Transfer Rumours Summer 2021 Transfer Rumours

Not sure where to put this but he does seem to have quite an opinion on our transfers

https://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/football/southampton/news/55671/

 

No disrespect intended but this is all very flimsy. Your basing what is quite a harsh assumption of Obafemi’s character on one snippet of an interview and little else.

You might be right of course, but I hope people don’t judge me on such small evidence. To me he looks like a good laugh, a good character.

Fair play if you don’t think he’s good enough as a player. Just say that.

Myself I think we should have kept him. He wanted to stay and he would have signed a new contract. He’s still only 21 and has missed a fair amount of development through injury.

Chances are he won’t become a prolific Premier League striker. But it was such a small risk to keep him and carry on his development. End of this season Broja goes back to Chelsea; we’re back to two strikers.

 

A small risk to keep him? If we had he wouldn’t have played, got annoyed , not signed a contract and left for nothing . And we would still be back to two strikers. And we would have paid him for an entire season for no reason. Since the common refrain is “we haven’t got a pot to piss in” and our finances are a mess then this seems foolish

I am not quite sure what other scenario you are envisioning. But the one above is the only one that would have likely happened had he stayed bar a massive injury crisis

Now if the suggestion is that we shouldn’t have loaned Broja and kept Obafemi in his spot then that is different. But then you need to ask yourself why we loaned Broja instead of doing that. The answer will indicate why we let Obafemi go.

Missing a fair amount of development through injury ? And you pictured him making that up through not even getting in the match day squad for a whole season. That is another year of development missing

The implication was also that he got injured too often. From interviews it sounded like he wasn’t focused enough on the physical training. And I am sure there were some earlier injuries (not the one that stopped his loan move) where he seemed like he was out longer than the club thought he would be. Which could be a mentality issue and something else I think Ralph alluded to

 

How do you know all this ? If we offered him a contract and he turned it down then fair enough. I take it back. But as I write I can’t recall whether we have or not. But simply assuming that he wouldn’t sign is nonsense. Think we’ve all been scarred by the seniors not signing contracts.

It is low-risk because he is a low-earner. Walcott is likely getting three times his salary or more.

Yes Obafemi has had injury issues, but then so do a lot of players, young and old (Ings anyone?). My main point is he’s so young still. People expect players to hit their peak at such a young age, it’s mad.

Michail Antonio, similar in build, injury issues etc, didn’t really reach his potential until his late twenties. Didn’t even play in the Premier League until he was 25.

 

Simply assuming that is absolutely not nonsense . If that is your debate stance then that is absurd

It is pretty apparent he wasn’t going to sign because otherwise the best plan would have been for us to get him to sign and loan him out rather than sell. But we couldn’t do that . Yes that is an assumption but based on what actually happened is not nonsense at all

Look at N’Lundulu. He seems to have pretty much no long term chance and yet we still extended his contract and loaned him out

If for no other reason than to try and get some transfer fee from him should a loan go well. You don’t think our ideal plan was to give Obafemi a new contract, send him on loan and if he got 20 championship goals either sell him for a much higher fee or give him a chance back in our side? Of course that would have been the ideal plan but it couldn’t happen (and before you say - yes another assumption)

If you only want to deal in 100% black and white facts with no nuance, interpretation or reasonable assumptions I am not sure an Internet message board is the place for you.

So for the avoidance of doubt - I do not “know” all of this. I just made some pretty reasonable judgements based on the information at hand - the fact we signed more than one person ahead of him, the fact he didn’t sign a new contract, the fact we sold him etc

 

Love this argument. How good would a player who didn’t make it with us have been? What would have happened if what has happened didn’t happen?

He didn’t make it with us. Unfortunately. I though he was a strong, fast player who showed some good instincts. I don’t think he was good enough to play for us at the moment and I don’t know if a year on loan would have got him there. He’d had chances and will be very well known to everyone at the club and they will have judged that this is the best thing for everyone. Let’s remember, his best year we’d seen was 21 apps 4 goals. Hope he does well at Swansea.

It’s times like this that I like to think of David McGoldrick. I was watching a lot of reserves/U18s games around that time. He seemed like the most “can’t miss” player ever. He scored about 50 in his best year. He was tall, a great finisher and he was such a smart player. He obviously didn’t make it with us. It happens.

 

Speaking of players that never quite made it with us...


...Gaston is available on a free!

 

I apologise for wanting to know the facts, but you know what they say, 'assumption is the lowest form of knowledge'.

There is no way of knowing why the club and Obafemi couldn't reach an agreement on a new contract. But why are we assuming this was all Obafemi's fault? You yourself posted these facts about him on the previous page;

- a very bad injury record,
- very limited game time,
- not rated by his current manager,
- stories implying behaviour issues / not training properly ,
- at best 5th choice at his current club who aren’t exactly pulling up trees,
- seemingly behind someone like Shane long in the queue for a place in the bench
- not considered good enough to move up in the squad when said club loses a striker; and
- only one year left on his contract

Now, there's a lot in there that would make me think it was the club's choice not to offer a new contract, rather than Obafemi turning one down. Right? But now you are adamant in your assumptions that it was obviously the decision of Obafemi. Your words; "It is pretty apparent he wasn’t going to sign".

Can you tell me, was he offered a new contract by Saints? If so, were the terms reasonable?

You might be absolutely spot on with your guesses. But I’m not gonna sling mud at a decent young professional who has served us very well, based on a hunch.

 

He just needs a run of 6 games
This year he will come good

 

So glad that Saints told them where to get off, he's a vital player for us...

https://www.footballtransfertavern....yle-walker-peters-southampton-premier-league/

 

He was pretty decent for Samphampton for a few years before a bad 2020/21. Surprised some bottom half Serie A team hasn't picked him up.

 

Looks like some of us may get our wish... even if a year later than hoped:

 

That’s seems likely.

 

I mean it would be foolish if he wasn’t at least on the list especially as there is no fee involved

A real question is which premier league clubs would be potential rivals for his signature (do people think) ?

As in places he will go where they have a squad spot open and be almost guaranteed number 1? Consider the constraints some clubs also seem to be under (not just us). For example Newcastle have three keeper don’t they?

We are in a position to get him in on day 1 without needing to shift anyone and it would be a great start to next summer. Consider how vital timing can be - there were surely some central defender targets we could have gone for if Vestergaard has left right at the start of the window (his compatriot at palace for example)

 

Not sure there are any with an open number 1 berth. That may change, of course, over the coming months which is why I wish we’d have completed a cut price deal in January.

As you say, Newcastle have 3 keepers who would walk into our team. Thankfully they can’t play them all at once!

 

I guess if you think all three could walk into our team then even if Newcastle win the race for Johnstone (if they are even in it) then we can go for one of theirs it still be an upgrade...

January is still to come ...

Or did you mean a cut price deal in the summer ? Sadly on our current budget 10m vs Free is not cut price. Leaving aside the inevitable “but if we get relegated due to our goalkeeper it will cost...” response

It is not our goalkeeper alone that would be the issue. Our system exposes them. Even De Gea, Neuer or the like would be at risk. I mentioned this in the other thread but look at RB Leipzig. Their goalie made some utter howlers in the England game but they qualify for the champions league regularly and are actually somewhat competitive in it

Not saying a goalie upgrade won’t help. Of course it will.

Perhaps if in January WBA might be willing to do a deal if he makes it clear he isn’t signing. Championship is a tough one as a good run pulls you into the playoffs even if you are off the pace. They would be more likely to do a deal if they have a healthy lead at the top. And apparently they were willing to sell in the summer regardless...

 

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