Southampton: Saints’ summer window – spend or save?
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Let’s face it, the January transfer window was a complete and utter shambles for a club in the situation we’re in. We broke our transfer record to sign £19 million striker Guido Carrillo who still hasn’t scored for Saints in his two months here and may even look to leave the club after the sacking of his former boss Mauricio Pellegrino who lured the Argentine to the south-coast in the first place.
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- Grading the Southampton Transfer Window Part 1: Departures
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- A lament for Southampton legend James Ward-Prowse
The possibility of signing Quincy Promes did excite fans greatly but the deal all but crashed and burned as Spartak would only accept an offer that met the winger’s release clause, only around £2 million more than what Southampton had offered. Luckily, it’s been reported that Promes is still keen on the move and so we’ll go back in for him come the opening of the summer transfer window.
Following Mark Hughes’ appointment two weeks ago, Saints have been linked with Stoke City’s Xherdan Shaqiri who Hughes is looking to reunite with at Saints if he’s offered a longer-term contract on the south-coast.
If we were to go for any Stoke player I’d like it to be Butland to be perfectly honest but he’ll look further up the table for a new club so Shaqiri could be a decent addition but one that I feel would be unnecessary if players such as Boufal, Redmond and Tadic stay and Promes comes in.
After heavily lacking goals over the last two seasons, I do think it is important that we bring someone in with a bit of flair and creativity who could excite the fans and contribute to setting up more goals: Promes is still my ideal for this.
However, I also think that it’s important that we address the goalkeeping situation at the club. Fraser Forster was dropped in late December for fellow Englishman Alex McCarthy who’s done superbly since his introduction away at Manchester United where he kept a clean sheet. However, should we be looking at bringing in a new first-choice between the sticks?
My thought is possibly, as long as it is the right one, not a Simon Mignolet for example who’s also been linked with a move this week. McCarthy has done fine so maybe it’s the argument of whether we bring in a new second-choice and ship off Forster in the summer or not.
Personally, I also feel like we’ll be looking at two or three new full-backs as Jeremy Pied hasn’t had his contract renewed yet which means he’s set to become a free-agent come June and Bertrand and Cedric are likely to be tempted away to brighter futures.
If this is the case, of course a new back-up right-back will be needed but I’d like to see the purchase of pacey wing-backs who can involve themselves in attacking to an extent but obviously be able to defend first and for-most. This could help with our on-going scoring problem and make our football slightly more attractive.
I think that the partnership of Stephens and Hoedt is one with potential so I’d keep those two together and our current central midfield options are pleasing. However, it’s likely that either Gabbiadini or Carrillo or even both leave and with Austin’s injury problems splashing the cash on a scoring centre-forward may be the ideal (Bas Dost would be my choice).
We’ve made a record profit of £34.1 million after, almost £200 million and have a new owner so, if money isn’t invested into new players in the summer, there will be even more discontent in the fan base.