It felt like to me that he will play as best he can between now and January and then hopefully the Spuds will come asking again

They will try to do it on the cheap again. I just don't understand why anyone would want to move sideways. Yeah, I know in the pecking order they are ahead of us, but surely a player leaving us would want Champions League and that ain't Spuds!

It might just be me, but I get the sense that the Wanyama situation is being used by the media to have a go at Saints. For example, I was amazed at how quick certain 'journalists' were tweeting/reporting that VW will run his current contract down (hilariously, they had to remove that once they realised that he's got 2 years left to run!). Lots of talk now focused that he will reject contract and that Spurs will get their man in January.

Its guaranteed this quote from VW will be interpreted in a negative way for SFC.

You add that to the Neil Ashton article (straight after we went out of the EL) claiming Koeman and Reed were not talking and intimating SFC were in meltdown again and the rubbish coverage we get on BBC Sport - and you get the sense that half of today's media are Pompey fans...

Reality is that VW has been vocal about leaving SFC for a while (albeit to Arsenal!). I suspect he will do what Clyne did and string SFC along. I also suspect SFC are already planning for his departure and looking at getting a replacement in next summer - when we are likely to sell him.

As I have said before, SFC don't really need VW - and I suspect he will now have to fight for a place in the 1st team with Clasie, Romeu, Reed and JWP etc. all in the mix. Good tactic would be to have less reliance on VW and then get another good replacement in before we sell on. And hopefully not to Spurs...

Its funny but he always wanted a top 4 club but they at current time are not interested in him,there were no bids, his game is not good enough, he wont go in Jan either I suspect Spuds will come back with there usual bunch of media b****hit and try and get him for 2.5 mill in the summer because they are laughable they reckon they offered 25 mill for Berahino but those close to brom say more like 5 mill and the rest over 5 years and you know which one I believe,coyr

On the upside this could work in our favour for a season or so at least. He will need to play well to keep clubs interested in him. If he doesn't they'll lose interest and he could end up having to sign another contract here.
On the downside if he does play well, clubs will remain interested and he'll probably be off. Although it may mean a higher fee than the paltry Spurs offer.

Disappointed really. He was clearly unsettled by the approaches or more like the reports. So I would like to think his unhappiness is all about stability, so an additional 5 year contract with SFC will please him. But my cynical side doesn't really buy it and his comments are not really winning me over. Personally I would have liked his first comments to have been: love it at Southampton and signing this new 5 year deal gives me the security and peace of mind I need to push on to be the best I can be for this club and its fans who I love and know they love me. I intend to be their mighty Kenyan for many years to come. Sorry, wiping a tear from my eye I do realise this may be a little over the top. Just got a bit carried away, very soppy when it comes to Southampton FC.
:-).

sell Wanyama buy Nir Biton from Celtic an upgrade again - good passer can score!

If Victor signs a new 5 year deal with us, and then leaves after one year, the wages he can command with his new club will be much lower, because the club will have to pay us a much higher transfer fee. Therefore he would be crazy to sign a new contract unless he really intends to stay with us for the majority of that contract, which he probably doesn't.

For any player a longer contract gives extra security, which is why Rodrigues signed a longer deal with us when he was still injured. But if you are doing well and not injured, like Clyne last year, then you don't feel you really need security, and you are most unlikely to extend your contract. What Clyne did, for example, was to cream off a lot of the value that Liverpool were willing to pay into his own wages, because they only had to pay £12.5m to Saints.

Saints new financial model seems to be to sign good young players on 4 or 5 year deals, hoping they can sell them for higher transfer fees halfway through their contracts. If they can do that (eg Lovren) then they effectively get the player for a very low cost for two years, because the rise in the transfer fee actually pays the wages while they are with us.

What this means is that we will continuously have to sell players with 2 years left on their contracts, but so be it. This may be the only way we can compete with richer clubs in the long run.

Of course, if the transfer value of the player drops -- eg Osvaldo and Ramirez -- then it all backfires. They were catastrophic deals, and that is the reason why we didn t have any NET money to spend this summer.

The answer to "where has all the money gone?" is simple -- Osvaldo and Ramirez, and the training ground. Not to the board or the owner, who has actually paid out a lot more of her own money to finance the Osvaldo disaster.

Saintsnutcase: I see where you're coming from. But I also get the sense that SFC are looking to keep the top players too - rather than selling on for higher fees (which can only really relate to our high performers). For example, we made it very clear we wanted to keep Clyne by offering a new contract - and even let that run down to 1 year as we tried to negotiate.

Otherwise, it will become difficult to compete with the richer clubs as, competitively, you are always having to start again (and face teams who have your well developed ex-players in them!). Financially it might make sense, but there will become a tipping point whereby the Black Box fails to replace adequately and performance tumbles. Alas the only way to get strong and stay strong is to build and retain a good, core squad.

I think what you say about Wanyama is another good reason for why he won't sign - his wages will suffer due to high transfer fees. Unless, of course, if Man Utd come in with their seemingly bottomless cheque book...

It's an interesting and difficult balance really: ensure you keep competitive in the EPL whilst also balancing books by buying low, developing players and then selling high. I sense SFC always see the Academy as the utopian way of doing that (lowest cost base out there).

Saintsnutcase: I have seen the figures quotes as high as 35m loss on Osvaldo but its all paper talk.

Saints signed him for £12.8m plus bonuses up to €2 million (how many bonuses do you think where triggered?)

Wages would have almost entirely been covered by loan fees (for the first loan) and loaning clubs paying his wage. Its hardly catastrophic.

All I can say is, that hopefully we will arrive in a place where we balence the books enough to keep players to thier contracts

it didnt sound like wanyama will be here next season at all - come next summer, he will only have 1 year on his contract left and Saints will no doubt sell him for a fee similar to Clyne rather than lose him on a free. No chance he will sign for 5 years, none at all

If you're going to pinch TreeHuggers story at least have the courtesy of mentioning him as source in your article Nick.

You may think I am always on your case but fair's fair

On the other hand he might surprise you all by signing a new contract here especially if it's all about dosh. We spent net about £3.5m in this window, the lowest amount of any PL club so there's hordes of cash to level the playing field on wageswith the bankrupt Spuds and clueless Scousers.

If Wanyama wasn't at Saints already Koeman wouldn't buy him, the Dutch don't play with defensive midfielders if they did have one they would put him in the back four, koemans preferred formation was the one he picked against Norwich even Romeu is more like a midfield centre and JWP the same, and the balance was quite good I thought although Norwich were poor even with eleven, so Vic's days are numbered, if we play Romeu JWP and Classie in front of them we would create lots more goalscoring opportunities in other words the Dutch way, Vic is lucky that Ronko is very defensive minded LVG or Hiddinck would tell him to f**k o** ,anyway what do we do when Vic plays next, personally I want to call him a c**t and laugh at him but I want us to win as well lol it will be funny at Brom next with Berahino and Victor sulking and Lambert getting the red carpet I hope coyr

Wanyama's not that great anyway. I will have to be on my best behaviour next game not to boo when his names read out.