Vegard Forren is reported to have returned to Molde after spending six months at St Mary's without making a first team appearance.

A few weeks ago Vegard Forren was quoted as saying he was very happy at Saints and that a return to Molde was not an option, alongside that Saints themselves remained tight lipped with Mauricio Pochettino merely saying that he like everyone else would be considered on his merits.

But now suddenly it appears that Forren is heading back to Norway and Molde on a permanent deal that although the fee isnt being revealed is being leaked as being "near" what Saints originally paid back in January £3.5 million or thereabouts.

Forren was a strange signing, from the very early days he didnt appear to be near a first team place, even at a time when we were struggling in the centre of defence and his signing calls into question our recruitment programme, put bluntly of course all teams will buy the odd poor signing, but when you are spending £3.5 million a fee that still made him one of the clubs top five transfer signings, you expect a player who is up to the standard expected.

Given that he said at the time that he had never spoken to Nigel Adkins and Mauriccio Pochettino doesnt appear to be a fan of his talents either, someone was responsible for his arrivalbut who ?

Now it appears that face will be saved all round, Forren will attempt to restart his career at Molde and Saints wont be left with an expensive signing on their books.

We will perhaps ever know how good Forren actually was, perhaps he will go on to become one of Europe's greats ? but what we do know is that for some strange reason he couldnt get in to perhaps our worst ever top flight centre of defence.   

Photo: Action Images

thegeneral added 16:30 - Jul 11 His comments a few weeks ago about fighting for his place were admirable but it seems now that he's had a one to one with MP and realised it would be a fight in vain. Its a shame he never got a chance in the first team but i'm sure MP watched and assessed his under 21 performances and concluded he wasn't up to scratch. Gives us some cash to get someone else as i feel another CB is needed. Also good luck to Chappers

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schatfield added 16:32 - Jul 11 That is crazy! What a very strange signing indeed, zero appearances and for such a high fee. I am glad we were able to recoup at least most of the fee back.
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Butty101 added 16:33 - Jul 11 to be frank 3.5million dosent buy you much in todays market
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patred added 16:43 - Jul 11 he has also had around £1m in wages from us ******************
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SaintNick added 16:45 - Jul 11 It doesn't buy you a genuine Premiership star, but we should be looking at getting players who have the potential to be, 2 years ago Celtic signed Wanyama for £900 k and are flogging him to us for £12 million, at the same time we signed De Ridder for £1.5 million we would struggle to get half that back now
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LostBoys added 19:50 - Jul 11 Very odd business all round. We needed an improvement in the centre of defence but he was never used. There were rumours that when he arrived in his off season that there was a drink issue but that would have been sorted months ago and resolved one way or the other. Ok we have largely got our money back but we have paid top wages for an U21 player. Don't get me started on De Ridder as I would like to know who reckoned he could play football and then the was Jonathan Forte ..........

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schatfield added 20:37 - Jul 11 is De Ridder and Forte still on the books for us? Even Bolton sent him back to us after finding he couldnt actually play football...
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Whatsforpud added 21:55 - Jul 11 If we haven't quite recouped our purchase money for him, and then add the wages paid out, the money thrown away is at least many hundreds of thousands of pounds for an asset we haven't used. In any other walk of life that most of us have been involved in, this would be viewed as great incompetence at the very least. But then again, this is the mad world of football that we all subscribe to.

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CWF added 22:52 - Jul 11 What else happened on the same day as he was signed......? Pre-arranged smoke screen to the other events of the day maybe as it was always the defence that was Adkind main weakness and this "offered a new start"?
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ExiledSupporter added 23:03 - Jul 11 This amounts to a remarkable level of incompetence on the part of some key decision makers within the club which inevitably calls into question whether they are any wiser in their recent and current dealings. Don't forget that Forren was "snatched" from Liverpool's grasp back in January, when they were intending to give the player a trial, without commitment to signing him...and then we arrived on the scene, with 'loads of dosh' and disappointingly little sense. What could we have possibly known that Liverpool didn't or was it that Liverpool had genuine misgivings and we had the need...but had we actually seen him play? I doubt it in the circumstances. So what confidence should we have in the signing of Lovren (was any other club really chasing him or was that just his agent's routine marketing promo)? And aren't we arguably overpaying for Wanyama...just because we have won the auction (with Cardiff) doesn't fill me assurance about the quality, relevance and urgency of the need for this player (especially in the light of Forren's departure), though I hope he is a fantastic signing I feel uneasy about the apparent lack of interest from serious competitor clubs and hold little belief in the rationality of our own decision makers. Hasn't Wanyama returned to us because we were the only ones prepared to pay the likely silly wages he required (and his agents fees?) The predictable and regrettable Forren fiasco raises serious questions about our transfer policies and the extent to which Reed and Co are able to advance the quality of the squad going forward at a cost which represents value for money.

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REEDYREEDOREEDZ added 08:56 - Jul 12 Bizarre! How embarrasing for the club and for the player! Even Ali Dia got 10 minutes on the pitch! http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/scouting-report-how-will-norwegian-s Interesting article about Forren when we signed him written by a 'Norwegian football expert' I hadn't heard about his previous 'reckless behaviour off the pitch', or him previously being 'out of form and out of shape in 2010'. It says he sorted himself out but it does make you think that maybe his character's a bit flawed. Maybe he's the type to sulk or kick up if things don't go his way? Sounds like Forren had the ability but maybe Poche didn't like his attitude. Especially compared to the likes of Hooiveld, Fonte and Yoshida who are 100% committed. It does raise a lot of questions about the club's transfer policy though. This was a huge blunder. As was Mayuka, De Ridder and Forte, but on the whole since Cortese took the reins we've definitely had more good signings than bad.

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mikkman added 13:04 - Jul 12 Let's hope however much we lost on the deal is enough to convince NC that allowing Les Reed to buy players (what odds Mayuka is next?) is not a good idea.
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mikkman added 13:06 - Jul 12 Let's hope however much we lost on the deal is enough to convince NC that allowing Les Reed to buy players (what odds Mayuka is next?) is not a good idea.
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zonehead added 18:03 - Jul 12 mm more going ons from the mysterious Les Reed
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