Looks like Okaka is leaving now Deeney to WBA has broken down. Surely we have a CF lined up? Would love us to sign Fedor Smolov. Supposedly West Ham trying to loan him and Krasnodar's owners are holding out for £12m. Probably available for £10m or loan with option to buy for £13m+. Can't see anyone better (for whom we have a realistic chance) at that price point. Desperate to move to London as well.
Sell Andre Gray for 10 million, sign Will Grigg for 3 million= guaranteed net gain. Replace a league 1 standard striker with another. Regain some of the money wasted on Gray. Gain a quality chant to improve the atmosphere. Gives someone else an opportunity to become the 'boo boy'. I feel Gray has been selfish in this regard.
If Giroud joins Chelsea, Batshuayi becomes surplus to requirements. Dortmund are supposed to he interested, but why not Watford?
Because if Batshuayi doesn't move to Dortmund, Giroud can't go to Chelsea and then Aubameyang won't go to Arsenal. It's a three way deal by the sound of it.
Highly unlikely but Sch*rrle has been made available for transfer by Dortmund apparently. He'll want to play games before the World Cup, just like Deulofeu.
Mangala is wanted by West Ham, Newcastle and Valencia. Not sure we could compete on wages (Wagues?), but, given a run of games, he would be a less injury-prone Kaboul replacement.
If this concludes the Pozzo backing in the transfer market then it's a real budget effort. I hope they all do well, but I can see this costing us premier league status.
It will of course be all the managers' fault if we do go down, certainly not the famed recruitment process.
2 loans and a young lad who’s played a handful of games and none of us (apart from ITKJim perhaps) had heard of a few hours ago. Inspiring. Please delete/ignore this post as necessary in next 24hrs if Gino goes on a mad one. Suspect you won’t need to though. In Gino we trust....just a bit less right now.
I would settle for a wing back who can defend today. For some reason I don't think we'll be getting a striker!
The most devastating thing I've read in probably 10 or more years: https://www.football-italia.net/116418/gabbiadini-staying-southampton
We are 28/1 to make the most signings today on SkyBet. I think we will get three, Ndong, Dahlberg and the Marseille fella.
Is that PL only or including EFL too? If the latter no doubt some League 2 club will wheel out 16 loan signings and trump us.
Ndong and Dahlberg are all but confirmed. I very much doubt we will sign the Marseille bloke now that we're getting Ndong. There's a worrying lack of rumours on the striker and full-back fronts...
I'm very confused. So many names,so little time. It all resembles a kleptomaniac's version of Scrabble to me. "Wretched".
I really don’t think we’ve had a gameplan at all this transfer window and there seems to be a worrying lack of desire to spend what is needed and recruit in the areas most needed.
It's not a fricking supermarket. Gino can't just go in and pick up what he wants from the shelves. January is a terrible time to embark on major surgery to a squad anyway. The value is crap and anyone left worth a damn is tied down elsewhere until the summer.
My post wasn't a defence of Gino, so much as a simple statement of fact about how the January transfer window tends to pan out for most clubs.
You're not wrong, but there's a difference between 'major surgery' and fixing a specific problem that is plain for all to see and needs attention as a matter of urgency. We appear not to have gone for either, in the case of our full backs. Holebas, Zeegelaar and Janmaat will continue to cost us goals and points, and Femenia is still not ready to come back to shore up just one side of our defence. It's profligate not to have done anything about them, and who's to say Femenia will come back and remain fit for the rest of the season anyway? He certainly didn't last time he was put back on the pitch.
I agree. I just believe teams around us are addressing their urgent needs with far more accuracy than we are. And RC - did the Golden Circle yesterday, you weren’t wrong! This place is ****ing other-worldly! My eyes hurt from how stunning it is. Today is about beer and looking for Heidar...
You would have to find a willing buyer for that lot first, and I can't imagine there would be many takers. We've obviously tried to get shot of Holebas, but that fell through. I would imagine Giraldi isn't oblivious to how rubbish the trio are, but we're stuck with them until the summer
We don't have to find a willing buyer for them though, certainly not all of them. We've just totally ostracised a player for a full 18 months. We don't have to register all of those players if we don't want to for the second half of the season squad. It's not incredible practice, don't get me wrong, but actually having players who can play in their position is more important.
We could, but then we run the risk of developing a reputation as a club that's happy to hang players out to dry. Considering how player turnover is part and parcel of how we operate, one upset agent then leads to the club not being considered for moves. God knows who else Brice's agent represents, but you can be certain they won't be coming here. I would also say you run the risk of lowering the morale of the squad, if whoever you chose to banish is popular in the group.
