July 26, 201410 yr Author I'm gutted about Drogba joining Chelsea - I can't help but think he left on such a legendary status and his return to Chelsea will be rather poor. It's a nostalgia thing, and one that I don't really get. I think he'll score a few goals, but he's nowhere near the level he was even a couple of years ago. I just really don't see the logic, unless that he's happy to sit on the bench and be 2nd/3rd choice.
July 28, 201410 yr And another two Southampton players leave the club with Callum Chambers joining Arsenal for £16 million and Dejan Loven joining Liverpool for £20 million.
July 28, 201410 yr Author Must be horrible being a Southampton fan at the moment. Think they're really going to struggle this season.
July 28, 201410 yr Ultimately though they're pretty much as good as anyone out of the top 7 and probably Newcastle can realistically aspire to be. A top 8 side playing decent football with some local lads from your academy playing for you. As soon as that happens the best players attract bigger clubs and all want out.
July 28, 201410 yr Must be horrible being a Southampton fan at the moment. Think they're really going to struggle this season. Surely they will get a big enough transfer budget to purchase a couple of players. It all depends how wisely that they spend the money!
July 29, 201410 yr Southampton midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin and forward Jay Rodriguez are close to joining former Saints boss Mauricio Pochettino at Tottenham. !!!!!!!!!!!!! What is going on.
July 29, 201410 yr Author To me it shows the club lack ambition, they're probably going to be selling 7/8 players. Good as players as they are, you've basically just ripped apart from the Southampton team. Effectively they're going to have 7 new players in their starting line up come two weeks time. That's not healthy. Honestly wouldn't be surprised to see them struggle next season. They were always going to lose one or two players. Spurs are almost as bad as Liverpool at poaching Southampton players, infact they started all this with their manager!
July 29, 201410 yr You could say Southampton lack ambition, but Lambert was never going to be stopped from joining his boyhood club Then you have Lallana and Lovren, who reportedly refused to join pre-season training. Things had obviously soured between the club and players, which is evident from the statements released. You'd have thought there would have been a thank you at least for club captain Lallana Shaw possibly could have been persuaded to stay for another season, but £30m would have been a lot of money to turn down for an 18 year old But once you start selling, it then becomes difficult to persuade the likes of Rodriguez and Schneiderlin to stay Chambers is probably the only one that surprises me
July 29, 201410 yr I don't really see how it can be lacking ambition, it's pretty much the best possible outcome from the model they've used over the past few years, just perhaps over 2-3 transfer windows rather than 1. They've sold a load of players for utterly ridiculous fees. The only one who wasn't was probably Lambert, but he was A) the first B) 32 years old and C) joining the club he's always supported, there's no way he'd have wanted to stay. What ambition is it that they're lacking exactly? To challenge the top 4, or top 6? It's utterly daft to even think that's realistic, the way football is at the moment it's never ever going to happen. How were they supposed to keep these players instead of them going to Liverpool or Man Utd to earn 2, 3, 4 times more money than they're earning at Southampton? The only way is to offer them that money themselves, but then they're still only the 8th best team in the division with a much higher wage bill, to show ambition or progression they're going to have to splash another £40m odd, to maybe get up to the dizzy heights of 6th. That's far worse long-term than selling players is. If a bigger club wants a player then players are far more powerful than the club they're at. Edited July 29, 201410 yr by RabbitFurCoat
July 29, 201410 yr Morgan Schneiderlin @SchneiderlinMo4 · 57m 6 years of an amazing journey #saintsfc DESTROYED in 1 hour !!! Interesting. Southampton probably trying to block a move
July 29, 201410 yr Author I don't really see how it can be lacking ambition, it's pretty much the best possible outcome from the model they've used over the past few years, just perhaps over 2-3 transfer windows rather than 1. They've sold a load of players for utterly ridiculous fees. The only one who wasn't was probably Lambert, but he was A) the first B) 32 years old and C) joining the club he's always supported, there's no way he'd have wanted to stay. What ambition is it that they're lacking exactly? To challenge the top 4, or top 6? It's utterly daft to even think that's realistic, the way football is at the moment it's never ever going to happen. How were they supposed to keep these players instead of them going to Liverpool or Man Utd to earn 2, 3, 4 times more money than they're earning at Southampton? The only way is to offer them that money themselves, but then they're still only the 8th best team in the division with a much higher wage bill, to show ambition or progression they're going to have to splash another £40m odd, to maybe get up to the dizzy heights of 6th. That's far worse long-term than selling players is. If a bigger club wants a player then players are far more powerful than the club they're at. Agreed. It's the same in any of the top leagues, if a big club comes calling for you you're going to want a move. What's hard for Southampton is that you're ripping the core out of the team. I think Shaw and Lallana were always going to move after the season they've had. The problem then is helping the players to reconsider their decision to leave if an offer comes. I think Pochettino leaving was probably a major factor. At lot of these players moved up a gear since they worked under him. They've done good business, though to be honest with the inflated fees, it's hard to see them making a real profit, and investing the same quality in the players.
July 31, 201410 yr Author Lukaku joining Everton for a club record £28 million from Chelsea. Guess they had to spend the Fellaini money at some point. Terrible business decision by Chelsea, unless they plan on buying him back for double the price in 2 years time :lol:
July 31, 201410 yr I don't see how it is terrible business when they are getting £28m for a player that Mourinho clearly does not rate
July 31, 201410 yr Author I don't see how it is terrible business when they are getting £28m for a player that Mourinho clearly does not rate Because he's proven in the Premier League, and is surely a much better option than Torres or Drogba. £28m is a good price, don't get me wrong, but the way Chelsea play is perfect for him.
August 1, 201410 yr They've made a £10m profit on a striker who has played for them 10 times and never scored. They seem to be the only team actually taking FFP seriously.
August 1, 201410 yr That's almost by accident though really. They've been stockpiling young talent and loaning them around Europe for so long that they were always going to make decent profit on a couple of players, like de Bruyne and Lukaku. But they'll be so many more they'll lose out on.
August 1, 201410 yr Author They've made a £10m profit on a striker who has played for them 10 times and never scored. They seem to be the only team actually taking FFP seriously. I've no idea how they're getting some of these prices. Chelsea have plenty of good players out on loan, but they have absolutely they intention of ever playing them. I dare say they'll end up doing a lot of what they did with Matic in the future. End of the day there are some players that they'll let go that will have stormers elsewhere. Matic & Sturridge the two big examples so far, and that list will always grow.
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