| Downs and out? 14:46 - Aug 31 with 3500 views | franniesTache |
Hearing a very strange rumour that we might already be getting rid of Damian Downs. On loan to Bristol city with an option to buy |  | | |  |
| Downs and out? on 14:49 - Aug 31 with 2989 views | Ifonly |
If this means we get a late signing in then I'd be all for it. Downs may be one for the future but he's shown no sign that he can cut it this season and we badly need a CF who can. |  | | |
| Downs and out? on 15:00 - Aug 31 with 2924 views | Southamptonfan |
That's the problem with keep buying players that haven't proved themselves in the league you are buying them for.
They need to stop doing it and wasting so much money. You can't just hope the player is good enough. [Post edited 31 Aug 15:06]
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| Downs and out? on 15:03 - Aug 31 with 2901 views | Joiedevivre |
£6 million is a lot of money in this league. The signing was stupid. |  | | |
| Downs and out? on 15:06 - Aug 31 with 2873 views | dirk_doone |
Now, all we need to do is get rid of Long and Quarshie and we can start to strengthen the spine of the team.
I still suspect Sport Republic of signing players without having sent scouts to watch them play. Either that or our scouts are terrible at their job. [Post edited 31 Aug 15:07]
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| Downs and out? on 15:20 - Aug 31 with 2781 views | saintmark1976 |
| Downs and out? on 15:06 - Aug 31 by dirk_doone |
Now, all we need to do is get rid of Long and Quarshie and we can start to strengthen the spine of the team.
I still suspect Sport Republic of signing players without having sent scouts to watch them play. Either that or our scouts are terrible at their job. [Post edited 31 Aug 15:07]
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I suspect both.
Thing is, if he goes to Bristol City he will probably score a hat full of goals and get them promoted.
It’s the Sports Republic’s way :-
Buying average players and making them worse when they play for us. | |
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| Downs and out? on 15:32 - Aug 31 with 2732 views | Saintandy66 |
Downs has shown nothing to suggest he will ever make striker at any level complete waste of money josh Sargent would be brilliant for us at this level but far to old for the idiots running this club | | | |
| Downs and out? on 16:00 - Aug 31 with 2642 views | PatfromPoole |
I'd be amazed if this were to happen.
It would be:
1. a pretty public admission of a bad buy, and / or
2. an acquisition that Still perhaps had very little input into (?).......
Would be fascinating if it is true. |  |
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| Downs and out? on 16:05 - Aug 31 with 2569 views | saintwizzler |
| Downs and out? on 16:00 - Aug 31 by PatfromPoole |
I'd be amazed if this were to happen.
It would be:
1. a pretty public admission of a bad buy, and / or
2. an acquisition that Still perhaps had very little input into (?).......
Would be fascinating if it is true. |
You didn’t see Mara at Hull.
You won’t see Yankee Doodle Mara at Hull either.
Life can be so hard |  |
| We thought that we had the answers,
It was the questions we had wrong. |
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| Downs and out? on 16:09 - Aug 31 with 2546 views | LondonSaint76 |
and it will...
Kieffer Moore would have been a great acquisition for free therefore no risk . proven beyond doubt at this level and has scored 4 in his last 3 games for Wrexham - who would you prefer up front in a Saints shirt, Downs or Moore? [Post edited 31 Aug 16:21]
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| Downs and out? on 16:10 - Aug 31 with 2539 views | Butty101 |
Fingers crossed this is true, he really is terrible and has shown nothing so far. Actually thats not true, he has shown he cant score from a yard out.
Its been a scatter gun approach this summer, like last summer |  |
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| Downs and out? on 16:18 - Aug 31 with 2506 views | PatfromPoole |
| Downs and out? on 16:05 - Aug 31 by saintwizzler |
You didn’t see Mara at Hull.
You won’t see Yankee Doodle Mara at Hull either.
Life can be so hard |
Maybe we will sell Downs and buy super Sekou back for less than what we sold him to Strasbourg for.
Superb financial acumen. | |
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| Downs and out? on 07:35 - Sep 1 with 1876 views | saint22 |
If this turns out to be true who on earth sanctioned that signing?!?
Quite unbelievable if so | | | |
| Downs and out? on 08:10 - Sep 1 with 1797 views | saintmark1976 |
| Downs and out? on 07:35 - Sep 1 by saint22 |
If this turns out to be true who on earth sanctioned that signing?!?
Quite unbelievable if so |
Training ground head chef ? | |
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| Downs and out? on 10:04 - Sep 1 with 1599 views | SaintNick |
I have posted this as a reply to the first post, so i cannot be accused of picking on anyone lol.
I am sure Southampton have a very good scouting system, after all its the very same system who found the unknown Sporting Lisbon fringe player for around £12 million and he was sold for a £30 million profit.
Throughout the years I have followed Saints most seasons have seen good signings and also bad signings, Lawrie McMenemy will be remembered for signing Kevin Keegan in the summer of 1980, no one remembers the other player he signed that summer, Mike McCartney, or when we signed Mark Wright & Keith Cassells in 1982, Kenny Armstrong in 1983.
For every good signing there is a bad one.
But I agree we need to revamp our current system.
1. Install a big red button in all the seats in St Mary's.
2. In future initially only sign players on a two week loan deal.
3. Let the fans vote on a player after their second game for the club whether we need to keep him or whether he should be sent back by pressing their red button.
I cannot see this system failing, Sport Republic are wasting good money on a scouting network stretching across Europe & beyond when they have 30,000 experts to hand who will actually pay to do the job.
We have people who can look at a player in just two games and tell whether they are good or garbage, if it is the latter we will not even have to pay their air fare home as we have around 15,000 people in our fanbase who have said many times in the past they would drive players there themselves, it is about time the club took up a fan or two on this offer and re invested the money into his replacement.
Over the years I have seen many players come and go at Southampton, some have taken a year or two to come good, even in the past decade or so the amount of abuse Sadio Mane got on social media, before Liverpool decided to pay £35 million for him, Pierre Emile Hojberg was another who struggled at first and many moaned that Orio Romeo should be in the side ahead of him.
I'm sorry but no one can tell over two performances whether a player is good or bad, especially when those two performances are in the first month of the season when the squad is in transition.
Downs is in a new country he joined Saints 3 days after his 21st birthday, 2 days after he played his last game of the 2024/25 season, that season started on 2nd August, assuming a month of pre season training, he had not had a rest in over a year.
He has arrived at Saints not refreshed and ready for a new challenge , but shattered.
Add to that he looks like a player who thrives on crosses and we haven't got any wingers.
But lets not take any of that into account, lets just write him off after a total of 3 appearances in the Championship totalling 89 minutes.
On the other side we will get much gnashing of teeth today over the departure of Dom Ballard, he scored on his debut at Cambridge in the League cup, that season he played 2 Premier League games and didn't score, has spent time out on loan at 3 different clubs in League One scoring 6 goals plus 1 assist in 45 games, yet there are many who would say bin Downs & give Ballard a chance.
He has now joined Leyton Orient, how on earth did he go under the radar of the 58 clubs not including us, that are currently above Orient in the League tables and we moan about the Saints scouting system.
All joking aside, the sad thing is how quickly we are ready to jump on the back of the signings we make, lets give them a chance, if only for the reason that we have no other choice.
There are very few signings we make that fail completely, they might not succeed and become regulars, but most make a contribution, even Sekou got a goal or assist or two that mattered.
But the Southampton way has always been about breaking even on the deal, whether that is financially or out of every 4 players that arrive, 1 becomes a first team regular, another a squad player and two are soon moving on again.
If we had written a player off after 2/3 games, then there would be some true Southampton legends both bought to the club and who came through the academy who would not have become that. |  |
| Satisfying The Bloodlust Of The Masses In Peacetime |
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| Downs and out? on 10:32 - Sep 1 with 1502 views | Southamptonfan |
| Downs and out? on 10:04 - Sep 1 by SaintNick |
I have posted this as a reply to the first post, so i cannot be accused of picking on anyone lol.
I am sure Southampton have a very good scouting system, after all its the very same system who found the unknown Sporting Lisbon fringe player for around £12 million and he was sold for a £30 million profit.
Throughout the years I have followed Saints most seasons have seen good signings and also bad signings, Lawrie McMenemy will be remembered for signing Kevin Keegan in the summer of 1980, no one remembers the other player he signed that summer, Mike McCartney, or when we signed Mark Wright & Keith Cassells in 1982, Kenny Armstrong in 1983.
For every good signing there is a bad one.
But I agree we need to revamp our current system.
1. Install a big red button in all the seats in St Mary's.
2. In future initially only sign players on a two week loan deal.
3. Let the fans vote on a player after their second game for the club whether we need to keep him or whether he should be sent back by pressing their red button.
I cannot see this system failing, Sport Republic are wasting good money on a scouting network stretching across Europe & beyond when they have 30,000 experts to hand who will actually pay to do the job.
We have people who can look at a player in just two games and tell whether they are good or garbage, if it is the latter we will not even have to pay their air fare home as we have around 15,000 people in our fanbase who have said many times in the past they would drive players there themselves, it is about time the club took up a fan or two on this offer and re invested the money into his replacement.
Over the years I have seen many players come and go at Southampton, some have taken a year or two to come good, even in the past decade or so the amount of abuse Sadio Mane got on social media, before Liverpool decided to pay £35 million for him, Pierre Emile Hojberg was another who struggled at first and many moaned that Orio Romeo should be in the side ahead of him.
I'm sorry but no one can tell over two performances whether a player is good or bad, especially when those two performances are in the first month of the season when the squad is in transition.
Downs is in a new country he joined Saints 3 days after his 21st birthday, 2 days after he played his last game of the 2024/25 season, that season started on 2nd August, assuming a month of pre season training, he had not had a rest in over a year.
He has arrived at Saints not refreshed and ready for a new challenge , but shattered.
Add to that he looks like a player who thrives on crosses and we haven't got any wingers.
But lets not take any of that into account, lets just write him off after a total of 3 appearances in the Championship totalling 89 minutes.
On the other side we will get much gnashing of teeth today over the departure of Dom Ballard, he scored on his debut at Cambridge in the League cup, that season he played 2 Premier League games and didn't score, has spent time out on loan at 3 different clubs in League One scoring 6 goals plus 1 assist in 45 games, yet there are many who would say bin Downs & give Ballard a chance.
He has now joined Leyton Orient, how on earth did he go under the radar of the 58 clubs not including us, that are currently above Orient in the League tables and we moan about the Saints scouting system.
All joking aside, the sad thing is how quickly we are ready to jump on the back of the signings we make, lets give them a chance, if only for the reason that we have no other choice.
There are very few signings we make that fail completely, they might not succeed and become regulars, but most make a contribution, even Sekou got a goal or assist or two that mattered.
But the Southampton way has always been about breaking even on the deal, whether that is financially or out of every 4 players that arrive, 1 becomes a first team regular, another a squad player and two are soon moving on again.
If we had written a player off after 2/3 games, then there would be some true Southampton legends both bought to the club and who came through the academy who would not have become that. |
Ali Dia could have been good after all. Dam it.
We can't score goals, okay buy a decent striker. Just sign Sargent at Norwich and be done with it. We know he's good, I have seen his goals, so no need to bother waiting for players to develop.
We can get players we know are good, immediately. Much better than waiting a few years, when we need them now. Signing Azaz and Fellows, are much better signings than unknowns. They need to stop wasting money and just buy players we know for sure are good at this level. No need then for scouts and the expensive computers. He's scored 15 goals at this level, yep hes a goal scorer and do it within minutes. Done.
If you could buy a player from Eastleigh because he did a few step overs, for a million and then train him and develop him into a Messi, wouldnt all the clubs be doing it and saving millions? Just buy proven players in the vital positions and be done with it. [Post edited 1 Sep 10:39]
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| Downs and out? on 10:37 - Sep 1 with 1473 views | Butty101 |
| Downs and out? on 10:04 - Sep 1 by SaintNick |
I have posted this as a reply to the first post, so i cannot be accused of picking on anyone lol.
I am sure Southampton have a very good scouting system, after all its the very same system who found the unknown Sporting Lisbon fringe player for around £12 million and he was sold for a £30 million profit.
Throughout the years I have followed Saints most seasons have seen good signings and also bad signings, Lawrie McMenemy will be remembered for signing Kevin Keegan in the summer of 1980, no one remembers the other player he signed that summer, Mike McCartney, or when we signed Mark Wright & Keith Cassells in 1982, Kenny Armstrong in 1983.
For every good signing there is a bad one.
But I agree we need to revamp our current system.
1. Install a big red button in all the seats in St Mary's.
2. In future initially only sign players on a two week loan deal.
3. Let the fans vote on a player after their second game for the club whether we need to keep him or whether he should be sent back by pressing their red button.
I cannot see this system failing, Sport Republic are wasting good money on a scouting network stretching across Europe & beyond when they have 30,000 experts to hand who will actually pay to do the job.
We have people who can look at a player in just two games and tell whether they are good or garbage, if it is the latter we will not even have to pay their air fare home as we have around 15,000 people in our fanbase who have said many times in the past they would drive players there themselves, it is about time the club took up a fan or two on this offer and re invested the money into his replacement.
Over the years I have seen many players come and go at Southampton, some have taken a year or two to come good, even in the past decade or so the amount of abuse Sadio Mane got on social media, before Liverpool decided to pay £35 million for him, Pierre Emile Hojberg was another who struggled at first and many moaned that Orio Romeo should be in the side ahead of him.
I'm sorry but no one can tell over two performances whether a player is good or bad, especially when those two performances are in the first month of the season when the squad is in transition.
Downs is in a new country he joined Saints 3 days after his 21st birthday, 2 days after he played his last game of the 2024/25 season, that season started on 2nd August, assuming a month of pre season training, he had not had a rest in over a year.
He has arrived at Saints not refreshed and ready for a new challenge , but shattered.
Add to that he looks like a player who thrives on crosses and we haven't got any wingers.
But lets not take any of that into account, lets just write him off after a total of 3 appearances in the Championship totalling 89 minutes.
On the other side we will get much gnashing of teeth today over the departure of Dom Ballard, he scored on his debut at Cambridge in the League cup, that season he played 2 Premier League games and didn't score, has spent time out on loan at 3 different clubs in League One scoring 6 goals plus 1 assist in 45 games, yet there are many who would say bin Downs & give Ballard a chance.
He has now joined Leyton Orient, how on earth did he go under the radar of the 58 clubs not including us, that are currently above Orient in the League tables and we moan about the Saints scouting system.
All joking aside, the sad thing is how quickly we are ready to jump on the back of the signings we make, lets give them a chance, if only for the reason that we have no other choice.
There are very few signings we make that fail completely, they might not succeed and become regulars, but most make a contribution, even Sekou got a goal or assist or two that mattered.
But the Southampton way has always been about breaking even on the deal, whether that is financially or out of every 4 players that arrive, 1 becomes a first team regular, another a squad player and two are soon moving on again.
If we had written a player off after 2/3 games, then there would be some true Southampton legends both bought to the club and who came through the academy who would not have become that. |
Nick who would you rather have Downes at 8mill or kieffer Moore at 2mill? Who do you think will score more? | |
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| Downs and out? on 10:40 - Sep 1 with 1457 views | Southamptonfan |
| Downs and out? on 10:37 - Sep 1 by Butty101 |
Nick who would you rather have Downes at 8mill or kieffer Moore at 2mill? Who do you think will score more? |
Or the Stoke keeper for 2 million or Bazunu for 12 million?
We all know what Sport Republic are up to. Buy young to make a profit later. | |
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| Downs and out? on 11:31 - Sep 1 with 1338 views | SaintNick |
| Downs and out? on 10:32 - Sep 1 by Southamptonfan |
Ali Dia could have been good after all. Dam it.
We can't score goals, okay buy a decent striker. Just sign Sargent at Norwich and be done with it. We know he's good, I have seen his goals, so no need to bother waiting for players to develop.
We can get players we know are good, immediately. Much better than waiting a few years, when we need them now. Signing Azaz and Fellows, are much better signings than unknowns. They need to stop wasting money and just buy players we know for sure are good at this level. No need then for scouts and the expensive computers. He's scored 15 goals at this level, yep hes a goal scorer and do it within minutes. Done.
If you could buy a player from Eastleigh because he did a few step overs, for a million and then train him and develop him into a Messi, wouldnt all the clubs be doing it and saving millions? Just buy proven players in the vital positions and be done with it. [Post edited 1 Sep 10:39]
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Interesting that you mention Sargent and the need to buy players with track records.
Compare Sargent's record at the start of this season with Ben Brereton's Dias record in England at the start of last season when we signed him discounting their games as youngsters and taking the 4 seasons before BBD joined us as Sargent at the start of the season when we went for Downs
Sargent
Premier League 26 games 2 goals ( 1 per 13 games)
Championship 98 games 44 goals (1 per 2.22 games)
Overall total 1 goal per 2.69 games
BBD
Championship 120 games 43 goals (1 per 2.79 games)
Premier League 14 games 6 goals ( 1 per 2.33 games )
Overall total 1 per 2.73 games
There is not a lot of difference there over the past 4 seasons if we take a direct comparison ie last 3 full seasons in the Championship & 1 in the Premier League
Ben Brereton Dias joined us with all the stats saying he had what it takes, so what is there to suggest that Sargent would do anything better than BBD
BBD hasn't worked out but even his last two seasons before joining us more than match Sargent.
People just look at goals scored
Outside of the big 6 clubs dont buy from Eastleigh anymore, they sign talent from all those discarded by Man City, Chelsea, Liverpool etc at age 18-19 and pay £12 million.
As I say BBD is getting pelters and Sargent is the flavour of the month on this board, but a year ago we were applauding BBD's arrival.
In my opinion he wasn't given a chance by Martin as were other signings such as Archer, who will score goals in this division. | |
| Satisfying The Bloodlust Of The Masses In Peacetime |
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| Downs and out? on 11:41 - Sep 1 with 1294 views | 1885_SFC |
Leo Scienza incoming apparently...
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| Downs and out? on 11:48 - Sep 1 with 1259 views | Buggalugs |
| Downs and out? on 11:31 - Sep 1 by SaintNick |
Interesting that you mention Sargent and the need to buy players with track records.
Compare Sargent's record at the start of this season with Ben Brereton's Dias record in England at the start of last season when we signed him discounting their games as youngsters and taking the 4 seasons before BBD joined us as Sargent at the start of the season when we went for Downs
Sargent
Premier League 26 games 2 goals ( 1 per 13 games)
Championship 98 games 44 goals (1 per 2.22 games)
Overall total 1 goal per 2.69 games
BBD
Championship 120 games 43 goals (1 per 2.79 games)
Premier League 14 games 6 goals ( 1 per 2.33 games )
Overall total 1 per 2.73 games
There is not a lot of difference there over the past 4 seasons if we take a direct comparison ie last 3 full seasons in the Championship & 1 in the Premier League
Ben Brereton Dias joined us with all the stats saying he had what it takes, so what is there to suggest that Sargent would do anything better than BBD
BBD hasn't worked out but even his last two seasons before joining us more than match Sargent.
People just look at goals scored
Outside of the big 6 clubs dont buy from Eastleigh anymore, they sign talent from all those discarded by Man City, Chelsea, Liverpool etc at age 18-19 and pay £12 million.
As I say BBD is getting pelters and Sargent is the flavour of the month on this board, but a year ago we were applauding BBD's arrival.
In my opinion he wasn't given a chance by Martin as were other signings such as Archer, who will score goals in this division. |
Yep, but everyone's an expert with hindsight. |  |
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| Downs and out? on 12:33 - Sep 1 with 1167 views | Southamptonfan |
| Downs and out? on 11:31 - Sep 1 by SaintNick |
Interesting that you mention Sargent and the need to buy players with track records.
Compare Sargent's record at the start of this season with Ben Brereton's Dias record in England at the start of last season when we signed him discounting their games as youngsters and taking the 4 seasons before BBD joined us as Sargent at the start of the season when we went for Downs
Sargent
Premier League 26 games 2 goals ( 1 per 13 games)
Championship 98 games 44 goals (1 per 2.22 games)
Overall total 1 goal per 2.69 games
BBD
Championship 120 games 43 goals (1 per 2.79 games)
Premier League 14 games 6 goals ( 1 per 2.33 games )
Overall total 1 per 2.73 games
There is not a lot of difference there over the past 4 seasons if we take a direct comparison ie last 3 full seasons in the Championship & 1 in the Premier League
Ben Brereton Dias joined us with all the stats saying he had what it takes, so what is there to suggest that Sargent would do anything better than BBD
BBD hasn't worked out but even his last two seasons before joining us more than match Sargent.
People just look at goals scored
Outside of the big 6 clubs dont buy from Eastleigh anymore, they sign talent from all those discarded by Man City, Chelsea, Liverpool etc at age 18-19 and pay £12 million.
As I say BBD is getting pelters and Sargent is the flavour of the month on this board, but a year ago we were applauding BBD's arrival.
In my opinion he wasn't given a chance by Martin as were other signings such as Archer, who will score goals in this division. |
Sargent is full confidence and is scoring now in the same league. The likelihood is, he will continue to score goals. I bet he's much more likely to, than a player from the Bundesliga 2, who is 19 years old,.still.learning, still growing. That's why Liverpool are buying Isac, Everton are buying Grealish West Ham Fernandes and so on (they have proved themselves in the league they are in). It's obviously logic to me,that proven players have proved themselves, we know they can do it, whereas unproven ones we just dont know, but hey ho. Fernandes as the exception, most of our signings have been very.poor, so we keep going with the unproven ones and hope I suppose. [Post edited 1 Sep 12:38]
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| Downs and out? on 12:33 - Sep 1 with 1163 views | sledger |
i know hes shown precious little but his goal in pre season showed that there is a player there,question is can saints wait for him to get up to speed,probably not as ross stewart is not looking like the striker we need either so downes is getting thrown in. | | | |
| Downs and out? on 12:52 - Sep 1 with 1095 views | hutchie53 |
Certainly the last few years. Hopefully not under Still. The scouts have big responsibility. | | | |
| Downs and out? on 14:43 - Sep 1 with 953 views | SaintNick |
| Downs and out? on 12:33 - Sep 1 by Southamptonfan |
Sargent is full confidence and is scoring now in the same league. The likelihood is, he will continue to score goals. I bet he's much more likely to, than a player from the Bundesliga 2, who is 19 years old,.still.learning, still growing. That's why Liverpool are buying Isac, Everton are buying Grealish West Ham Fernandes and so on (they have proved themselves in the league they are in). It's obviously logic to me,that proven players have proved themselves, we know they can do it, whereas unproven ones we just dont know, but hey ho. Fernandes as the exception, most of our signings have been very.poor, so we keep going with the unproven ones and hope I suppose. [Post edited 1 Sep 12:38]
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Ss I pointed out when he arrived BBD was brimming with confidence after scoring 6 goals in the Premier league in just 14 games.
Everton didnt buy a player brimming with confidence in Grealish, just 7 Premier League starts, plus 13 off the bench totalling just 715 minutes, 1 goal and 1 assist.
Had Fernandes proved himself in the League he is in, we loved him but 2 goals and 4 assists is not a great return for an attacking midfielder who played virtually every minute after his arrival..
Transfermarkt had his value at £7 million when we signed him for £12 million and how everyone moaned at that, why werent we buying Premier League proven players, why were we signing untried and unproven youngsters for £12 million.
Our scouting system got some things right.
Most of our other signings last year didn't get much chance to prove they were good or bad either way. | |
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