31 Jul 2014 16:44:50
We have bid £12 million for Sporting Lisbon's Marcos Rojo.

1.) 31 Jul 2014
I really hope so. This is the sort of signing / this level of player we have to be getting in through the door to make the players that have left a distant bad memory!

If this is the level of players coming in we could have the potential to have a better season than the last

2.) 31 Jul 2014
Up from 11. still no where near the 16 they want. waste of time. will end up at united or liverpool.

3.) 31 Jul 2014
I'd love to see this happen but, with the big boys sniffing around him very doubtful I reckon. You never know though. one call from the koemenator might just swing it.

4.) 31 Jul 2014
31 Jul 2014 18:07:33
but they want 16 million
4 million short not going to happen
forestsaint

5.) 31 Jul 2014
31 Jul 2014 20:11:08
According to one of the sites, we failed with our bid and now man u are going for him. I hope to God and sunny Jesus that this isn't true. He would be a MASSIVE statement

6.) 31 Jul 2014
31 Jul 2014 21:54:46
heard chelsea are interested as well and he won't go
for less than 16 million
forestsaint

7.) 31 Jul 2014
31 Jul 2014 22:01:53
Believe it when I see it! Look were buying people like Pelle! Everton have significantly less money than us, poorer owners and raised no fund especially compared to us yet they get Lukaku for 28m. Why did we sign him! Everton were only marginally better than us last year, principally due to more PL experience. I don't want loads of foreign players and especially not average ones. Traffic looks decent. Bertrand on loan whist OK is hardly inspiring. Why not get Redmond and Berhaino and Forster. We have way more money than those clubs. We are being cheap. Simple.

8.) 01 Aug 2014
Adam Blackmore's interview with RK all but confirmed Taider's arrival and Osvaldo's departure. Also said has spoken to spider - Seemed to be good news because it sounds as if he will at least play in the Leverkusen friendly - Things are looking up at last!

9.) 01 Aug 2014
The full deal for Lukaku will reach nearly 40-50 million, when signing on fees, agents fees, wages, bonuses etc are taken into consideration.

Everton made the decision to make one marquee signing. Southampton can't afford to blow nearly 50 million on one player.

Southampton need at least 4 first team players, maybe more.

And don't forget that Southampton remain in debt so Everton do not have "significant less money" (well, they do now having bought Lukaku).

This 100 million plus Sky money isn't all available to spend on transfer fees alone. A huge proportion of that needs to be allocated to wages, for example.

This is all why Southampton don't want to overspend on Rojo and Forster. The fees need to be driven down, to free up money for other players. Good, pragmatic work by the Board

10.) 01 Aug 2014
Southampton in debt. there are tactical and investment reasons why that might be the case, it is not a burden on the club!

There is no reason why we can't bid £16m for Rojo. if RoKo believes that he's that good then the board should back him and not delay!

As for a huge proportion of the £100m being allocated to wages, poppycock!

11.) 01 Aug 2014
Agreed JollyJonez. This nonsense about wages being involved in the 100k is twaddle.
We have freed up wages from the players we have sold not being on the salary list.
As long as the new players are paid like for like then its money in/money out. simples.

12.) 01 Aug 2014
*100m

13.) 01 Aug 2014
01 Aug 2014 09:34:59
But what about the players in need of a new contract and possibly trying to tempt spider and jay rod to stay with new big deals? They have had a sniff of big money moves they are going to want massive contracts to be happy. So I am sure a lot of that money is needed for contracts. especially considering rumours about our players being on championship wages!

14.) 01 Aug 2014
Nonsense. Naive to an extreme. Cloud cuckoo land to think that Southampton have 160 million to spend on fees alone. I would guess between 50-60 million.

Nowwhere did I say the debt was a burden.

And nowhere did I say that Saints wouldn't spend 16 million on Rojo. If you read my post, I said the club doesn't want to overspend.

Rojo for 16 million, on 40,000 week (example) on a 5 year contract- that's another 10 million, plus signing on fees, bonuses etc. The entire package for Rojo would be 30 plus million. And yes, that is fact. The money available for new players wages has to be taken from the 100+ million the club has.

Wages have to come from the club's budget.

No. It is not simple. This isn't a football computer game, as Portsmouth found out when they spent money they didn't have.

The Board are right not to overspend and utterly poppycock to think that wages just mysteriously get paid, without the club having to worry about it.

15.) 01 Aug 2014
01 Aug 2014 09:47:00
Don't know if anybody else has noticed how nothing hardly has been mentioned about Gaston since all of this cloak and dagger stuff has been going on. I wonder whether RoKo is going to try playing him in a similar role to JayRod as an experiment on the left? I mean you couldn't have anybody more left footed than him. Just wonder whether he has the strength on the ball of JayRod but he has all the ball control anybody could wish for. It is only an idea but he is a very gifted footballer and we probably have not seen the best of him yet, I know he is technically a midfielder but with our other options it might be worth giving it a go. Only problem is he seems to tire easily and doesn't like being kicked up in the air. Just a thought.

16.) 01 Aug 2014
Apparently he was considered for our left back berth rather than the left sided CB we need now Lovren has gone, and now we have Bertrand, we've cooled our interest in him.

17.) 01 Aug 2014
I think we are all agreed that wages cost money, and are included in our budget.
But the point trying to be made, is when we sold lovren for £20m, we free up x amount of wages. So in affect it's irrelevant.
The only thing you can think of is if we bring a replacement in on higher wages. Then the extra wages would come into play.
Lukaku might cost Everton around tge £60m including wages. But Chelsea would only receive the 28 fee.
So really we should have a larger budget than just player sales as we freed up all the wages.

18.) 01 Aug 2014
FatD - you seem to be overlooking the wages that have been freed up having sold Luke, Adam etc. these are budgeted numbers irrespective of sale!

19.) 01 Aug 2014
As for Morgan. let him go and take £27m, retaining him will not be good for the spirit of the team!

20.) 01 Aug 2014
Wages have been freed up but some of the targets being chased want higher wages than those of departed players.
And by definition, more money has to be found to cover the additional fees and the additional longevity of contracts.

When RK and Reed log onto Championship Manager and play as Southampton this morning, there isn't a screen which says "Transfer Budget" = 160 million.

Just like Southampton owe transfer money in installments, so Southampton will not receive all 92 million from sales in one lump sum.

21.) 01 Aug 2014
01 Aug 2014 11:24:35
Bertrand look solid last night, seeing as it was his first game. But Matt Targett is getting better and better with every game. LB SORTED! Vlaar and Van Dijk for CB we won't need to spend £16m on a player who had a good world cup, but before that was pretty unknown. Vlaar has Prem experience, Van Dijk experience of sh*tty weather!

22.) 01 Aug 2014
Obviously we don't want to overspend, but if it's the difference of £2-£3m to get a deal done we may as well, as the sooner we get new players in the better, if we would have to pay £5-£6m + more for a player then we have to reconsider if it would be worth it or not

23.) 01 Aug 2014
Fatdave. yep you get my way of thinking now. Only if more wages are needed as opposed to like for like in my original post will they need to dig into new funds.
and your right. we'll receive cash from transfers in instalments in the same way that we'll pay for Tadic, Pelle and any other new signings in instalments too.
Chrisdownj. It is a bit worrying that not much is being said about Gaston. I was hoping this year he would step up to the plate and show us the talent he clearly has on a regular basis. I honestly think whatever position he plays along the front or as an attacking midfielder he, if on form, would scare most defences. Hopefully he will.

24.) 01 Aug 2014
Ramires played cm role for uraguay. He also played there against Bournemouth occasionally swapping with tadic. I would like to see him on the left personally. We have good cm players that would be better there.
Mopo was hailed for getting the best out of jrod and lallana, but he done nothing for ramires. Hopefully with new formations and playing styles, the likes of jwp and ramires could have very good seasons.

25.) 02 Aug 2014
02 Aug 2014 08:14:18
The guy going in about wages has a decent point overall but a very basic grasp of commercial. Yes we won't spend all of it on players but equally we would almost certainly pay transfer fees in installments and the wages don't have to be sitting there in full for the full term of the contract on day one. Silly boy.

26.) 02 Aug 2014
Uthmaann: your point doesn't make any sense, silly boy.
When a club receives money in installments, it can plan for the future and therefore, knows it can allocate that money over the term of the contract. Dime Bar ;)