Southampton Banter Archive May 23 2015

23 May 2015 13:50:08
Free in 2015:
Rafael van der Vaart
Alexandre Pato (December)
Yevhen Konoplyanka
James Milner
Danny Ings


Last Year:
Fabian Schar
Andriy Yarmolenko
Theo Walcott

We've got to be looking at getting someone of Konoplyanka on a free transfer, somone of his quality on a free transfer could be massive! Van Der Vaart would be a nice signing but obviously he's getting on a bit but still a quality player to have, apparently we've opened negotiations with Athletic over Toby! This would be massive, COYR!!

23 May 2015 17:20:34
I'm amazed no-one's taken a punt on Konoplyanka until now. He'll always been top banana whenever I've seen him play. Fast, skilful, low centre of gravity.

Having been touted for all the top clubs, he's been linked with Stoke in the last couple of days. Stoke, for goodness sake! I wonder why no-one better is in for him. Attitude problem? Crazy wages? If that's the case, Stoke probably wouldn't be able to afford him.

Schar woud be a great alternative if Alderweireld can't be retained. But he'll be in high demand.

{Ed007's Note - Stoke City, Wolfsburg, Napoli, Roma, Sevilla, West Ham, Spurs, Shakhtar and Bayer Leverkusen have shown recent interest in Konoplyanka who has been able to sign a pre-contract with any non Ukrainian side since January. Sevilla, Spurs, Napoli and Roma have put the most effort in to trying to put a deal in place for the summer but Spurs seemed to have dropped their interest.
His representatives have also rejected an offer from West Ham, telling them his preferred destination is Arsenal. Liverpool could look to the player again perhaps to replace Sterling and the player would be interested if approached - but there have only been approaches from three English clubs at this time - Stoke, West Ham and Spurs. Dnipro have additionally offered him a new contract.}

23 May 2015 20:34:12
Thanks, Ed. I would've thought he'd be in demand for the bigger clubs, but Stoke seemingly entering the equation threw me a bit.

Doesn't seem like he's on Saints' wishlist.

{Ed007's Note - I think he's a cracking player that would do a good job in the EPL and I'm surprised he isn't linked to more 'big' CL clubs. Maybe there is something like you say with his attitude or wage demands. My flabber would be gasted if he ended up at Stoke!}

24 May 2015 17:03:10
I read somewhere that we had a £10m bid rejected for him in the summer of 2013 in the last week of the window? So could be on our radar already? May not be true though

{Ed007's Note - I didn't know that but yeah it looks like you did have a bid turned down. Southampton might well still be interested, Sam but we don't have anything showing it. Following on from Qwertys posts, I see the stories today are saying Konoplyanka is looking for £100k a week, could Southampton afford that and more importantly would they pay it?}

25 May 2015 01:05:50
We probably can't afford it, I was just excited to see a player of his quality available on a free, there's no link to say we're interested I just feel that he must be one of the best free agents around so we should at least look at him, cheers though ed!

{Ed007's Note - No worries mate, I'd think most fans would be excited to see their club linked with him, considering he's a free transfer -and not getting bogged down in the intricacies of finances - I don't think £100k a week is excessive.
I'm just hoping you stay away from Celtic this season!!! We've got a few players that could do a job in the EPL like van Dijk, Bitton and Johansen but if you're looking for CB, Jason Denayer we had on loan from Man City this season is some prospect if you could get them to sell him, what a player that lad is going to be.}