An £8 million bidding war with Norwich and Burnley. We really have hit the big time. Gao is still struggling to pay his loan back then.

Deals that don't make it through the January window often re-appear in the summer.
Clearly Brum have to face facts and get money into their transfer kitty, as they have very few other players likely to come anywhere near that valuation.

Although £8 million sounds a bit low, in an auction you need to start low and be prepared to keep on bidding to secure the deal, but when Brum eventually do sell Adams they will need to find a replacement and Saints may have an Ace up their sleeve as Sam Gallagher is being linked with half of the clubs in the Championship, and he might well be seen as a a possible makeweight ..and turn the deal in our favour.

It would be so pleasant if just for once we signed a player without all this bidding war nonsense.

Last summer it was the guy Maddison who we were supposedly after. Result?-he signs for Leicester.This close season it appears to be Adams who Is intended to create interest for prospective season ticket buyers. I fully expect to see him at Saint Mary's next season but strongly suspect he won't be wearing red and white stripes.

If we want Evans then we could throw in Charlie Austin or Sam Gallagher as part of the deal. We could maybe get him then, as City will have a replacement of sorts with either of those two. I have to be honest and say that I haven't looked that closely at Evans, Is he worth £16m?

Dirk and saintmark, if Saints are to succeed there has to be an end to the continual negativity, I tried to nip this in the bud by explaining just why we would have bid so low.

There is no way to stop a bidding war, do you think Saints offered £8 million and then sent e mails out to all the media telling them so, this is the nature of football these days, in any transfer the selling club is out to push the price up and the players agent is looking to not only push the price up but his clients salary.

They do this by trying to drive the transfer fee up via social media and the actual media by planting rumour and counter rumour.

From this point of view Saints as the prospective buyer have no control, as I said when they make a bid it is in their interest to get it done quickly, but they know the system is not going to let them do that and that is why they have gone in low, not as a sign that they have no money but to smoke out just who is really interested and who is just the agent trying to link clubs to drive up the price.

saintmark, again if you think that this rumour is intended to drum up interest for potential season ticket holders then again you are mistaken, firstly as said Saints are not the ones putting the rumours out, secondly Adams is not exactly high up in the pecking order at the moment.

If Saints wanted to stir up season ticket interest they would be putting it out they are after some of the more well known and proven players.

For several years now every transfer has been used to beat the club around the head with a stick with and make outlandish accusations, most of which prove unfounded, unless we stop the negativity then this club will be dragged down

£8 million? Is that it?

Get serious in the transfer market for once Saints FFS...

I totally agree with Nick on this one; I'm fed up with the moan, moan, moan :(

I can honestly say I have not been too disappointed with the last few summer transfer windows - at the end of the respective window. It's easy to rip that assessment up at the end of the season, in hindsight judgement of a players success - but invariably Saint go for real potential, they rarely go for proven over-priced talent with years on the clock, and that can be exciting to watch as some players blossom into better players.

This is one of the reasons my son and I are season ticket holders for years now = we don't expect to win the league, being a lifelong Saints fan at 42 I go to watch exciting games and attractive football (I grew up watching Le God) with the hope of a few big caps and a final or two. That's not lack of ambition; excitement and joy are relative emotions, and this is why Claude Puel was such a mismatch in the end.

The fact Saints were so close to getting Maddison last year proves their judgement on player potential was good, unfortunately Leister were a more attractive option at the time.

As much as I would love big money spent on exciting potential, I also have seen the academy shine when given the chance, and I trust our inspirational manager to form a squad of quality, tactical adaptability, youthful exuberance and balance - given time and backing.

That backing needs to come from the fans too? As soon as Ralph Hasenhüttl joined us - he made that perfectly clear, his approach feeds off positivity - so let's all get positive and try to enjoy the ride.

COYS

Nick, thanks for the response. For one moment I was back at school having my end of year report read to me by the headmaster!

For your rather convoluted views on the method used by the club to try and obtain their transfer targets I counter by referring to the case of Lloyd Kelly. This twenty year old was transferred from Bristol City to Bournemouth in May. The suggested fee was £13 million and as far as I'm aware there was no prior media speculation. If they can do deals in this way than why can't we?

saintmark, I would suggest that one way of getting a deal done is to throw enough money at a club so that they snatch your hand off, clubs are not silly they know the price of a player and when he is overpriced.

If Saints paid £13 million for a player who at 20 has started just 33 games in his career some fans would be in uproar. His value back in January was said to be £1.8 million, so it suggests that Bristol City knew that £13 million was a good price and there were no other interested parties.

Bournemouth are throwing money around that they havent got at the moment, last summer they signed three players at big money only Brooks can be said to have given them value for money so far.

Would you rather Saints fork out over the odds to get a deal done as they did with Carrillo for instance or a more structured approach, for some it is a case of if Saints sign an up and coming talent like Kelly then they would slag the club off as lacking ambition and not competing with other clubs, but if they go for players who are proven and have other clubs chasing them as well then they will complain about bidding wars.

Im sorry if you think I am being like a schoolmaster, but as i said this negativity on everything has to end, I am sure Saints would love to be able to put in a bid for a player and not have to compete with other clubs, but if no one else is interested in a player then that tells you something, do you not think ?

Nick, the attraction to me of posting on your site is that it's always been a forum for the exchange of views (some strongly held) without I'll feeling. With great respect to you, being told that what you personally regard as negativity "has to end" does you and more importantly the site in general no credit.

I'm reminded of that old phrase which goes something along the lines of " I don't agree with what you say but I'll defend to the death your right to say it". Perhaps now is an opportunity for you to reflect upon it?

Mark, it is a site for an exchange of views and I uphold everyones right to an opinion and sometimes those opinions need to be challenged harshly and I include my own in that.

My comments on negativity were not just aimed at you, but a large number of supporters not just on here but across social media.

I have reflected upon your post and the comment "This close season it appears to be Adams who Is intended to create interest for prospective season ticket buyers. "

Sorry but that is a negative comment, you are suggesting that Saints have no intention of buying Adams but merely using it to try and increase interest in people buying season tickets. What actual evidence have you for that ?

This is my point about negativity, too many supporters for whatever reason have become cynical and that in turn results in negativity, one person makes the comment and then it is repeated and repeated, the next thing one of these websites that exist only to cut and paste supporters comments on social media and turn them into headlines, does just that and suddenly we have total negativity.

Ralph Hasenhuttl has been a breath of fresh air about the club, as someone said on this thread its all about positivity with him we have to buy in that, if we dont then what is the point of supporting a club if you have such a low opinion of it and feel it is there just to fleece its supporters.

Maybe that is a bit more than you have said and i apologise for that, but I am sick to death of the last three years being accusation after accusation about the club its owners and its motives, all without any real evidence, we need to be patient and see what happens before we criticise, when the transfer window closes tell me that Adams and others were merely decoys to sell tickets, but till then give the club the benefit of the doubt

I hate to contradict you Nick, but you seem to read the information however it suits you.

"If Saints paid £13 million for a player who at 20 has started just 33 games in his career some fans would be in uproar"

Then in the Djenepo piece "The article goes on to suggest that this is not a big signing for Saints but one for the future "... this is someone that could cost us 14m?

on Bournemouth "last summer they signed three players at big money only Brooks can be said to have given them value for money so far." Brooks cost them 10m... big money?

I'm no advocate for chucking money around but if we are to shake the "small club".. "selling club" mantle (even temporarily) we need to back up our words with some actions. Carrillo ? I had Never heard of the guy and although he appeared enthusiastic he was a Championship at best... far worse signing than Osvaldo who at least created some excitement, was obvious quality and was actually a statement signing.

Gaston Ramirez was similar … we actually frustrated Liverpool to sign him (they had to settle for Coutinho who we also contested for) … Now we are competing with Burnley and Norwich..

If you fail to see how that is frustrating to Fans maybe you are a little out of touch.

The 22 goals he scored last season (all but one from open play), is one short of half the number the entire Saints managed to score. Considering the quality of many of our "big" signings, Adams seems a far better prospect rather like Ricky Lambert did. Ok, he scored all his goals in the Championship, but that is still a very tough league to do well in and a lot of his goals were quality strikes.. Forget the bidding war, just buy him, or some other club could nick him from under our noses and if he does well for them, Saints will end up with egg on their faces if we are scoring goals like we did last season!

Jesus. I see how it is frustrating to fans, what I said is not totally contradictory, Djenepo will cost £10 m rising to £14 m with ad ons so is a fair bit less than Kelly, Djenepo also has experience in a top flight european league as well as the Europa League and is an international, so I would say he is less of a risk than Kelly.

The signings that havent worked out for us have been the supposed big money ones, ie nearing our record fee, that is possibly because at around the £20 million mark you get a lot of inflated players.

Our transfer success's come from when we get the players with potential but not quite their, the Manes Van Dyks, Redmonds . Hojbjergs , but as we got more successful the fans demand bigger signings and we went off course. Its catch 22 at the moment, sign the Djenepo's and the fans accuse us of lacking ambition and demand we spend £20 million plus, we do that and we end up with players no better than what we have.

You are reading newspaper stories, Liverpool were never truly after Ramirez, just as they were never after Vegard Forren but his agent managed to con Cortse they were and we snapped him up, as I say when we go for the so called record signings we just get an average player at an inflated price.

Osvaldo was a statement signing, it was meant to say look we are spending big money and competing, problem was he was a problem player before he came and was another Mario Ballotelli, he was quality but just didn't give a f*ck and yes he created excitement, but it wasnt on the pitch only 9 Premier League stats and 4 as sub, his three goals earned us just 1 point that we wouldnt have got without them. Perhaps the biggest transfer disaster we have had, at least we may get something back from those still on our books

When we signed Van Dijk, Mane, Pelle, Wanyama etc we were never competing with the Liverpool's, but the Burnley's and Norwich's of the time, that remains the case, because that is what we have to do, find the next Van Dijk, Mane, Pelle, Wanyama etc, make them better, sell them and keep doing it, luck doesnt come into it it is all about dog our homework and not panicking

Jeez Dirk....what has this got to do with Gao? Some fans will always take any news like this as an opportunity to swipe the owner/board. If it is true, cant you see it is just an opening bid to test the waters

We have to keep in mind that our transfer budget will be affected by how many players we can off-load to free up money. Not only getting money for them, but the money we save from not having to pay their wages. Unfortunately, I don't see any one taking over Forster's wages and by all reports we are locked into paying 20 million(!!) for Ings. So it looks like 10-15 million per player is our limit. (Hope I am wrong).

Jeeez, I actually feel sorry for Nick having to waste his time responding to you nimrods.

I am pleasantly surprised that we appear to have got another in 'under the radar', and wonder whether the other 26 year old winger in Austria was a target, or just kite flying.
We have to trust in the integrity and judgement of our recruitment team and that it measures up to Ralph's levels.
Time will tell, but I would personally be mightily relieved if someone delivered a big brown paper parcel into St Mary's, about 2m long marked 'Quality Central Defender -This Way Up.'
Such has been the obvious shortcoming and gaping hole within our team.

Well said and well explained Nick. Yes this forum is all about debate and views but I still sigh every time I read such ridiculous negativity and simplistic views of the club and owners. They have absolutely no interest in making this club fail. If you are being overly critical they may put business before football but to improve the business they have to improve the team and performances. Why oh why would they want to sign rubbish players or waste money on over paid journeymen?

Well said and well explained Nick. Yes this forum is all about debate and views but I still sigh every time I read such ridiculous negativity and simplistic views of the club and owners. They have absolutely no interest in making this club fail. If you are being overly critical they may put business before football but to improve the business they have to improve the team and performances. Why oh why would they want to sign rubbish players or waste money on over paid journeymen?

What tripe. Both sides know that he will be sold for around £15m. Why antagonise the sellers by offering a derisory amount when they know they will be in competition when it gets serious?

Quite! Obviously we would like to secure his signature on a contract for the lowest possible fee but even allowing for the over-inflation of prices for Brit players it seems ridiculous to offer a derisory figure if we are indeed serious about bringing him in.

We may have offered a player in p/ex of course, maybe ELio?