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Is Ryan Bertrand's Time Up at Southampton With Brentford Left Back Linked !
at 12:49:19

Good read.

However, I have noticed from reading lots of 'news', rumour and opinion articles on transfers that whenever Saints, or any other club, show interest in a player there is always a slew of articles with headlines like "Does club's interest in 'Player B' spell the end of 'Player A's' time at the club?"

I say it is not an 'Either/Or' situation but rather a 'Both/And' one. In the case of Bertrand, and full-backs in general, at Saints one of the major things that has been said about the squad all season is the lack of depth. With Targett leaving in the summer, as he obviously was not happy to play second fiddle to Bertrand, and both Vokins and Valery being loaned out it has left Saints very very thin at full-back. Now Vokins and Valery might not have been able to get to the standard required of them in the short amount of game time they could have had, or they not just not good enough, but it does not change the fact that with or without them the squad is shallow in those areas.

So when the talk of is Rico Henry going to replace Bertrand it would leave us in the exact same position we are now. As the above article and comments point out Bertrand has been a fantastic player for the club but he is in the latter stages of his career and is perhaps not the same player as he once was, so a Championship left back with no Premier League experience could be considered a like-for-like swap. Regardless of how good Henry could/would be for the club, if he got injured or suspended we would still be playing a centre-back at left back, or asking a winger to try and play as wing-back, or even worse drawing a midfielder from the already depleted pool of midfielders to play there.

So why not have both Bertrand and a new left-back, be it Henry or anyone else? The way Saints have made lots of transfers in the past is to bring in a new player and have them learn the system from those already there. Romeu came in when Wanyama was still at the club, he played back up/squad player to him so when Wanyama left for Spurs Romeu was a ready made and acclimatised replacement. So if we did buy Henry, or any other left-back, he and Bertrand could share the role over the course of next season. This could help Bertrand be less jaded and give the new player experience of both the PL and Saints.

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Liverpool Legend Now Encouraging Van Dijk To Go On Strike !
at 14:29:06

Does anyone remember what happened when Victor Wanyama tried to kick up a fuss about not being able to leave, and threatened to do similar to Aldridge is suggesting Virgil do now? Koeman said in a press conference, and I shall paraphrase here, "The player knows that would be a bad thing." The inference everyone, well me for one and perhaps Wanyama himself, is that Saints were prepared to have Wanyama sit on the bench and waste his opportunities and ultimately his career. Given how Saints are run I am thinking that his is as much the club's policy as it is Konman's.

So I do not see it as a completely unrealistic outcome that should Virgil kick up a fuss and refuse to play then Saints would let him rot. His got five years left on his contract, so where is he career going to be when he is 30 having not played for 5 years? Will Liverpool want to sign him, for free, then?

So he signed for Saints two years ago from Celtic on a two year deal. After the first year of that deal he signs a new 6 year contract. Why sign that contract if within a year you are going to try for a move? He was an instant success in the PL so it was always probable that he would be courted by other clubs, so why sign such a long contract? He could have refused then and Saints would have sold him in January or he could have been a free agent now to sign with whoever he wanted. But he signed that contact. Unless his working conditions have changed, or his employers are not making steps to change that. Saints are still in the PL, Saints almost won the EFL trophy if it had not been for injuries to the likes of Virgil himself, Saints might not have qualified for the Europa League again but have sacked Puel and are in the process of replacing him to achieve that again. So not much as changed in VVD's working conditions.

What this all comes back to is that Liverpool are smarting because Saints stood up to them, that things did not go their way. It is unprofessional comments from ex-moustachioed Scouse strikers, and all the other means of 'tapping up' that are designed to unsettle a player to force a move. It has happened many times in recent years.

It would be a bold statement by Saints to refuse to sell him despite offers between 50 to 70 million or indeed more. As while that is alot of money, even in football terms, do Saints really need it? Saints are unlikely be spending say 30 million on a single player, given that the current record signing, Boufal 17million, is only a couple more than the 15 million for Gabbiadini and not far from the usual 10-14 million Saints spend on first team players. So I think that his is about more the money.

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