During late June & early July Saints were being linked with every player on the market, now as it should be hotting up, the rumours are cooling down.

Football fans get excited by rumours, well at least rumours linking their team with a new signing rather than those suggesting that your star player would like to move to another club, therefore June was an exciting time to be a Saints fan as the club was linked with foreign international players galore and all for gloriously inflated prices.

The reality of the situation though was that only two arrived, firstly Dejan Lovren followed after a prolonged chase, Victor Wanyama, apart from those two though there hasn't been anything near a sniff of a signing and more to the point the rumours linking us with a player seem to have tailed off dramatically.

Now some would say that this is the way we do things, certainly the club like to pride themselves that they keep everything private, the reality though is that in todays modern game its difficult to do so, certainly none of the players that Saints have signed since promotion from the Championship were secret, in fact the opposite, all of them were linked with the club long before they actually signed. This isn't just a Saints thing before anyone claims negativity, when was the last time any Premier club signed a player out of the blue ?

But as we head out of July and into August and indeed into the last two weeks before the start of the season the lack of activity starts to become very worrying, in essence any signing made in the next fortnight isn't going to have long to assimilate himself into the squad and perhaps something that few football fans take into account, he will find himself thrown into a strange environment, living in a hotel room and not only having to concentrate on playing football, but getting his family over and finding a house, there are many things that effect form and on the field issues are only a part of that.

What we don't want to see is a repeat of last year when we spent six weeks chasing shadows and rushed into things in the last few days, spending big but on reflection not getting value for our money, back then we concentrated on perhaps making a statement transfer fee wise and didn't concentrate on what the squad needed.

So here we are again with time running out and key areas not addressed, the Premier League is all about continual improvement and indeed the club mission statement sent out with season tickets said as much, but at the moment in terms of transfer business we don't appear to be doing much leading, so far the squad hasn't been improved by much and indeed in Wanyama we are only adding to an area where we actually were strong, we need to sort out key areas otherwise we will repeat the same mistakes as last year.

So the silence on transfer activity could be good, but in today's media lead frenzied football world, im not sure, these days agents hawk their players around and use one clubs interest as leverage, if we were truly making offers on players I think that it would now be common knowledge, our transfer policy has seen a definite switch over the summer, a year ago we started by looking at the likes of Nathan Clyne & Jay Rodriguez, young players available at a good price and with the potential to do well, when the focus changed our problems started, this year it seems to be all about big names and big fees right from the start.

Ive said this before but its getting louder and more urgent now, every other club has improved their squads to a higher degree than us, if we don't address certain key areas we might find ourselves struggling.

Photo: Action Images

Butty101 added 11:57 - Jul 30 Which clubs do you think have done good business then?
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SaintNick added 12:05 - Jul 30 Villa seem to have bought a few in, Everton so far seem to have improved, Liverpool several key players, Norwich have spent a bit of money, Sunderland have a few in and that will be interesting, Swansea again buying players at a good price for decent quality, All in all most of the clubs around us seem to have made improvements
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slynch added 12:18 - Jul 30 Key areas have been addressed. The defensive midfield was the main problem and this has been addressed with the 44th best player in the world, a huge signing. Defence lacked depth, this has been addressed with Lovren. I would have liked to see some strength added to secondary LB but maybe Lovren is able to cover that? Secondary strength was required at RB; Chambers, from what I've seen, seems to be able to do that and Cork can cover that too now that defensive midfield is so much better. Does Gully, Ramirez, Punch Isgrove Lallana fighting over 3 places need improving? Not desperately. Forwards? Lambo? I'd love to see a replacement for him but I don't think there is yet! Mayuka, JRod. Yea that probably needs improving but maybe MP has seen enough from them in training to be confident or maybe there's another 10million of striker on the plane right now?

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brady100 added 12:18 - Jul 30 Spot on!!! We are two signings away from being able to enter the season with a very strong and improved squad. However failure to act an we will begin the season suffering from the same old problems as last season, and as Nick points out our transfer activity will have to be seriously questioned. In response to Butty101...Bony, great business. Norwich two strikers who will score goals...love him or hate him Andy Carroll will get goals and both Newcastle and West Brom are expected to make a CF signing soon. We need a winger and striker who are skilful, direct and clinical.

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Zambucco added 12:23 - Jul 30 I still have a very strong feeling that certain deals are still being negotiated. Namely Eva Banega and Leandro Damiao. Yes there is still a lot of press coverage and speculation. But following last season's protracted negotiations for Gaston Ramirez, this is a side effect of buying big names. Victor Wanyama wasn't without it's own drama, but I had faith we would always land him. Yes MP wanted to have everything in place by beginning of July, but sometimes there are situations beyond even NC's control and he has to be patient. Bottom line is, I still think we have a squad capable of a top half finish, without any extra signings

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saint22 added 12:25 - Jul 30 I think we still need a CB and another goal scorer whether that be an attacking winger type or an out and out striker
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brady100 added 12:27 - Jul 30 Also....in Guly, Ramirez, Punch and Lallana we have four players who are very good on the ball but all equally the reason we struggled to convert our possession football into goals. Each where often wasteful, indecisive or over played. Hence my reasoning for a more direct and clinical acquisition, similar to what Michu did for Swansea last year.
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1teeminants added 12:28 - Jul 30 I must admit i expected about 4 new players in to add real quality but as it stands 2 more need to be signed by the start of the season and i dont think they will. I rekon we may add a couple before the end of August which wouldnt be disaster imo. I hope he's not looking at the likes of Chambers and Isgrove as new signings. Good they may be but we need real proven quality if we are to reach the next level which NC keeps banging on about.

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SaintJez added 12:41 - Jul 30 I'm a little confused at slynch's statement that defensive midfield was the main problem when I thought it was our main strength last year! That said, Wanayama should be able to offer something to the team so I can't say he's a bad signing - and he could be a very good one though it's a lot of money for someone from a scottish league that only has 1 team in it.. Our main weakness was definitely centre of defence and I think Lovren is a fantastic signing. We perhaps need someone to play with him but suspect we'll make do with one of the other 3 for now. Priority is now more creative threat as we struggle to break down teams who don't underestimate us. I'm sure we are trying to buy players though 20m+ for south americans may seem exciting on the face of it but I'm not sure they will settle (at least not quickly) and is it really what the club needs to take that next step forward? Feels like gambling with the club's future to me. There must be players out there who have a greater chance of success..

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StEdmund added 13:25 - Jul 30 Friends in Spain say that Ever Banega is a class act and would be a very very good signing for Saints in spite of the strength in midfield.
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Butty101 added 15:29 - Jul 30 Of all the clubs around us i think Norwich and Swansea have done seom good business. However the likes Villa signed several freebies and gone for a quantity not quality approach. The likes of Newcastle/westbrom/fulham/westham/stoke have stood still or regressed. Add to that the 3 clubs that come up all look pretty poor. I think we will be good for anywhere between 8th and 12th. I would like to see one more quality additon and i think it will have been an excellent summers work. I say it everytime but last years transfers buisness was excellent and achieved what we wanted.

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Whatsforpud added 18:33 - Jul 30 "Villa seem to have brought a few in". But are they better than what they had already? There is always the clamour to 'get a few in'. Quantity is not necessarily quality. I think we have a good basis. Perhaps we would be better working on the ability of our current squad than maybe disrupting what is being built up.
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redandwhitedee added 20:06 - Jul 30 What a ridiculous statement that "every other club has improved their squads to a higher degree than us" What absolute tosh, not to mention scare-mongering. This is the same team which took liverpool and man city apart last season. Which player have newcastle signed then ? And actually i'd take wanyama over any of the other prem signings so far. Lovren i dont know too much about but seems to fit the bill in terms of champs lge and international pedigree. More importantly, We have finally begun to move on some very dead wood so the coaching staff can spend more quality time with the real squad players, and we have added two extremely good ball winners to the spine of the team. Again.. Absolute tosh.

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slynch added 01:22 - Jul 31 redandwhitedee Yea man, so much positive ways - I like it - we just can't lose. So many grumpy bores on here dude, we need dudes like you, go 4 it man!!!
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LeSaint added 08:11 - Jul 31 Based simply on the fact that MP himself came out earlier in the summer confirming several targets we haven't signed yet, it is fair to say that we haven't been as successful in our transfer policy as we would have liked to be so far. Yes we have played the likes of Liverpool and Man City off the park but we also have got 4 points out of the last 6 games against the like of Stoke and West Brom when we were really poor. I am not sure that Lovren and Victor W will dramatically change that and I can't see us scoring enough goals to hope for a finish in the top 10. But there's still 5 weeks of transfer to go, so not panicking just yet...

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REEDYREEDOREEDZ added 09:44 - Jul 31 Scoring goals could be our problem next season, and we can’t rely solely on Lambert to have yet another great season for us. He only scored 1 goal from open play in his last 11 games last season. Teams will have studied him and know how to play him now. He could have a 2nd Prem season like Grant Holt and be useless. Then we are relying on players like J-Rod, Lallana, Ramirez and Mayuka to score and there’s no guarantee of goals there. I’d only back J-Rod to hit double figures next season. So we definitely need some better attacking options unless Lallana and Ramirez contribute a lot more. We could do with someone like Scott Sinclair to counter attack with raw pace, and also a goalscoring striker, someone like Damiao but I don't think we have a chance in hell of signing him. The chances of us signing a brilliant striker are getting slimmer by the day, and now the players that our rivals have signed look like decent options. So we need cover at right back, a top CB to play alongside Lovren, a quick winger and a quality striker. It needs to be a busy month of transfer negotiations. On another note, I wonder if Cortese's broken leg has affected any potential deals?

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sidsaint added 12:16 - Jul 31 Agree with Reedyreedoreedz. I think we need a proven striker and I think RL will find things more difficult this season, in fact I can't see any of our squad netting double figures. I was disappointed we did not get Hooper, who I believe will score goals in EPL like he did in SPL. I think Norwich have made some good purchases and there are some good British players around like Sinclair but we seem to be looking on the continent where there is more competition for European and South American players. It's good that we are bringing the youngsters through but we need some experienced players as well. MP has not found it as easy as he thought despite two good purchases. We need a couple more and if they do come they will now need time to bed in.

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BaselSaint added 08:04 - Aug 1 Nick, I really think that NC is so sly that we really have no idea what is happening until any signings are announced. There seems to be much more care to settle acadamy players which shows a lot of focus on getting fundamentals right. It is far from over regarding signings even at this late stage.
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BaselSaint added 08:08 - Aug 1 Nick, I really think that NC is so sly that we really have no idea what is happening until any signings are announced. There seems to be much more care to settle acadamy players which shows a lot of focus on getting fundamentals right. It is far from over regarding signings even at this late stage.
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BaselSaint added 08:08 - Aug 1 Nick, I really think that NC is so sly that we really have no idea what is happening until any signings are announced. There seems to be much more care to settle acadamy players which shows a lot of focus on getting fundamentals right. It is far from over regarding signings even at this late stage.
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