The first month or so of the summer transfer window is frustrating for fans, but they need to relax and wait for July to arrive so the real deals can be done. Here we reveal just how few deals have been done so far.

Every year I see football supporters on social media moaning that it is the end of June and that their club has yet to sign a player and use it as a stick to beat their club's board with citing a lack of ambition etc.

The truth is few deals are actually done before July 1st purely because most players want to hang on to that date so that their loyalty bonus's kick in and once in the bank they will make a mockery of the title by making a move to another club often the worst kept secret for the past six weeks.

Of the 17 clubs still in the Premier League from last season, there have been a total of 12 signings so far, of the promoted sides, Vila have made 4 signings, Norwich 2 and Sheffield United are still to do any incoming business so that makes a grand total of 18 signings so far in the 20 clubs.

Not all of them are truthfully actual signings this total includes our own Moussa Djenepo, who as we know hasn't actually signed for us merely signed a contract to say he will do so after July 1st as well as Raul Jimenez at Wolves who after a season on loan last year has signed to say he will sign a permanent contract in July.

Then there are the minor signings Wolves have also signed Hong Wan from Yeovil and Spurs Kion Etete from Notts County, these are just two of several who are essentially academy players going to a big club.

So how many of these 18 signings are actually making the supporters of their clubs salivate. the answer is if we discard those players like Jiminez who were on loan at the club last season, then we are down to three if we include our own Djenepo.

Pablo Fornals whom West Ham have paid £24 million for from Malaga, Wesley Moraes whom Aston Villa have signed from Club Brugge for £22 million and our own Djenepo.

So that makes a total of only three actual new signings of any proven top flight quality so far this summer, the rest are either back up or speculative from the lower divisions although Lloyd Kelly who signed from Bournemouth from Bristol City for £13 million was expensive, he is with only 33 first team league starts to his name speculative albeit an expensive one.

So when the fans of all clubs or indeed Saints are screaming that their club is innactive in the transfer market and citing it as poor planning they need to look at the reasons why and what that this pattern is across the whole Premier League and not isolated to just their club.

Indeed exactly half the Premier League clubs have not made a signing at all so far, and of the 10 who have, 4 of them have only signed academy players from the lower leagues.

So the message is stay patient, the Phoney Transfer Window is about to end, but it won't do so before June is over and July has started when the Professional footballers of the World have banked their bonus's and will be looking to top up their bank accounts with a big fat juicy signing on fee.

This is football in the modern age !

Photo: Action Images

SaintBrock added 11:48 - Jun 21 What you say is probably true but how does it help Hutch to "hit the ground running" on the Ist July when his players report back for training and by which time he had hoped to have 5 new young, dynamic players at his disposal to build his New Style Saints? The answer is of course is that Ralph is following a pipe-dream and that he is likely constrained to fielding a pretty much unchanged team from last season for the first few matches at least in August and probably well into September as well. On that basis we are not likely to see a real Ralph team in action at full speed until the New Year.

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helpineedsomebody added 12:47 - Jun 21 another reason why clubs wait until the 1st of july perhaps its to with when the epl clubs recieve there tv money for the new season . you can pay a lot of people when you recieve1 hundred million pounds .
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underweststand added 08:19 - Jun 23 I'm exhausted already - trying to follow the "Fake News" being circulated on certain sites who claim to have the inside track on who Saints; maybe / ought to / are trying to sign / will be signing - it makes your head spin. I'm as frustrated as others awaiting new names to appear, but historically we seldom sign players who get the most publicity beforehand. With Ralph (apparantly) quoting (in a German article) that he wants to sign 4-5 - or was it 6 players?) - there is surely a lot going on behind the scenes and it isn't only Ross Wilson jetting it from one airport to another trying to sign someone. There is (sensibly) a limit to how much we should commit to one player when there are more to buy on "Ralph's List" and even if a club is willing to sell, it isn't always about money especially if a player doesn't fancy the move, and so if we don't get the No.1 target ...we move on to the next. As Nick points out - the majority of Prem. clubs haven't even signed ONE player yet, and it's obvious newly-promoted clubs buy more than most as some players who may have helped get promotion just aren't good enough for the Prem.- so it was for us in 2012. June 30th is a key date many people tend to ignore without realising that it is the standard date for contracts to end and players who are awaiting "loyalty bonuses" want to be seen to be "loyal" , at least until that date - before leaving to go to new clubs. Djenepo isn't the only player involved in the African Cup matches and if we have interest in some othe, we'll have to wait for that tournament to end before getting a signature. Those fans who annually call for the Board to be sacked if we haven't signed at least 2-3 players by July 2nd....may not have to wait too long this year - especially as the window ends before the season starts, and so we can expect a real surge of transfers in /out of many clubs before August 10th. comes around. Patience is a virtue not granted to everyone.

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SaintBrock added 13:34 - Jun 23 It would be remarkable if Saints really will be as decisive in their dealings next month as we hope. I am not suggesting for one moment that our negotiating team have been foot-dragging in the past or that the new team will be any better at it than their predecessors, It's just that as others observe each case takes time even when all parties are on the same hymn sheet and if rumours are to be believed we might have four of these deals in progress at the same time. This is not even allowing for the negotiations surrounding the transfers of up to half a dozen exiting players. On this basis so I formed my argument that with the best will in the world Hutch will not be able to field his fully complemented new style Saints team until well into the new season.

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warrens76 added 10:45 - Jun 27 I don't give a monkeys about other clubs inaction....Ralph wanted safety assured ASAP so he could hit the ground running, a statement of fact NOT assumption, yet here you are yet again supporting the owners and board..you said you were not a cheerleader for the board, Nick you are the unpaid cheerleader....you have cut this ownership more slack than Alice's draws. There is not a shred of ambition, Cortese overspent on a world leading Academy, yes he was guilty of perfectionism and a pain in the derriere but what a magnificent journey, from div 1 to 3rd in the PL before the final bust up with Kat.... How can you give Cortese both barrels when he laid out a vision and ambition to Markus who trusted him and delivered way beyond our dreams (that is part of the problem to many including you think small) he never lied to us either. Kat and her bagman did nothing but lie to us, clubs not for sale, players not for sale upon Kruegers appointment when he was tasked with that and the Swiss media reported same. The ECL, then top 6, then single figures all lies, selling to take the club to the next level, what Primark... I don't question your support for Saints I have known you since the 70's a Clive Foley's coaches but believe me your 'realism' is nothing of the sort it is a justafication for some pretty horrific ownership and woeful management.....do you thin Reed would have been allowed to decimate the squad on Cortese's watch? hardly caring ownership.

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annamarsh added 09:09 - Jun 29 In my opinion, Barcelona's world-renowned La Masia academy is the best. the rationale why, it produces plenty upon masses of world category talent such as Messi, Iniesta, Xavi, Cesc Fabregas, Gerard Pique, Cristian Tello, Isaac Cuenca and even Jordi Alba started his career with the https://www.essayace.co.uk/ academy. So yeah, La Masia is the best academy. simply because of the sheer amount of talent among the academy, however, the bulk of those players have gone on to win the planet Cup and Euros with the European nation, this is often what sets this academy excluding the remainder.

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