Russell Martin on the transfer strategy at Saints...
There's a wage structure here and if you then go and spend a certain amount of money on one player, that player will then expect the wages to be higher than the rest, so we're not going to do that. We're assessing priority and levels of importance for each position that we need, how different they are to the group that we already possess and what we already have in the building and also the character of the player. I think we have done good business, on the whole. Not just for now but for the short and long-term future of the club. Whereas I think 18 months or two years ago, especially in the January window [in 2023] it was very much all about spending money for the here and now because you need to stay in the Premier League.
We haven't done that this time. It's agreed by all of us that we aren't just going to go all-in for one season only and then put the club back in a situation down the line where the financial situation isn't very good for the club. We've made signings for now and signings that are going to be really good for the club over a longer period of time. That's in my opinion. Not everyone will agree with that strategy, but the club have gone with us [as a coaching team] to try and bring some stability over a period of time, to bring a way of doing things and we've added players that can do that and some players that can help us here and now. And we believe that they can. Some will take a bit longer than others, so I think it's just a case of being really aligned.
The owners have been great, they've invested really well in two players that were so important to us last season and we can't ever lose sight of that. Mateus Fernandes is another top talent who had clubs all over Europe watching him and looking at buying him. Cam Archer's the same. He's the England U21 striker and he was not a small investment for this football club.
I think that by the end of the window I will be really happy with the business that we have done. Would we love to go and spend £30m on one or two players? Of course. But I knew at the start that we would not be doing that this season, so I can't be frustrated about that when I knew that was the situation that we'd be in. I'm sure at some point, the ownership group and Dragan will love to go and do that one or two players. But then it creates an imbalance with the rest of the squad, because you go and do that and then everyone else looks at that and goes 'Oh, okay then'.
I don't lose any sleep over that and I'm not stressed about it because I have real clarity on what we're doing. The problems come when there is miscommunication or a lack of clarity, or you start to say one thing and do another. But that just hasn't happened with me. I've been fairly relaxed.
It's a lot of work and I can't wait for it to end. I love seeing the guys but I'd love to stop having Zoom calls every two days and chatting about a hundred different things. Once it ends, hopefully we'll look back and be happy with it and it will take us through to January. Then it'll be the same. We'll look and assess what we need, what we want, where we're at and we'll see where it takes us.
on Kyle Walker-Peters...
I think he's going to be here. The interest that was there and the deals that might have happened have gone unless someone decides really late doors that they want Kyle. But he's been great. As I said, I think when the window shuts we have offered him new contracts and maybe that'll be another discussion for then. But if not, then he needs to play in the same way he always has done and in the same way that Stu Armstrong and Che Adams did last year when they were in the last year of their contracts and they were fantastic for us. I think everyone's really relaxed about it because he's played really well in the first two games. It's a bonus having Kyle here because I think we'd all resigned ourselves to him leaving the building.
I get what he's saying, and tend to agree. We may yo-yo for a bit, but we'll incrementally get closer to what we need (if we can keep the good players. If we can't, we then can reinvest).
