Southampton: Saints’ summer window – spend or save?

SAVE:

Now, I don’t think that this would be most fans’ ideal scenario given the season we’ve had, however under new management we could get the players back to their best as we’ve seen before.

It’s clear that, on paper, we have a top-ten squad and potentially our best in years but, for whatever reason, it hasn’t clicked for the most-part this season which is why we find ourselves in the relegation zone, albeit with a game in hand.

In the past, we’ve sold our players and recruited well in order to improve on the previous league finish, however that cycle seems to have backfired over the last two seasons as replacements haven’t been good enough and even keeping star players (Van Dijk the prime example) has left a burden on the club as they continue to plan their exits.

If you’re to think of ‘star’ players who will be tempted to leave this summer, Bertrand is probably top of the list followed by Cedric and potentially Mario Lemina who’s only been around for a season. For me, the main priority should be to keep Lemina if we’re going to keep anyone as, in a good team, he’ll be immense and selling after one season is rather despicable personally.

I don’t think too many fans would be too fussed if Bertrand left as, even though he’s clearly got quality, at times he hasn’t looked bothered. Cedric has shown commitment but has looked out of his depth at times this season, especially against bigger opposition.

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As long as we found good full-back replacements then I’d cope with the sale of both Bertrand and Cedric for whom we’d most likely get a combined £60m-£70m in today’s market.

There are some players that I would be insistent on keeping, Manolo Gabbiadini for example. He hasn’t had a good season due to confidence issues but we’ve seen how good he can be on his day and, when in form, he’ll be that striker we need. Plenty of Serie A clubs look to be going in for the Italian but I’d hold back offers as he could be vital to the side given that he’s putting the balls into the back of the net.

I don’t really see the need of trying to keep all of our players as some really haven’t stepped up and don’t look bothered about staying and, to be honest, there is some deadwood in the squad (on-loan Jordy Clasie and Steven Davis come to my mind).

Of course, selling the better players will require decent replacements as we should be looking at the top-half next season, assuming that we manage to stay up. What’s exciting though is that we could have a really good-looking squad come August, however I wouldn’t get your hopes up just yet as Saints have let us down on multiple occasions of late!