Every player has his price and with Saints in no desperate need to sell we can afford to up the ante.
Latest reports suggest that Arsenal and Man United are preparing bids for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and to be blunt the quotes attributed to his father dont seem to suggest anything other than if they come calling then he will want to go.
Sadly the wages offered in modern day football can make it very hard for a teenage sensation to refuse, these wonderkids know that there is only one thing that can prevent them reaching the top and becoming multi millionaires and that is a bad injury, therefore they are willing to gamble their long term developement in order to take a contract that will guarantee they live in luxury for the rst of their lives no matter what they do on the pitch, Oxo stays with Saints and has his career ended by injury he gets to see out the last two years of his contract and possibly starts his career out of the game after being paid around £600 -£700 k in that period, he does it at Arsenal and he has the security of a four year deal worth about £3-4 million at least.
That being the case you can see why young players are keen to move to big clubs and get their a lot quicker than they really should.
However every player has their price and good management of a football club is knowing a players worth and when you get an offer in excess of that cashing in at the right time, I would say that if we can psuh the bidding up to £15 million then lets do so and rake in the cash.
Chamberlain is a great player but he is one man in a team of eleven and as such there is only so much he can do, however if the transfer money received from him is used wisely then it could fund 4 Championship proven/premiership standard players without Saints having to put their hands in their own pockets and that cant be bad, in short it could buy us the squad to compete for a promotion spot.
The Chairman will know that expectation amongst fans is high, they expect big signings in the summer as has been shown by the names supposely linked with Saints, pie in the sky mostly, but not to our supporters who having bought the PR hype about being one of the richest clubs in football now when Markus Liebherr arrived, now expect to see tangible proof of that, if the money is available then fine, what a squad we would have with Oxox and another £10 million pounds worth of talent, but if it isnt then its perhaps best to realise our asset now and utilise the cash.
This doesnt show a lack of ambition it shows a sensible approach to the transfer market, even the big clubs need to wheel and deal. Liverpool did so in selling Torres and bringing in Suarez and Carroll at a net cost of only £6 million and indeed Saints have done just this over the last fifty years stretching back to the era of Ted Bates right through to the present day, the key though is to sell at top price and buy in wisely cheaply.
So I for one would not be too disapointed if we where to move on Chamberlain, but only if the price is right and those funds are re invested in the team, this is a crossroads for Saints on the road to the Premiership, lets hope we head in the right direction.