Aaron Ramsdale: return to Southampton confirmed

[AyeDubbleYoo]

23 minutes ago, Whitley mag said:

It’s undeniable that all our targets appear to be PL based , or have previously been monitored for years Sesko and Ekitike.

 

People are entitled to draw their own conclusions as to why that is. My take is that the first window after the takeover had large input from Nickson and Howe. I don’t think it was a coincidence that Ashworth was on the scene when we signed Isak and Tonali either.

 

All indications are that Howe wants PL ready players and likes to know what they eat for breakfast. Can’t complain with the latter as it shows he’s meticulous, however I think this summer it’s highlighted how this inflexible approach is problematic.

 

In this data driven world of football analysis our approach this summer looks fit for Beamish. Mitchell highlighted our recruitment wasn’t fit for purpose and despite possibly being a cunt, I think he’s fucking spot on.

 

What’s the alternative to players we know or players we’ve monitored? Random players we don’t know about?

 

I feel like it’s a problem with the exec structure and that we haven’t established the bigger structure we need since our first 3 big exec appointments have failed (Gardener/Eales/Mitch). 
 

When the full system is in place I assume we’ll see a better ability to execute on the right deals. We might also need to adjust our ambitions if we constantly get outbid by other clubs. 

[wong989]

Jesus Christ if this is true, why did we not make a real bid for Trafford, if it doesn't get done we go for Kelleher, this is a shocking turn of events, ridiculous

[Fak]

1 minute ago, wong989 said:

Jesus Christ if this is true, why did we not make a real bid for Trafford, if it doesn't get done we go for Kelleher, this is a shocking turn of events, ridiculous

 

Reckon we've got our transfer window all wong?

[Hanshithispantz]

2 minutes ago, TRon said:

 

 

That's part of it. The other part is that we are bidding for players against cartel clubs where we have very little chance of success. Like I said yesterday, it's like taking a knife to a gunfight. Whoever is in charge of recruitment will have his work cut out there as we are finding. 

 

Still, if we can get Sesko and/or Wissa, we might still come out of this looking ok. 

All of this stems from Mitchell though, Howe needs someone who knows how to navigate the world of agents and all that corporate shite to get deals done, and a recruitment structure that actually fits what he wants, not someone who wants to dump a load of foreign 19 year olds on him for £20m a piece.

 

I'm half just making this shit up as I don't know the full details, or what is properly involved in someone like Mitchell's job, but I can imagine there's an alternative timeline with a different DoF/CEO where we have Trafford, Pedro/Ekitike, and Elanga in with a happy Isak.

[KingArthur]

1 minute ago, wong989 said:

Jesus Christ if this is true, why did we not make a real bid for Trafford, if it doesn't get done we go for Kelleher, this is a shocking turn of events, ridiculous

Kelleher is not better than Pope, so I don't get why we would go after him.

[54]

1 minute ago, wong989 said:

Jesus Christ if this is true, why did we not make a real bid for Trafford, if it doesn't get done we go for Kelleher, this is a shocking turn of events, ridiculous

By all accounts we did have a bit for Trafford accepted, Man City just had a matching clause and decided to activate it. 

[danswan]

I'd always thought he was a tiny midget but according to Wikipedia he's 6'3" so I'm in

[wong989]

3 minutes ago, 54 said:

By all accounts we did have a bit for Trafford accepted, Man City just had a matching clause and decided to activate it. 

Trafford has been a target for ages, leaving it til halfway through pre-season is bad enough. If it turns out we think the situation is such that now we need to turn to Ramsdale, really don't see what anyone involved is thinking

[kingxlnc]

7 minutes ago, 54 said:

By all accounts we did have a bit for Trafford accepted, Man City just had a matching clause and decided to activate it. 

Isn’t some of this on Trafford? He said for ages he wanted to come and then he’s chosen Man City? Surely he’d have a better chance of being number 1 here

[Coffee_Johnny]

Am I really the only person here who would be happy to sign Ramsdale? 

[54]

Just now, wong989 said:

Trafford has been a target for ages, leaving it til halfway through pre-season is bad enough. If it turns out we think the situation is such that now we need to turn to Ramsdale, really don't see what anyone involved is thinking

It may be the case that we waited until halfway through the window, but it could also be that we where negotiating and getting the price down. The point is, whenever we did have a bid accepted, Man City could still swoop in, as that clause always existed. 

 

And Ramsdale as a loan with an option makes sense in that it gives us a better option as backup/ someone who is on a similar level with Pope, while allowing us to keep our options open next season if we want to go big on a goalkeeper then. 

[TRon]

33 minutes ago, Hanshithispantz said:

All of this stems from Mitchell though, Howe needs someone who knows how to navigate the world of agents and all that corporate shite to get deals done, and a recruitment structure that actually fits what he wants, not someone who wants to dump a load of foreign 19 year olds on him for £20m a piece.

 

I'm half just making this shit up as I don't know the full details, or what is properly involved in someone like Mitchell's job, but I can imagine there's an alternative timeline with a different DoF/CEO where we have Trafford, Pedro/Ekitike, and Elanga in with a happy Isak.

 

 

I just think if we are bidding for any players the cartel have an eye on, doesn't matter who is leading the negotiations, we can't compete with their wages. Yes it would help to have a proper recruitment structure obviously, but don't think we would have any of those players bar Trafford as we could have signed him last year. But we spent all our time chasing Guehi for some reason. 

[The College Dropout]

1 hour ago, SteV said:

They got to the semi final (against Inter, so was quite a big deal…) the season before we signed him.

I would’ve watched one of the semi final games.  
 

CL I watch Real and maybe a glamour tie - even that glamour tie is usually just background tv.

[The College Dropout]

In my dreams we used PSR hacks to kick up our wage budget so we could compete at the higher end of the market.  We would  probably still lose out to Liverpool and the like but be proactive in securing Isaks contract (or a position with him) and landing the likes of Trafford.

 

Until we pay the big bucks we’ll be a 3rd/th tier choice in the market. 
 

that requires PSR fuckery. 

[andycap]

32 minutes ago, 54 said:

It may be the case that we waited until halfway through the window, but it could also be that we where negotiating and getting the price down. The point is, whenever we did have a bid accepted, Man City could still swoop in, as that clause always existed. 

 

And Ramsdale as a loan with an option makes sense in that it gives us a better option as backup/ someone who is on a similar level with Pope, while allowing us to keep our options open next season if we want to go big on a goalkeeper then. 

The price never came down though they wanted 40 million we ended up agreeing the 40 million.

So should of just stumped up the cash early and got him through the door. 

[54]

9 minutes ago, andycap said:

The price never came down though they wanted 40 million we ended up agreeing the 40 million.

So should of just stumped up the cash early and got him through the door. 

It was £27m we apparently offered and what was accepted, and thats what Man City are paying. 

[LFEE]

Any updates on figures anywhere?

[PauloGeordio]

2 hours ago, Coffee_Johnny said:

Am I really the only person here who would be happy to sign Ramsdale? 

No you’re not.

[gbandit]

My issue with it is more about what it says about our overall transfer approach than anything else. Why does playing in this league / country matter so fucking much, especially for a goalkeeper 

[Whitley mag]

3 hours ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

What’s the alternative to players we know or players we’ve monitored? Random players we don’t know about?

 

I feel like it’s a problem with the exec structure and that we haven’t established the bigger structure we need since our first 3 big exec appointments have failed (Gardener/Eales/Mitch). 
 

When the full system is in place I assume we’ll see a better ability to execute on the right deals. We might also need to adjust our ambitions if we constantly get outbid by other clubs. 

We had the exec structure in place to sign Botman, Bruno, Isak and Tonali.

 

Apart from Ashworth leaving not sure what’s changed? Yes we had Amanda to negotiate and acknowledge this is missing now, but from the links in press what’s happened to the player id that allowed us to go for the above European based targets ?

 

We have heavily scouted Ekitike and Sesko for at least 3 years, where are the new similar profile players from abroad. I struggle to believe this profile of player just below the top tier is no longer available.

 

We are shopping in the wrong market with our budget unfortunately.

[TRon]

17 minutes ago, Whitley mag said:

We had the exec structure in place to sign Botman, Bruno, Isak and Tonali.

 

Apart from Ashworth leaving not sure what’s changed? Yes we had Amanda to negotiate and acknowledge this is missing now, but from the links in press what’s happened to the player id that allowed us to go for the above European based targets ?

 

We have heavily scouted Ekitike and Sesko for at least 3 years, where are the new similar profile players from abroad. I struggle to believe this profile of player just below the top tier is no longer available.

 

We are shopping in the wrong market with our budget unfortunately.

 

When we signed those players we had more PSR headroom. It's as simple as that. 

 

It's a double edged sword, our success with those players has meant cartel clubs are jumping in more readily than back then to compete. 

[Kanj]

there is also an ebb and flow of transfers too - lot of turn at these clubs as they are rebuilding; just happens we are constantly building. 

[Dr. TC]

3 hours ago, 54 said:

It was £27m we apparently offered and what was accepted, and thats what Man City are paying. 

This is because man city had a sellon clause, so we would have had to pay more for the amount received to be the same. 

[McCormick]

55 minutes ago, gbandit said:

My issue with it is more about what it says about our overall transfer approach than anything else. Why does playing in this league / country matter so fucking much, especially for a goalkeeper 

I imagine it’s the importance Howe places on attitude and how he’ll fit in with the dressing room.

 

Top class foreign keepers aren’t cheap btw. That Chevallier went for 40m and Diogo costa would command upwards of 50m too.

[timeEd32]

16 minutes ago, Kanj said:

there is also an ebb and flow of transfers too - lot of turn at these clubs as they are rebuilding; just happens we are constantly building. 

 

This is true, but it was also fairly predictable. Our transfer planning seems to have ignored or underestimated the possibility of competition from richer clubs.