield. Although we need more quality and I’m not sure Smallbone and Aribo are up to it. Smallbone is untested but lightweight. Aribo was bad in the premier league last time but so was pretty much everyone