Even if Virgil Van Dijk does extend his Southampton career into this coming season Saints are still short of a genuine quality central defender.

The biggest surprise back in the January transfer window was that knowing the ongoing situation with Jose Fonte that Saints did not land a quality central defender to replace the Portugese International and we paid dearly when Virgil Van Dijk was ruled out for the rest of the season meaning we soldiered on with Yoshida and Jack Stephens in the centre of defence.

Now it cannot be denied that both gave the proverbial 110% in the games that they played, but the harsh reality was that as a partnership they weren't good enough and we initially leaked goals with rarely a game going by without a soft goal or two being conceded, as was the case at Wembley when first Jesse Lingard and then in the dying minutes Zlatan Ibrahimovic were left unmarked in the penalty area to pick their spots.

Ultimately the fact that we went into the final third of the season without a recognised first choice central defender cost us the cup final at Wembley and cost us any chance we had of pushing Everton a little bit harder

At the time when I suggested this I was accused of having something against both Yoshida and Stephens, far from it my views on them are purely down to what they do on the pitch.

As the season went on our defensive frailties improved, however much of that had to be down to the tactics being adapted to protect the defence at the expense of committing to attack.

With respect to Yoshida we know what we get with him, he is adequate back up, but he is not good enough for a regular Premier League place, Stephens improved as the season went on and showed promise, but truthfully is he another Virgil Van Dijk or even Jose Fonte, I am not so confident on that one and perhaps the proof is if we ask ourselves whether ither would get into another Premier League team ? the answer is almost certainly no !

Jan Bednarek has come in as our only signing so far, but he is untried at this level and needs to adapt to living in this country and to a far higher standard of football here than in Poland. He is one for the future, we cannot pin our hopes that he will turn out to be the find os the season just yet.

So all of this being the case the biggest surprise of this current transfer window is that given we have yet to replace Jose Fonte let alone the ongoing issues with Virgil Van Dijk that we have not signed a truly quality central defender.

It is not as if we have not had time to think and pinpoint our targets and then sign them, back in January Saints claim they did try to sign several central defenders of the required quality but could not land their preferred choices, this being the case Saints have been aware of the need to replace Fonte for at least 8 months yet we still have not done so with barely a fortnight to the start of the new season.

Given that even if Virgil Van Dijk does stay then we still need a quality central defender to not only play alongside him but to possibly replace him, if not now but in the future, this being the case it amazes me that we haven't already made this purchase especially since the Van Dijk situation is so unclear at present.

What would be unacceptable would be a repeat of the situation back in January where we let the player go without replacing him first.

I hope that Les Reed is already working feverishly and quietly and will surprise us with a signing, but my worry is that given the length of time that he has had to deal with this issue that we are not at this stage very near to bringing in someone.

Saints are continuosly being linked with midfielders and attackers, but we have plenty of options in this area, our weakness last season was in the centre of defence after Fonte left and Van Dijk was injured, in 15 Premier League games we conceded 22 goals thats 1.47 goals a game not the greatest ratio in the division , yes we tightened up in the final 6 only conceding 4 but that was at the expense of scoring goals and the reason why we only scored 2 goals ourselves in that final half dozen games.

So the most critical element at Southampton Football Club at present is not the Van Dijk issue it is the fact that we have not even dealt with the departure of Jose Fonte over 6 months on, if we haven't done that how can we deal with Van Dijk if he leaves.

Saints cannot be blamed should Virgil Van Dijk leave St Mary's what more can they do, but they can be blamed if they do not deal with the situation, it is never about what happened it is always about what you do next, we are still wating for them to do something about the departure of Jose Fonte !

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pete_boggs added 10:34 - Jul 26 Why did Les get rid of Cacares? He was a no-brainer. Is Les losing the plot?
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redandwhitesupporter added 10:34 - Jul 26 Good Piece Nick and I agree a quality Centre Back is a must for me
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SaintPaulVW added 10:37 - Jul 26 Agree. Even if VVD stays, as barring any superbid I think is likely, need to get a replacement fully up to speed. Our players seem to take a year to fully bed in so need someone now ideally.
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Jesus_02 added 10:44 - Jul 26 Fonte was replaced by Bednarec I'm afraid. We now have 4 CB (excluding Gardos). Like CM our options are just a bit average. Basically it seems to be our business model to have one decent player in each position with everyone else developing. I imagine Les's plan was to play VVD with Stephens to develop a John Stones like product. Midfield wise we seem to be hoping that JWP is going to turn into Steven Gerrard and off course we have Thiery Heny Mk2 up front/on the wing.

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surreysaint added 10:48 - Jul 26 Completely agree Nick. I am not a Reed hater by any means, but we do seem to make the same mistakes, summer after summer. To me the transfer window for clubs in Southampton's position is as much about perception as buying players. If we go out in June and buy a couple of additions that we know we need (Centre Half and Striker) then we send out a message to the van Dijk's of this world that we have ambition. Let's just say for argument's sake that we bought Sakho and Iheanacho for 40-50 million combined. We must have this money in the bank! VVD thinks 'ok, this lot mean business'. Maybe, just maybe he re-thinks. Even if he doesn't, the rest of the squad (and the season ticket-buying fans!) think that losing him may not be the end of the world. As it is we buy an untried Polish kid and nobody else and as much as i disagree with the way VVD has gone about getting his transfer, you can't honestly blame him for wanting to move to a club that is showing some more ambition. And by ambition, I don't mean top 4. Finishing Top 10 four years on the bounce is amazing and 6th is probably our glass ceiling the way football is these days, but other teams are improving while we're standing still.

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SonicBoom added 10:52 - Jul 26 If we sign a quality centre back the media will explode with stories of Van Dijk's imminent departure.
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ChristchurchSaint added 11:04 - Jul 26 Couldn't agree with you more. As the first post stated, what went on with Caceres? I am not saying he was brilliant, but I'm sure he was as good as/if not better than our current 4 centre backs (assuming VVD is out of the equation.) Yosh and Stephens MAY be ok, but we only need an injury to either and we are really in the s**t. Bednarek may develop, but cannot be relied on for this season as a regular, and the thought of using Gardos on a regular basis fills me with horror. Les and co need to sort this whole issue sooner rather than later.Hopefully VVD will put in a transfer request, and one of the Spanish clubs will sign him and totally p**s off the Scousers, but we are getting into a position where something needs to happen quickly.

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terrybaron added 11:05 - Jul 26 Should have kept Cacares, and I cannot understand having signed him in a free transfer why on earth was he not picked?
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larry12 added 11:20 - Jul 26 Surrysaint says he is not a Reed hater, even though he acknowledges that Reed has c*cked it up for loads of recent summer windows. What has Reed got to do for people to see HE is the problem, burn down St Mary's? Dig up Staplewood? Give Prowse and Forster extended contracts?
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helpineedsomebody added 11:31 - Jul 26 i would not pay £48 to watch stephens / yoshi watch the brentford highlites yoshi ball watching again for there 1st goal & this season stephens will not be in the right place at the right time plus this new playing system we are playing attack sideways/ will not be able to string 3 passes together & rely on free kicks / corners to get lucky on getting agoal. the last 3 managers played the ball forward in midfield still thats what you all wanted good luck

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davej added 11:32 - Jul 26 If there is not a central defender out there of the quality we need, How can we sign one?, I am sure that our black box has had constant use since JF , I trust saints to go about their business as usual in a quiet nature. We have also to remember that it wont be until the season K.O. that there will be squad players unhappy at not making 1st eleven's, Then the merry go round will start

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surreysaint added 11:48 - Jul 26 Larry12 I am not a Reed hater because under his leadership we have come from League 1 (in 2010 when he joined) to finishing Top half of the Premier League 4 years in a row. Surely the guy deserves SOME of the credit for that?! Not all of it, granted, but surely his fair share? My point is that for the last couple of summers, in my view (as someone who has never been a Director of Football) we should have gone and done a bit of business earlier in the window. My opinion is that this may have reassured some of those players (and managers!?) who were wondering if the club was ambitious enough for them. It is not Les Reed's fault that some players want to leave for bigger money and better chances of winning trophies - it was ever thus. But I am not sure that he and the club have done all they can to mitigate this. That is my point. But hey, maybe it's not that easy...

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pete_boggs added 11:49 - Jul 26 Davej, Les goes about his business so quietly the KGB are on to him for tips.
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pete_boggs added 12:01 - Jul 26 Surrey Saint. Les Reed has never been a Director of Football before either and don't we know it? He alienates the fans with his persistence in secrecy, he has taken a very good squad into a proliferation of journeymen by continual sales of our best players and upset 2 Captains in a row and had altercations with most players who have left except RL and Jay Rod. Also with his delusions of playing multiple academy players in the Premiership we go like lemmings quietly into the Championship. It seems to have escaped his notice, but not mine, that we are the only team attempting to do this as it can't work. If everyone has your attitude Reed will be rubbing his hands together and you can look forward to carrying on where we left off last season, great.

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Woodysfc added 12:03 - Jul 26 Agree with surreysaint.. We are doing nothing as usual in the window. Just watching other teams pick up good players. Even West Ham can spend £20m on a player for goodness sake!!! Surely its a no brainer... get rid of Virgil. Make him hand in a transfer request to avoid paying remainder of his contract off and shaft Liverpool for all they are worth. I mean if Walker is worth £50m then Virgil must be £75m? Gardos isn't good enough and needs to be sold for anything we can get for him.. Also Clase who can't even last 90 minutes isn't Premier league quality. Sakho was the reason Palace stayed up. Bring him in as part of any deal and give the manager the rest to spend on other key areas - Romeu needs a partner and a good one especially for those tough away games.... Some more pace up front wouldn't hurt neither would creativity in midfield... We need to add in two or three quality players to support and help the great young players we have.. If we do nothing and hang on to end of the window then we could be in trouble and let's look at the fixture list. Thise first 5 or 6 games are winnable.

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pete_boggs added 12:05 - Jul 26 Reed's in charge the problems are down to him.
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derbydog added 12:16 - Jul 26 Doesn't Uncle Les get credit for turning Hoiveld into Lovren into Alderwotshisname into Van Dyck? One of the Adams should ring the PFA for comment on VVD's behaviour...
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IWOZTHERE added 12:23 - Jul 26 I can understand them doing their business quietly as long as they ARE doing business? This C/B business has been obvious from day one. We need a top C/B anyway, crucial, in case VVD goes. Good C/Bs, available at the start of the window, have now moved on.Negligence? Sakho may still be available. Can we read something into that?
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legod7 added 12:30 - Jul 26 Why is there a wholesale hatred of Gardos from everyone on here. He is now at last injury free. He has only played 45 minutes in each of the pre season friendlies and seemed to be as good as Yoshi and Stephens.
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SaintNick added 12:42 - Jul 26 The funny thing about Les Reed is that for all his persistence in secrecy there are so many fans on social media who know every mistake he has made, that he has alienated two captains ( Funny how they were so happy to sign contracts and then got fell out with him when they could get a bigger contract elsewhere and he told them they had to stay), fallen out with most of the squad and the list goes. That being the case I am surprised that all of these people dont know exactly who we are about to sign

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saint22 added 12:47 - Jul 26 This is not news We needed the same last season and here we are again Talk about ludicrous
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redwight added 13:15 - Jul 26 Over the moon to finally agree with a Pete Boggs post! The first one that is, not the others. As well as having the best academy, it is universally agreed that no other PL club can rival our record of buying value and selling on at a (sometimes huge) profit. Surely Reed has had SOMETHING to do with that? That is not to say that I don't agree with all the posts on the CB problem, which has been plain to see for the best part of a year.

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GeordieSaint added 13:16 - Jul 26 Wow, some really negative comments today. I can't believe how some view our recent rise as failure, the last 7 or 8 years has been a period of almost unparalleled success. What other club has improved in the same way as saints? Spending a load is no guarantee of better performance and I for one don't think we need loads of players as I think we have a lot of lads who will mature this season. Stay calm and keep the faith.

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kristianJ added 13:21 - Jul 26 I think this article is quite harsh on Yosh and Stephens. The fact that they conceded 4 goals in the last 6 games seems to be attributed to others or a change in our style of play, when perhaps it might also be the results of an inexperienced partnership finally bedding in. Defensive partnerships take time to work. What people also seem to forget is that the level of protection in front of the defence isn't what it used to be when we had Morgan and Vic acting as a shield. As good as Oriel is (and I rate him highly) he has a tendency to wander and Davis is really a more offensive minded player. I think another reason for the poor goals conceded tally is the loss of form of our GK. Having watched the Brentford match I thought both Yosh and Stephens had excellent games (it was Bednarek that was at fault for the 1goal). Stephens is developing into quite a talented young CB. His reading of the game is improving and he is very composed on the ball. Given game time he is capable of making the England squad in the future. I certainly can't agree with the assertion that neither is good enough for another EPL team, the stats alone don't support this conclusion as there were teams with worse defensive records than us post Xmas. Obviously VVD is our most accomplished CB and will need replacing if he leaves. I do think some of the criticism aimed at Les Reed is harsh, it's hardly his fault if one of our star players refuses to play. Perhaps he should be given credit for securing VVD on a 6 year deal last summer so at least we will make a healthy profit on him if he does go.

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underweststand added 13:50 - Jul 26 Top Prem CB, greedy opportunist or "former captain" however you want to tag him VVD definitely wants out and if Liverpool is the destination, I hope that Les R. and Co. take them for every penny we can get. As for replacements... Yoshida has looked better since January than at any time since he arrived. Discussions about Stephens / Bednarek or A.N. Other.... really depend on the cover we have in case of injury /lost form. I'd like to think that Gardos might make the grade (finally) but whatever he had (?) 3 years ago -just isn't there now. It isn't just about bringing on Academy prospects...we're talking EPL level and so if we get a good prospect who doesn't have too many in-built "faults " in his game then maybe we can pick up another bargain. Saints seem to have a knack of improving performances of " other clubs " fringe players like; Bertrand and Romeu whilst players like Cedric and Redmond have improved beyond all recognition since arriving. As for who might replace VVD...Wimmer is one name that re-occurs amongst all the FAKE NEWS sites that spring up on the Net. However, Les and "the Black Box " haven't made too many bad buys and we may yet be in for a surprise signing.

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