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Episode 359: TRANSFER TUESDAY RETURNS!
16 Plays1 month ago
Southampton – It's the return of the ever popular Transfer Tuesday! As promised from Spoors not the busiest window to date, but still plenty happening to talk about!
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Transcript
Introduction to Daily Saints Pod
00:00:04
Speaker
This is the Daily Saints pod with Zach and Greg.
00:00:13
Speaker
Hello and welcome back to the Daily Saints pod.
00:00:17
Speaker
My name is Greg and as always today joined by my good friend and wonderful host, Zach.
00:00:21
Speaker
How you doing mate?
Unexpectedly Quiet Transfer Window
00:00:23
Speaker
Yeah, I'm alright mate.
00:00:24
Speaker
Yeah.
00:00:25
Speaker
I just kind of...
00:00:27
Speaker
trying to find stuff for this episode as hard as it should be almost midway through January, right?
00:00:34
Speaker
I don't know why you think that, Zach, because it being a day of the week that begins with a T, it was, of course, a transfer Tuesday.
00:00:42
Speaker
Yeah, of course.
00:00:44
Speaker
But we were warned by Spores that it was going to be a quiet window.
00:00:48
Speaker
So why it's coming as a surprise to you that it's quiet is beyond me, mate.
00:00:53
Speaker
Because we're
Ronnie Edwards' Transfer to QPR
00:00:55
Speaker
bad, mate.
00:00:55
Speaker
LAUGHTER
00:00:58
Speaker
Like, we're bad.
00:01:01
Speaker
They know we need strength in certain areas.
00:01:03
Speaker
They've now started to get shifted, people.
00:01:05
Speaker
Right?
00:01:06
Speaker
If Edwards is gone, does that mean that we're bringing another centre-back?
00:01:08
Speaker
Or is it just for the fact that, you know, he really likes GPR, wasn't getting game time, and wasn't ever part of Spor's, like, I guess, cohort?
00:01:19
Speaker
Yeah, it's just...
00:01:21
Speaker
I don't know, man.
00:01:21
Speaker
I don't know.
00:01:22
Speaker
Well, I guess, look, let's get straight into it, talking about Ronnie Edwards.
00:01:26
Speaker
So he's obviously off to QPR for a reported fee of 4.6 million, which is like 1.6 million profit, I suppose.
00:01:37
Speaker
But it all feels a bit weird, doesn't it?
00:01:41
Speaker
It's a really strange one to me.
00:01:45
Speaker
Is that the vibe you get?
00:01:47
Speaker
Towards the end of the reign of Still, you started playing him a lot more, right?
00:01:53
Speaker
And now, of all the people that we've got, the fact that you've still got Jack Stevens in the team...
00:02:02
Speaker
And we're now selling this youth prospect that we bought.
00:02:05
Speaker
You know, hot prospect.
00:02:07
Speaker
You kind of looked and saw what, you know, Peterborough saw in him.
00:02:14
Speaker
We kind of felt good to get his signature.
00:02:17
Speaker
Yeah, sure.
00:02:18
Speaker
I think it was actually a Russell Martin find in the end, right?
00:02:21
Speaker
It was around that sort of era.
00:02:23
Speaker
But like, you know, clearly the quality is there.
00:02:25
Speaker
He then showed it last season on loan to QPR.
00:02:29
Speaker
came back and then he's dipping in and out the side and yeah okay when he started he didn't have the greatest of games but then he became part of the back three that kind of like were like still his mainstays towards the end and then just dropped out the team entirely and then would get five or ten minutes here five ten minutes there and you don't blame him because he went on loan last season to qpr they loved him you became like player of the year i think he got like you know the month and
00:02:55
Speaker
Everyone really, really liked him.
00:02:57
Speaker
He had an affinity towards the club.
00:02:58
Speaker
He's kind of come back.
00:03:00
Speaker
he's come back into what is a weird saint side.
00:03:04
Speaker
I can't remember if QPR above us at this point, but then, you know, it's not like it's, it's not like it's a step down for him, right?
00:03:11
Speaker
Yeah.
00:03:12
Speaker
For where it's at.
00:03:12
Speaker
And also probably just wants to play.
Implications of Edwards' Sale
00:03:15
Speaker
And by the sounds of it has been told, yeah, you're not really part of the plans, but again, like the fact that we are, we are re-signing like Romeo, we're looking to the past constantly.
00:03:26
Speaker
And we, we, we hired, you know, we brought somebody in,
00:03:29
Speaker
for the future and have just let them go like a year and a half later is just bizarre.
00:03:35
Speaker
And I think TSP had a theory that like, oh, it's because we're bringing someone else in.
00:03:40
Speaker
I genuinely think it's just because like he doesn't, he's probably annoyed that he's not playing.
00:03:45
Speaker
The offer came in from QPR.
00:03:48
Speaker
Sports doesn't really see him as that integral to the squad's plans.
00:03:51
Speaker
And we have lots of setback coverage.
00:03:53
Speaker
Whether we like the centre-backs or not is a moot point, right?
00:03:57
Speaker
Like, Kaya Sanders just come back.
00:03:58
Speaker
He might end up being the fifth, sixth-choice centre-back, for all we know.
00:04:03
Speaker
So, yeah, for me, I think it's an even lazier reason, which is just they're like, yeah, all right, fair enough, because this young guy wants to play, clearly, and he's being overlooked by everybody.
00:04:15
Speaker
And, yeah, it just kind of feels like, what a waste, isn't it?
00:04:18
Speaker
That's where I'm at.
00:04:19
Speaker
What an absolute waste of a talent.
00:04:21
Speaker
Yeah, no, yeah.
00:04:23
Speaker
A transfer.
00:04:25
Speaker
Yeah.
00:04:25
Speaker
But I mean, look, we turned a small profit on it and who cares?
00:04:30
Speaker
It's clearly a better move for him.
00:04:33
Speaker
It's probably a better move for him.
00:04:34
Speaker
So... Yes, about like a one billion pound profit.
00:04:38
Speaker
Now I know I say that arrogantly because in real life, if that was a million pound, I'd care.
00:04:43
Speaker
But like when it comes to the game of football, like what an absolute waste.
00:04:48
Speaker
It's ridiculous.
00:04:49
Speaker
I know you're trying to just gain a positive from it.
00:04:52
Speaker
I don't really see anything from it as a positive.
00:04:55
Speaker
I see QPR fans celebrating.
00:04:58
Speaker
I see us kind of going, well, that was kind of inevitable if we weren't going to do anything with him.
00:05:02
Speaker
And all I can say is good luck to the lad.
00:05:05
Speaker
I'm sure that he's going to be well-loved and really, really happy to be back at QPR.
00:05:10
Speaker
And then we'll probably get shown in years to come what we're missing.
00:05:13
Speaker
And it will be, you know, it's not going to be like the...
00:05:17
Speaker
I just don't see us replacing him with someone better, right?
Squad Dynamics and Defensive Issues at Saints
00:05:20
Speaker
Like, during transfer research, Greg, because it's been hard to find anything, stumbled across an article about how, which feels like it's about 10 years too late, about how, like, Toby Alderfeld went, and then we replaced him with the much better Van Dijk.
00:05:34
Speaker
So it was actually, we had the last laugh over Spurs, or...
00:05:39
Speaker
whatever strange sort of like, like you, you wonder if it's like the opposite of that, right?
00:05:44
Speaker
Like we kind of, unless we're planning to upgrade, it just seems like a really pointless move.
00:05:50
Speaker
But from, it could just be as simple as they've met the valuation of the player.
00:05:55
Speaker
The player wants to go.
00:05:56
Speaker
They don't want to keep a disgruntled player here when they know that he's not going to get game time.
00:06:00
Speaker
We don't know what's going on behind the scenes.
00:06:01
Speaker
For the moment, it doesn't look all rosy, right?
00:06:04
Speaker
And we haven't really discussed that, but... We've got a bloated squad and, you know, we need to get players out of the doors.
00:06:11
Speaker
Would he be at the top of my list?
00:06:14
Speaker
No!
00:06:15
Speaker
Not even close.
00:06:18
Speaker
He's not a player that is horrifically tainted by all this rubbish.
00:06:24
Speaker
We've still got Joe Aribo!
00:06:27
Speaker
But if getting rid of him means that we put ourselves in a position to sign a defender who can clear a corner, then so be it.
00:06:37
Speaker
I just don't believe that's going to happen.
00:06:39
Speaker
I don't think that they want a new centre-back.
00:06:41
Speaker
We want new centre-backs, but that wasn't even a thing when we talked about what we need in the January transfer window.
00:06:47
Speaker
It was a centre-backer striker and an attacking midfield.
00:06:50
Speaker
I don't even remember if it was a centre-back or not.
00:06:51
Speaker
I swear we were talking about right-backs.
00:06:53
Speaker
Because people said to him.
00:06:54
Speaker
Because I remember people were up in arms against us because we were like, we don't need another right-back.
00:06:59
Speaker
You're right.
00:07:00
Speaker
At that point when we were winning games, we said right-back.
00:07:03
Speaker
You're right.
00:07:03
Speaker
Sorry, I thought you were thinking back to the summer transfer.
00:07:06
Speaker
No, because we weren't really conceding that many.
00:07:09
Speaker
So, yeah, I think that they know that...
00:07:14
Speaker
I think that surely after the fact that we've now brought in a goalkeeper conceded to Doncaster Rovers, they're hopefully realising that defence is also a problem.
00:07:22
Speaker
But I don't know what you can do at this point to shift Taylor Harbour-Bellis and Jack Stephens.
00:07:27
Speaker
Because apparently, you know, I know that Kwasi played the other day.
00:07:30
Speaker
But like, it is insane.
00:07:32
Speaker
And the fact that we just keep trying to get the band back together again, right?
00:07:35
Speaker
We tried to re-sign Ings over the summer.
00:07:37
Speaker
We brought back for a Mayu.
00:07:39
Speaker
There's going to be a topic of conversation you don't want to have, but we are going to have it whether you like it or not.
00:07:44
Speaker
Do you know what I mean?
00:07:46
Speaker
It's just, you're right about something that feels weird about it, but I think like,
00:07:51
Speaker
less weird i just think that they're like yeah well money's coming like a good offer's coming for him and he's not currently part of like the front like top three so yeah let's just let him go i just think that that's the planning i don't think that there is like yeah which is which
Goalkeeper Changes and Strategy
00:08:07
Speaker
is worrying because everyone's trying to justify it with like well don't worry i think there's some super plan i'm like what part of the last couple of years has made you think there's part of a super plan like
00:08:16
Speaker
You're right.
00:08:17
Speaker
You remember that one time when I thought it was a tactical masterclass from Russell Martin to double up on Saka and actually it was just playing someone out of position because that was all he had.
00:08:27
Speaker
Yeah, like it's just not an offer to raise that.
00:08:30
Speaker
The simplest solution is usually the one that's correct, right?
00:08:35
Speaker
And the simplest thing at this point is that he is not playing football when he's unhappy.
00:08:39
Speaker
QPR have come in for him.
00:08:41
Speaker
He wants that move.
00:08:42
Speaker
They don't want an unhappy player that probably isn't going to play that much anyway.
00:08:46
Speaker
They've accepted the offer.
00:08:48
Speaker
That's it.
00:08:49
Speaker
Right.
00:08:51
Speaker
Let's move slightly further back down the pitch.
00:08:54
Speaker
And something I know that until this point of the transfers act, you were sick of the discussion between it with goalkeepers, right?
00:09:02
Speaker
But the decision was clear.
00:09:04
Speaker
We have brought in a goalkeeper, Peretz.
00:09:07
Speaker
And, you know, he played.
00:09:10
Speaker
I don't know how much you can judge him based off the performance of coming in a day before, if we're being honest.
00:09:15
Speaker
But he looked all right.
00:09:19
Speaker
He's a goalkeeper.
00:09:20
Speaker
Made some decent saves.
00:09:25
Speaker
I wasn't worried about what ridiculous thing he was going to do, which is different with Baz and McCarthy, right?
00:09:31
Speaker
Yeah.
00:09:32
Speaker
That's basically where I'm at.
00:09:35
Speaker
So we need to see more to judge.
00:09:38
Speaker
He pulled off a really good save, like double save towards the end.
00:09:41
Speaker
But again, it's hopefully we won't.
00:09:44
Speaker
Well, I feel maybe he's going to have to get used to being in the positions where the ball is going to come in a lot more than he wants.
00:09:49
Speaker
But it's hard to judge.
00:09:51
Speaker
I still look back to some people saying how good Angus Gunn was going to be.
00:09:56
Speaker
And then we let him go after a 9-0 loss.
00:10:00
Speaker
And then when Baz was like, wow, he's Man City Academy.
00:10:02
Speaker
They're talking about how great he's going to be.
00:10:04
Speaker
And then people have soured on him so quickly.
00:10:08
Speaker
So, yeah.
00:10:09
Speaker
Still got that other matey on loan as well.
00:10:11
Speaker
That's not... Yeah, well, so, I mean, that's it.
00:10:14
Speaker
But, I mean, Preps comes in from Bayern Munich, right?
00:10:17
Speaker
But he's on loan with an option to buy.
00:10:21
Speaker
So, I mean, there's going to be a lot of moving goalkeeper parts...
00:10:26
Speaker
at the end of the season, one way or another, which is interesting.
00:10:30
Speaker
Yeah, we've still got George Long on loan.
00:10:32
Speaker
Tonda said that he's an important part of the group.
00:10:36
Speaker
I don't know what that means.
00:10:38
Speaker
Is it like Scott Carson type, right?
00:10:40
Speaker
Where it's just like everyone likes him.
00:10:42
Speaker
Is this why Romero is really important?
00:10:45
Speaker
Just so he's there and people can look at a time when Saladdon were doing really well.
00:10:49
Speaker
Do you reckon that's what it is?
00:10:50
Speaker
It's just like, well, it's just like I shut him out.
00:10:52
Speaker
You know, when you're having a kicker back between goalkeepers, you need more competition than just, like, two.
00:10:58
Speaker
I don't know.
00:10:59
Speaker
Maybe that's my ignorance on, like, how goalkeeper units work, if anyone knows.
00:11:04
Speaker
Yeah, squad dynamic.
00:11:05
Speaker
Feel free to let us know.
00:11:07
Speaker
Educate us, please.
00:11:09
Speaker
We have never, ever said we're here to educate you.
00:11:15
Speaker
And then, speaking of goalkeeper dynamics, perhaps not surprisingly at all, based off of a narrative of, no, I'm perfectly happy with the goalkeepers we have.
00:11:26
Speaker
The goalkeeper's fine.
00:11:27
Speaker
I have no concerns about the goalkeeper position.
00:11:29
Speaker
Also, we've signed a goalkeeper.
00:11:33
Speaker
What do you put it like that?
00:11:37
Speaker
You realise how unicrous it's been.
00:11:40
Speaker
Yeah.
00:11:41
Speaker
Like, oh, yeah.
00:11:42
Speaker
So, perhaps taking offense to that, and perhaps reasonably so, Buzunu, it seems, off to stoke.
00:11:51
Speaker
Yeah.
00:11:51
Speaker
Potentially on loan with an option to buy is what is sort of currently being rumored from reasonably good sources.
00:12:00
Speaker
So, I mean...
00:12:04
Speaker
It's a strange one, right?
00:12:05
Speaker
Because, again, letting someone go to realistically a championship rival, I don't know.
00:12:12
Speaker
I think that it's funny, right?
00:12:13
Speaker
Because the conversation and the narrative around Edwards is going to be different to the conversation and narrative around Baz.
00:12:19
Speaker
And that's entirely based off of, I think, opinion on the player as a player rather than anything else, right?
00:12:26
Speaker
With Rodney Edwards, it kind of feels like we're losing someone that had the ability to develop to become good.
00:12:32
Speaker
A lot of people have made up their mind about Baz, despite the fact that, you know, in goalkeeping terms, he's barely out of infancy.
00:12:39
Speaker
And, you know, it's going to be... But from his perspective, he had this little spell at standard Leeds that didn't rework out, picked up an injury.
00:12:48
Speaker
Came back, it's just not been great for him.
00:12:51
Speaker
I think that he's been under significantly more pressure than he's needed to be.
00:12:55
Speaker
I think that really it's the sort of...
00:12:58
Speaker
there's points to criticise him for sure but I think that he's had significantly more pressure on him by the fact that our defence has been unable to keep the ball away from him do you know what I mean like that's where I'm at like there's been some decisions but at the same time I do think that there seems to be a lot of hate and vitriol towards him that is a little bit unfounded and that's just my opinion like I can I'm sure there are you know there is perfectly valid reasons to be annoyed at him as a goalkeeper but
00:13:27
Speaker
I just find that that's an interesting narrative to put around it.
00:13:32
Speaker
And especially where he might end up going elsewhere and then he might end up doing really well.
00:13:38
Speaker
We don't know.
00:13:41
Speaker
It might be the environment.
00:13:42
Speaker
It could be anything.
00:13:43
Speaker
But ultimately, he had his chance to prove that he should remain our number one goalkeeper and was unable to fulfil it.
00:13:52
Speaker
They knew that he wasn't going to be able to do well in the Premier League, which is why they brought Ramstead in for the Premier League.
00:13:58
Speaker
And so, yeah, it's just... I guess it is what it is.
00:14:01
Speaker
But if somebody is coming for an offer for him, he doesn't want to play number two.
00:14:08
Speaker
they're not that bothered about letting him go if we've got a replacement is what it is, right?
00:14:14
Speaker
Yeah.
00:14:14
Speaker
The only thing that goes wrong is if Ramsell gets sold, for whatever reason, the Perrette still falls apart.
00:14:20
Speaker
George
Scrutinizing Transfer Decisions
00:14:21
Speaker
Long goes back and somehow we end up with 95,000 year old Alex McCarthy.
00:14:27
Speaker
It raises an interesting point in my brain and you kind of alluded to it earlier, right?
00:14:32
Speaker
Because...
00:14:33
Speaker
We've got Ronnie Edwards, who, you know, didn't make it in our squad.
00:14:38
Speaker
So, you know, by definition, wasn't good enough for the first team by our supposed standards and has gone off to QPR, who are above us in the table.
00:14:48
Speaker
I was right.
00:14:49
Speaker
Carry on.
00:14:51
Speaker
Bazzunu, who, you know, he's been our biggest problem.
00:14:55
Speaker
We need to replace him.
00:14:55
Speaker
So we brought in a new keeper and now we're going to ship him off to a team who are...
00:15:02
Speaker
also above us in the table.
00:15:04
Speaker
And then you think back to, you know, ill-fated as it was.
00:15:10
Speaker
The start of the season, it's like Ivan Juric managing a Champions League team.
00:15:16
Speaker
And like some of the players that were not good enough leaving us and going on to do these better things.
00:15:22
Speaker
It's like, are they just like failing upwards?
00:15:27
Speaker
Are we...
00:15:28
Speaker
It just, it feels so strange.
00:15:32
Speaker
I think, yeah, I get what you mean.
00:15:33
Speaker
But like, in some of those positions, the answer is yes, right?
00:15:36
Speaker
Juric failed upwards, he's no longer in that job.
00:15:38
Speaker
Russell Martin failed upwards, he's no longer in that job.
00:15:40
Speaker
And also, I would argue, probably taking a year or two off of football.
00:15:43
Speaker
because you do not do something like that to a club at Rangers.
00:15:47
Speaker
He was fully aware.
00:15:48
Speaker
And I wouldn't be surprised if when he does come back, he has a full head of grey hair.
00:15:52
Speaker
I wouldn't really be surprised.
00:15:55
Speaker
So, like, you know, Solomar was pretty much in the team all the time under Juric.
00:15:59
Speaker
I haven't really seen him in the team since then.
00:16:02
Speaker
So let's have a look at other players that have left us, right?
00:16:05
Speaker
Who else is on that list?
00:16:08
Speaker
Puan Atu, he's like the top scorer in Turkey, right?
00:16:11
Speaker
Yeah, but again, it's back to the Turkish league, back to a team style that suits him.
00:16:16
Speaker
He basically said he's just the wrong player for the club.
00:16:20
Speaker
He also alluded to behind-the-scenes stuff, which is doubly alluding to what I was speaking about earlier, where we don't know what's going on in the dressing room, ultimately.
00:16:29
Speaker
And, you know, that's a slightly different kettle of fish.
00:16:34
Speaker
But it doesn't seem to me that people are necessarily failing upwards.
00:16:39
Speaker
I think it's a, we had a bunch of players that we were trying to cram into a system.
00:16:43
Speaker
What would you say about Ramsdale?
00:16:45
Speaker
Like, arguably playing for Newcastle, sure.
00:16:47
Speaker
But again, he's kind of playing a second fiddle, but not really.
00:16:50
Speaker
He really, really adores the club.
00:16:52
Speaker
And clearly this whole, like, you know...
00:16:54
Speaker
after being on loan and being bought by us and Bournemouth and having three or four relegations under his belt, I think he's just happy to play a big part in a team...
00:17:08
Speaker
that are better.
00:17:09
Speaker
Like, I know that when he left Arsenal, it was like supposed to be, oh, well, I really want to, you know, play full time.
00:17:15
Speaker
And then after playing full time in the most horrific relegation season, he's probably like, do you know what?
00:17:20
Speaker
They actually might be in second in a better team.
00:17:24
Speaker
So maybe getting better every week isn't all it's cracked up to be.
00:17:28
Speaker
I think, you know, I think with Juric, it's because he developed a really good relationship with...
00:17:34
Speaker
with Soleimani, but I also think that, like, with Juric, clearly that wasn't failing upwards.
00:17:41
Speaker
So how will it work out?
00:17:42
Speaker
Like, I don't see QPR of Ronnie Edwards failing upwards because he has not really failed because he had a really good season there.
00:17:50
Speaker
Like, it's because he's a fan favourite.
00:17:52
Speaker
When it comes to Baz, like, you know, Stoke City are doing really, really well at the moment.
00:17:57
Speaker
But, you know, there's a reason that, like, can you do it on an old rainy night in Stoke is like a...
00:18:03
Speaker
is a thing, right?
00:18:04
Speaker
It's not because Stoke are well known for their, for their like incredible city and, and, and football.
00:18:10
Speaker
And that's no disrespect.
00:18:11
Speaker
That's just the reputation that they have.
00:18:14
Speaker
So yeah, they're above us at the table, but then I don't really think that that's a problem for most of them, right?
00:18:20
Speaker
But then you do also see, there we go, there were the other two that I'd almost forgotten.
00:18:26
Speaker
Carl Walker-Peters and Matias Fernandes.
00:18:28
Speaker
West Ham, you know, I couldn't throw this opportunity away.
00:18:31
Speaker
I want to get into the Portugal squad.
00:18:33
Speaker
Looking at West Ham's form, is Fernandes getting into the Portugal squad under...
00:18:41
Speaker
Carl Walker-Peters is making a difference a little bit.
00:18:43
Speaker
He's playing well.
00:18:45
Speaker
He's enjoying his football at West Ham.
00:18:46
Speaker
He gets in the team ahead of one of his former compatriots, James Will Prowse, who didn't do that well.
00:18:53
Speaker
So I wouldn't say it's failing upwards.
00:18:54
Speaker
I'd say that some people manage to somehow move upwards, and it usually doesn't, like nine times out of ten, hasn't necessarily worked out for them.
00:19:02
Speaker
But also... Just interesting, isn't it?
00:19:04
Speaker
At the end of the season, when we look back on this season, how many of these players that we're letting go to other championship teams in January are going to finish...
00:19:12
Speaker
in a better off position than us.
00:19:14
Speaker
We could say, say, Matt Targett.
00:19:16
Speaker
Matt Targett ended up at Newcastle.
00:19:18
Speaker
He's now at Middlesbrough, they're ahead of us.
00:19:19
Speaker
Harrison Reid is still at Fulham.
00:19:22
Speaker
There's tons of, you know, you had today Alfie House talking about how Don Ballard scored like four and three for Leighton Orient.
00:19:28
Speaker
Yeah, okay, it's Leighton Orient in the league below us, but people saying sort of it's moiled that, you know, he threw some direct shade of downs by saying he's a better player than Downs.
00:19:36
Speaker
We paid £7 million for him, whereas he was already here.
00:19:40
Speaker
So, yeah, there's lots of... I don't know.
00:19:42
Speaker
I don't think it's necessarily just an us thing, but I think where we pay so much attention to it, sometimes it is a bit of a weird thing to watch from the outside, is I think a lot of the academy prospects we've let go have actually ended up doing better than if they'd stayed.
00:19:56
Speaker
It is a weird one, though.
00:19:57
Speaker
You're right.
00:19:58
Speaker
It's just... I don't know if it's something intrinsically Southampton about it, but... Yeah, just food for thought.
00:20:03
Speaker
Right, moving on to our final talking point.
00:20:07
Speaker
You mentioned him a minute ago...
00:20:09
Speaker
And apparently we've got to talk about it.
00:20:12
Speaker
You wanted to just glaze over this whole subject.
Potential Return of James Ward-Prowse
00:20:15
Speaker
When it came out, right, and it was like, yeah, so, you know, the situation with Prowse is clear.
00:20:22
Speaker
I'm never playing him.
00:20:24
Speaker
Like, as long as Nuno's manager for West Ham, that seems like it's going to be the case.
00:20:29
Speaker
And you were like, oh, great, it means we don't need to talk about it.
00:20:31
Speaker
I'm like, well, no, there are already now multiple sources that have immediately linked him back to us.
00:20:37
Speaker
I think it came out...
00:20:38
Speaker
before the window started that wall prowess has no interest in coming to play for a championship club and no interest in making a pay cut and you know why would he that was October to be clear October he was linked with us at that point apparently we tried to get him and at that point he was like nah three months to sit on the bench and not play in any football I'm never gonna play for West Ham collecting £40,000 a week woe is me
00:21:03
Speaker
Like, let's wipe my tears away with this £20 note.
00:21:06
Speaker
I get your point.
00:21:09
Speaker
Like, the whole reason he left was to kind of make sure he kept at the level that he thought he was at, right?
00:21:15
Speaker
I think the England career thing is probably at this point over.
00:21:18
Speaker
I think he will probably admit that or not.
00:21:20
Speaker
But I think that that is over, especially if you are not being picked at a side that's in a relegation battle.
00:21:24
Speaker
Yeah.
00:21:26
Speaker
So like I can understand the prospect, but also how many times does he need to not choose us before people will understand that maybe he doesn't want to come back here, right?
00:21:40
Speaker
how many times?
00:21:40
Speaker
Like with, with, with already you could kind of understand him going and then him coming back is because, you know, he was free agent.
00:21:47
Speaker
Yeah.
00:21:47
Speaker
Of course I'll go back to the club that kind of, you know, kickstarted my career to get me back to Barcelona.
00:21:53
Speaker
But it, for me, you're, you know, as much as I'm trying to, I guess, counter your point, I do agree on the fact that like, he has had multiple opportunities to come back if he were to.
00:22:03
Speaker
I'm sure, but apparently, you know, it's been reported.
00:22:05
Speaker
We went in for him in October and he turned us down.
00:22:09
Speaker
So the only thing that necessarily is ancient.
00:22:13
Speaker
Also, what do you want to come back to?
00:22:15
Speaker
Yeah.
00:22:17
Speaker
And then we talked about it a bit off air yesterday, right?
00:22:19
Speaker
Because you try and look at it objectively, right?
00:22:23
Speaker
And take it out of that and think, well, if he did come back,
00:22:27
Speaker
What does he bring to the squad and to the team?
00:22:30
Speaker
Well, we're lacking leadership at the moment.
00:22:32
Speaker
Was he a particularly, you know, was he one of these players that led with his voice, which is what we're lacking?
00:22:39
Speaker
No, he was a lead by example type.
00:22:42
Speaker
Fine.
00:22:43
Speaker
If you listen to Toddler, there's room for every kind of leadership.
00:22:46
Speaker
So it is what it is, right?
00:22:47
Speaker
Including calling fouls.
00:22:48
Speaker
That's the type of leadership.
00:22:51
Speaker
It's not what we're looking for, right?
00:22:52
Speaker
Like we need vocal experience to guide us on.
00:22:56
Speaker
Does he improve our midfield?
00:22:58
Speaker
I mean, there's an argument.
00:23:00
Speaker
It's a debate.
00:23:01
Speaker
It's not a clear-cut yes or no either way.
00:23:03
Speaker
I think that there's a lot more sideways and backwards in his game than I want to see from any of our midfielders.
00:23:12
Speaker
But, you know, he definitely brings the dead ball element into play.
00:23:16
Speaker
You know, he makes us deadlier from set pieces, which is what we'd like.
00:23:22
Speaker
but is it an overall improvement that's going to be worth the hassle and what comes with it?
00:23:30
Speaker
No, not really.
00:23:33
Speaker
He doesn't want to be here.
00:23:35
Speaker
It is what it is.
00:23:38
Speaker
Let it be.
00:23:39
Speaker
Let it go.
00:23:39
Speaker
He's done talking about it.
00:23:44
Speaker
If he saw himself playing in the championship for Southampton...
00:23:49
Speaker
then he would have done that the last time when he could have stayed and played in the championship for Southampton, right?
00:23:54
Speaker
Like, two years have passed, right?
00:23:56
Speaker
And, you know, his circumstances have changed and whatever, but that same point stands, right?
00:24:04
Speaker
And we're not going to, you know, even if the picture with Nuno is clear that he's never going to get a game at West Ham, especially in the championship, we're not... If we brought him in,
00:24:17
Speaker
Because he didn't want to take a pay cut, he would have to come in as one of our highest earners.
00:24:22
Speaker
And I just don't see us doing that either, because he would not... At best, he would be coming in as... Like you say, like Ori.
00:24:32
Speaker
He doesn't become the important player that we build the squad around, so they're not going to pay that much of his wages.
00:24:39
Speaker
It's just... There's too many blocks in the way for me to ever see it happening.
00:24:43
Speaker
It's where I'm at.
00:24:45
Speaker
It's sad.
00:24:47
Speaker
You're right.
00:24:48
Speaker
And I think we collectively have a problem with being stuck in the past.
00:24:53
Speaker
And that's ourselves included.
00:24:55
Speaker
A lot of our favourite players and a lot of the Wonder Times that we talk about are all in the sort of... And the problem is that some of these
Nostalgia vs. Progress at Southampton
00:25:03
Speaker
players are still playing.
00:25:03
Speaker
So there's this sort of desire to get the old band back together.
00:25:09
Speaker
right?
00:25:09
Speaker
We've had Theo Walcott come back and play for us after leaving us at, you know, you had Adam Lallana, which, you know, yep, sure, it's great, but what an absolute waste of a transfer sport, to be honest.
00:25:20
Speaker
You've now got Romelu back where he can't get a game against a League One side in the FA Cup.
00:25:28
Speaker
You're potentially wanting to bring back more prowls.
00:25:31
Speaker
We've apparently already gone in from once this season.
00:25:33
Speaker
They tried to bring Danny Ings back at some point.
00:25:37
Speaker
We have a cultural problem with not being able to move on.
00:25:41
Speaker
And that includes with the current cohort.
00:25:43
Speaker
We keep talking about getting out the dead wood.
00:25:45
Speaker
We still seem to never be able to do that.
00:25:47
Speaker
We never are able to sell the players that we want.
00:25:50
Speaker
And then, you're right, sometimes there's these freak transfers where people either fail upwards or kind of just disappear.
00:25:55
Speaker
But it's never quite...
00:25:57
Speaker
I think probably the only universally happy transfer out that most people will be happy with so far in a long time is going to be Downs because people didn't like Downs and Downs was having a terrible time here and probably Baz because people just wanted a better goalkeeper and that's fair but we have a cultural problem with being stuck in looking back to a period that you cannot recapture it does not exist anymore
00:26:27
Speaker
and maybe it's just pre-Sports Republic.
00:26:30
Speaker
But, you know, even to the extent of us talking about bringing back Oxlade-Chamberlain, because he was a free agent at one point, right?
00:26:37
Speaker
Yeah.
00:26:38
Speaker
There is just something in the water, like, and it's almost, you know, and I don't like to compare our situation to Manchester United.
00:26:44
Speaker
I already probably talk about him too much in this show.
00:26:47
Speaker
But, like,
00:26:49
Speaker
It makes me laugh because they've basically done the same thing with Solskjaer, right?
00:26:52
Speaker
Where they're like, actually, nah, we keep doing this thing where we keep bringing people back from before and it doesn't work out.
00:26:57
Speaker
And it's like, yeah.
00:26:59
Speaker
So that's where I'm kind of at.
00:27:00
Speaker
It's like we can never move on until we accept that bringing back old players that did okay for us is not the solution.
00:27:09
Speaker
So you say we don't have to give this James Ward-Prowse thing any more airtime after today?
00:27:13
Speaker
After today, unless it becomes a thing where we actually sign him, where unfortunately, whether you like it or not, we will need to talk about it.
00:27:22
Speaker
I'm kind of happy to put it to bed because it is a rumor, you know, but the problem is, mate, it also does really well.
00:27:29
Speaker
One of our best ever YouTube shorts was us talking about Return of the King, about him coming back.
00:27:34
Speaker
And people sit because it gets people excited because people were devastated when he left.
00:27:39
Speaker
And it sucked they put him in all of the markets to get a promo for the season.
00:27:43
Speaker
And then like two days later left.
00:27:45
Speaker
Like, yeah, it was less than ideal.
00:27:47
Speaker
We managed to do it without him.
00:27:49
Speaker
But yeah, you're right.
00:27:50
Speaker
Do we want to keep bringing back people?
00:27:52
Speaker
Do we want to bring it up?
00:27:53
Speaker
Does he make the team better?
00:27:54
Speaker
Is it going to be much better?
00:27:56
Speaker
Why do we... It's been two or three years, like three or four years.
00:27:58
Speaker
That's a long time.
00:28:00
Speaker
He was a Deadpool specialist, Greg, but has not been able to take a free kick in forever and still never scored one in the Premier League in two clubs.
00:28:07
Speaker
As I said to you offline yesterday, mate, you've got to be on the pitch to score a free kick.
00:28:11
Speaker
Exactly.
00:28:12
Speaker
But then he did.
00:28:13
Speaker
When he had his time in the sky, when he first moved over, he was unable to replicate that.
00:28:19
Speaker
He was unable to get that record, right?
00:28:21
Speaker
And so that means that we're bringing people back on that ability.
00:28:26
Speaker
Like Danny Ings has gone to Sheffield United.
00:28:27
Speaker
Has he scored a bag of goals?
00:28:29
Speaker
No, they hired another free transfer in Patrick Banford, who's already done more for them.
00:28:36
Speaker
And yet we tried.
00:28:37
Speaker
And that's just the thing is that we cannot help but look to the past.
00:28:41
Speaker
That's why this Orio Romeo signing happened.
00:28:44
Speaker
It was just nostalgia bait and it worked.
00:28:46
Speaker
That's it.
00:28:47
Speaker
Anyway, maybe there'll be something else to talk about for the next transfer episode, maybe.
00:28:52
Speaker
Yeah, we'll be seeing if we can do Santadic or something.
00:28:55
Speaker
Right.
00:29:03
Speaker
Right, look, that is all that we have got time to talk about today.
Closing and Audience Engagement
00:29:08
Speaker
Thank you, Zach, for joining me.
00:29:10
Speaker
Thank you, everyone.
00:29:13
Speaker
Let us know in the comments, in the socials.
00:29:17
Speaker
Who are we signing?
00:29:18
Speaker
Who do you want?
00:29:19
Speaker
Where's the most important position?
00:29:21
Speaker
I look forward to hearing all of the responses.
00:29:25
Speaker
Let us know.
00:29:25
Speaker
We are Daily Saints Pod everywhere on all the socials.
00:29:29
Speaker
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00:29:32
Speaker
Facebook, Instagram, everywhere.
00:29:34
Speaker
Hit us up.
00:29:35
Speaker
Let us know.
00:29:36
Speaker
We love hearing from you.
00:29:38
Speaker
While you're there, drop us a like, give us a subscribe.
00:29:40
Speaker
We're an independent podcast now, and it just means so much more to us to help keep us going.
00:29:46
Speaker
We will be back tomorrow to talk about, I think we're going to talk about player power and some dynamics that have been expressed at the club.
00:29:58
Speaker
which is bound to be an interesting episode, I guess.
00:30:02
Speaker
Let's allude to it that way.
00:30:04
Speaker
But until then, everyone, have a wonderful day, and we'll see you then.
00:30:14
Speaker
This is the Daily Saints pod with Zach and Greg.