Southampton manager dispute: Who will Saints sign next?
We previously informed our readers of who would be the perfect signing this summer for the Saints, but who is it now that Southampton want?
We are well aware Ryan Bertrand is at the centre of the scope, planning an exit in the region of £50 million to Manchester City, and that the breakdown of van Dijk’s Anfield switch is still being rumoured, but on a lesser note.
Maya Yoshida is one player who has been looked at by a few clubs this summer after his important contributions in defence for Saints this season. He has actually been modeling the new season’s kit for Southampton, but this will not stop interest in his services from other teams.
It would leave the Saints at least one player short at the back, but there is still the possibility that Mamadou Sakho could join Southampton at St Mary’s next summer after strong links in the January window, and his future still left undecided.
There will certainly be enough money circulating around the club to match the £30 million asking price of Jurgen Klopp, who has made it clear there is no future for him left at the Reds.
Clearly, they will be in tough contention with Crystal Palace for the defender who has turned over a new leaf since leaving Merseyside, but despite this, Southampton should feel positive about their ability to draw in new players with an another strong finish in the table.
Following the dismissal of Claude Puel just a couple of weeks ago, we are still waiting to see who will take charge at the new Dell, with reports linking Frank de Boer and main target Mauricio Pellegrino to the role. Still, Southampton fans would have loved it to be Mauricio Pochettino.
If the club were to make one of these high profile appointments, it is certainly another pulling factor for player’s speculated to join Southampton. These managers will certainly ask the board to have complete control over transfers and a strong budget this summer.
It’s busy times for Southampton Football Club, but they will be boosted by a fully fit squad come August if Nathan Redmond returns from the Euro’s unharmed and pre-season is successful.
James Ward-Prowse was recently recalled to the full England squad, showing promising signs of his potential at the top level. There’s all the possibility in the world that Saints could push for Europe once again in 2017/2018.
Next: Mauricio Pellegrino - a managerial profile
Finally in other news two of Southampton’s players have made the headlines for all the right reasons, with Steven Davis being awarded an MBE as part of the Queen’s birthday honours. Davis has been credited due to his service to football, having captained Northern Ireland in the European Championships last summer.
Meanwhile today aforementioned left-back Ryan Bertrand took to Twitter to announce that he would be doing than donating to the victims of the Grenfell tower incident, and that he would instead be going to help hands on as of Monday.
The former Chelsea man wants to make sure the survivors are re-housed without moving far from where they lived before.