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Episode 440: Saints away on loan! (Part 1!)
60 Plays10 hours ago
Southampton – We take this time between the excitement of Tuesday and the hype of Wembley to take a look at some of our players who have been away this season, and how they have been getting on!
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Transcript
Frustrations with Saints Ticket Information
00:00:13
Zak
Good morning, good afternoon, good evening Saints fans. It is the Daily Saints pod with your host today, Zach, and as always, the usual host of this podcast, Greg. How you doing, mate?
00:00:27
DailySaintsPod
Oh, yeah. I'm all right, mate. Look, there's lots of stuff flying and circling around and I'm doing my best to ignore as much of it as possible and not get sucked back in. But, you know, Saints not helping themselves by posting ticket information and then not having ticket information and
00:00:44
Zak
It's just, I hope it's all resolved sooner rather than later is basically where I'm at.
00:00:46
DailySaintsPod
photos in the mail and yeah.
00:00:51
Zak
cause this, this weird, horrible limbo now, right?
00:00:52
DailySaintsPod
Hmm.
Social Media Ban and Personal Concerns
00:00:54
DailySaintsPod
Yeah, Steve on the the Total Saints pod made an excellent point where if this was like real world legal proceedings and not just like footballers court of arbitration, there would be no case to answer because it would all get thrown out as inadmissible, right?
00:01:11
DailySaintsPod
At this point, because so much of it's got out.
00:01:13
Zak
so so much just keeps being leaked and it's it's just i am on a social media ban uh as my co-host will attest to stay away from it it's just driving me up the wall uh and even even my wife is like you need to step away because it's uh stressing stressing you out more than it should and it's not even that it's just that i constantly want to get into arguments with people
00:01:16
DailySaintsPod
Yeah.
00:01:25
DailySaintsPod
Yeah.
Information Sources and Emotional Impact
00:01:38
Zak
And that's just not a healthy way to live your life.
00:01:40
DailySaintsPod
the
00:01:40
Zak
So I just thought, okay, we'll take maybe take, take a week away from it. So I'm getting drip fed the information through Craig and anything I read through the echo.
00:01:48
DailySaintsPod
Yeah, which just means that what you actually get is the even more extremes because you get the stuff that either makes me really angry or is so stupid that it makes me laugh and nothing in between.
00:01:49
Zak
But,
00:01:53
Zak
yeah
00:02:00
Zak
fine with that
00:02:06
Zak
the really high-tech spy equipment, yeah.
00:02:15
DailySaintsPod
Just peak comedy. It's what we're all about.
00:02:17
Zak
Oh, it's, sure is a great time to be a Saints fan, right? But... we We thought we'd take a
Research on Saints' Loan Players
00:02:24
Zak
step away today. I started putting this together before all of the the playoff stuff because we just started having a look at who was out on loan and what was going on. And before you know it, it became me doing essentially big researchy profile pieces on each of our loan players' currently out.
00:02:41
Zak
So yeah, I thought, you know, let's take a step away from all of the playoff stuff and the the Spygate stuff and let's talk about something else that's potentially ambiguous because a lot of the conclusions of a lot of these conversations are going to be really depends whether we go up or down.
00:02:58
DailySaintsPod
yeah
00:02:58
Zak
Stay down, you know, so but we'll start right at the top. And rather than do this in any sort of alphabetical order, I've always gone by position. So you'll be enthralled to know, Greg, that there is absolutely no order to which you would like.
Gavin Bazzunu's Loan Performance
00:03:14
Zak
But we'll...
00:03:14
DailySaintsPod
you didn't go reverse chronological alphabetical what letdown
00:03:17
Zak
No, you're right. I didn't do the BBC sport. Yeah. We'll start with Gavin Bizzunu. So, Gavin's obviously been out on loan at Stoke.
00:03:30
Zak
And he went in but out in January after a pretty mixed start to the season at Saints. But he came back in as our so primary goalkeeper with Ramsdale out on loan as well.
00:03:42
Zak
And sort of, I think there were a lot of questions from fans. And that being not just this season, right? That stretching back to, if you remember rightly, the fans forum under Russell Martin, there was a question about the goalkeeper situation.
00:03:56
Zak
And he adamantly defended Gav with like, well, we do have a great goalkeeper.
00:03:56
DailySaintsPod
Yeah.
00:04:01
Zak
are you on about? But obviously, we had some struggles this season. And at one point, under Will Steele, he was swapped out for Alex McCarthy. And then he came back in under Tonda. But clearly, they'd recognised that you know we wanted...
00:04:15
Zak
Some more experienced hands, but not the experienced hands of McCarthy because, you know, you have summon a necromantic ritual every time you want him to play. So it's just just too much logistics.
00:04:27
Zak
So how did he appear for us this season? Yeah, so 28 goals conceded in 19 games, which is probably one of the reasons why we sent him out on loan and replaced him. And, you know, it's not entirely down to him.
00:04:41
Zak
There were some questionable decisions and questionable... sort of games and performances from our defence, but ultimately he is one of the, what most people consider to be one of the key factors as to why we were just unable to shut out opponents.
00:04:58
DailySaintsPod
Well, I think it's been clear our opinion on the show, mate, is that he was not the problem, but was problem.
00:05:07
Zak
Yeah, he was not the problem, he was a problem. And I also don't think the pressure to be a first-way goalkeeper from the club and the fans and everything is...
00:05:21
Zak
you know weve We've seen how that worked out elsewhere, right? With old matey boy whose last game for us was a 9-0, Angus Gunn, right?
00:05:28
DailySaintsPod
yeah.
00:05:29
Zak
It's just... Unfortunately, he did manage to keep two clean sheets in the start of 13 games that he played under Tonda. His last appearance for us, though, was unfortunately an infamous 4-0 loss to Middlesbrough.
00:05:43
Zak
Oh, but I wrote all of this before the player-fighter stuff, so it's even for the harder now, right? He then went on loan to Stoke after being replaced by Daniel Peretz.
00:05:55
Zak
However, that after one game, which ended 0-0, so he did keep clean sheet against QPR, he picked up another injury. And that was it until April.
00:06:05
Zak
He did come back and did keep a clean sheet against Sheffield Wednesday. Whether you consider that to be an achievement or not, who knows? But managed to concede in his next four games, which were three losses and one draw, making his last appearance at time of writing for...
00:06:24
Zak
to Millwall in a 3-1 loss, right? Because afterwards he was replaced by their goalkeeper that came back from injury that he was brought in to kind of save, right?
00:06:34
DailySaintsPod
Yeah.
00:06:35
Zak
He was on the bench for our first two EFL Cup games within the feature. He also didn't feature for Stoke in the FA Cup. either us or Stoke in the FA Cup. He did play in a game against Real Madrid's under-21s in a draw at St Mary's, right? Which I think was quite famous and like came up. I don't think the goal was claimed as his, but i was like a that was a big thing. You remember that game, Greg, right?
00:06:57
DailySaintsPod
m Yes, I do remember that. It was an exciting game. It was actually my first opportunity to see Tonda manage a match. Little did I know what that would go on to mean in the context of this season.
00:07:11
Zak
Bizarre, isn't it?
00:07:11
DailySaintsPod
But I remember that because we sat right by the the bench. I'm like, oh, they're playing a passing goal. That was interesting. it should be a really good game.
00:07:21
DailySaintsPod
And then like, i really like this head coach. He really seems to know what he's doing. He's like directing the play on the field. It's great. And if it it amuses me in hindsight that I made those observations at that game, considering what happened with the rest of the season, because...
00:07:40
Zak
there you go
00:07:41
DailySaintsPod
just Just funny that that's not really the sort of thing that any other game I would tend to notice because normally I sit in the Norval. So it's it just coincidentally happened to sit behind the bench and observe him for that game.
00:07:56
DailySaintsPod
and But yeah, that was when Baz went up for the corner and and claimed an assist. I think Nick Ojukenle got the goal in the end.
00:08:08
DailySaintsPod
i don't know.
00:08:09
Zak
Yeah, I think so. But...
00:08:10
DailySaintsPod
dubious goals committee for sure in just about every stretch.
00:08:12
Zak
For sure.
00:08:16
Zak
But, yeah. Overall, though, in 26 games, he's conceded 37 goals, kept five clean sheets and a yellow card. And I've concluded it's a rough season for the 24-year-old, really.
00:08:27
Zak
And we don't really know what's to come, to be perfectly honest.
00:08:28
DailySaintsPod
Hmm.
00:08:30
Zak
Again, the the goalkeeper situation that we have is a big stack of cards that will come tumbling down one way or another come the end of the season.
00:08:41
Zak
And whether or not he will be involved for us again, i'm not really sure. i thought I'd be... I wouldn't mind. Like, I think, again, there's a lot of pressure that's been put on him and, you know, it really depends on where we're going. But I have a feeling that he will probably want to move on himself to restart his career somewhere.
00:09:03
DailySaintsPod
Yeah, it's been enough noise about it, you know, one way and another, and enough displacement that just a fresh start is probably what's needed for him to to bolster his career as much as anything.
00:09:17
DailySaintsPod
it's you know It's not likely he's coming back here to be first choice whatever way the goalkeeper situation shakes out, and then and I kind of feel like that's what he's going want to be at this stage of his career.
00:09:23
Zak
Yeah, that's kind of where I'm at.
00:09:29
DailySaintsPod
Yeah.
Struggles in Loan Moves: Ramsdale and Taylor
00:09:39
DailySaintsPod
Thank you.
00:09:40
Zak
It's been... Yeah, it's it's been a while since he he played for us and how he was like our marquee signing for the Premier League, right? And probably would have conceded a lot more without him.
00:09:51
Zak
But also, you know, i think that a lot of people are coming around to the idea now that they'd actually prefer Peretz than him in goal, which I guess says a lot. And he's struggled under having a lot of relegations, but went on loan for the entirety of the season to Newcastle at a cost of £4 million. pounds However, he has only made a total total of 23 appearances across the whole campaign so far.
00:10:15
Zak
At the time when I wrote these notes just about a week ago, he appeared 12 times in the Premier League, conceding 17 goals and managing one clean sheet. Which, like, it's not great.
00:10:31
Zak
Not really, especially for somebody that, you know... wanted to go and prove himself and has basically spent the entirety of the season benchwarming. Because the entire the thing that I always found confusing about Ramsdale was that he wanted to come to us to get first-team football after Arsenal and Raya and the bits and pieces.
00:10:46
DailySaintsPod
Yes.
00:10:49
Zak
And then to go and sit on the bench at Newcastle, always thought was a bit of a bizarre decision, but i guess it keeps him in the Premier League and keeps him in the England running, I guess, which is the most important for some of these players.
00:10:59
DailySaintsPod
Yeah, I think that that was always going to be the definitive factor, right? It's to play at the top level and the...
00:11:09
DailySaintsPod
you know, the end of the day, there's only 20 spaces for that to exist, right? So, you know, you're probably going have to settle for for for for for that as best you can, as unfortunate as it would have been for him at the time. But, it was you know, there was not a lot of options. So...
00:11:29
Zak
True, and I think that's part of it. But one of the things he did manage to do is get some appearances in the Champions League, which is obviously not a thing he would really want to do today with us. He managed to make four appearances in total. He did, however, concede 12 goals over those four games, which sounds really bad, but his last of which was a 7-2 loss to Barcelona in March. So more than half of those goals were conceded in one game. So
00:11:58
DailySaintsPod
Yeah, which I mean, I guess is kind of fair enough that at that level. it It really is what it is, isn't it? I mean, not the first and might be the last goalkeeper to suffer at the hands of Barcelona.
00:12:07
Zak
yeah
00:12:11
DailySaintsPod
So...
00:12:11
Zak
No, 100%. So looking at... This is the thing when we talk about sometimes statistics are like, they're just that. They're not the Beal and Endo. But either way, he did play as Newcastle's primary goalkeeper for their FA Cup run, in which they beat Bournemouth 10-9 on penalties, but were later knocked out by City. And in his three appearances over the FA Cup, conceded seven goals.
00:12:37
Zak
He acted as the cupkeeper in the AFL Cup for Newcastle too. He kept the sheet a clean sheet against Spurs in the fourth round, but conceded the third round in against Bradford.
00:12:49
Zak
They made it to the semi-finals and he was on the bench for the first leg in the city. But in the second leg, he played the full 90, but Newcastle lost 3-1. So was just... Yeah, his his appearances have been sparse and struggled.
00:13:03
Zak
but He's also made some sort of key saves in the Premier League as well.
00:13:06
DailySaintsPod
Mm-hmm.
00:13:07
Zak
He's appeared a lot in their social media throughout the season. I think the general consensus is that they're unlikely to sign him. So there's a couple of news articles that I found that going to try and make sure I give to Greg as sources. But one of which was in the Schimpersette, which was the option to buy his £20 million.
00:13:28
Zak
pounds And even though he's been quite present this season for them, it's not likely that he's going to stay. And this is them going through quite a few other sort of potential leavers for Newcastle, like Trippier.
00:13:42
DailySaintsPod
Hmm.
00:13:42
Zak
And Howe said that he's been impressed by his professionalism and character this time around, but there are other of options out there. Early performances did earn him a recall to the England squad, and he was on the bench against Uruguay at the end of March. so But like honestly, it just looks like they they're not quite he's not quite the right fit for what they want. So although he's a really good...
00:14:07
Zak
you know, good professional and really great character and sort of really been brought into the fold of sort of in the North. He hasn't quite done enough for them to want to sign him and I think they've started to look elsewhere because they're probably going be cheaper options elsewhere as well, let's face it.
00:14:23
DailySaintsPod
Yeah, I think that's the the problem he's going to have, right? And I mean, yeah, it's been been fairly evident since fairly early on in his tenure from the social media that he's probably not signing full-time for Newcastle, which which again, I think, narrows his options, right? I don't know if if we go up and don't manage to sign Peretz if he wants to or would come back.
00:14:49
DailySaintsPod
And I don't know if the club, you know, it was a, it was like a very risk averse signing that Premier League season, right? Where it's like, yeah, well, we're happy to pay his wages and sign him for this money because if we go down, we'll definitely find somewhere for him to offload and offset that wage bill.
00:15:10
DailySaintsPod
bro I don't know if that's still the case.
00:15:13
Zak
Mm-hmm.
00:15:14
DailySaintsPod
So it's it's interesting. Like say, it's it's a tough market, right? Only 20 people in England will be the first choice goalkeeper for top-level team. So expectations from from from you know from my presumption of what he would expect are probably going to have to change. And whether that means... to you know, another club will take him on in the Premier League or maybe he starts looking elsewhere for that.
00:15:46
DailySaintsPod
It's just hard to say, isn't it? There's there's so many moving parts with these this goalkeeper situation that it's there like almost too many outcomes to kind of shake out and think about all of them.
00:15:59
Zak
Yeah, it's some it's it's really, especially with our own future currently up in the air, it's really difficult to see what's going to happen after, you know, I wouldn't be sp surprised potentially if one of the promoted sides decide to hit him up, you know, if you end up with like Coventry or somebody looking at him.
00:16:12
DailySaintsPod
Yeah.
00:16:15
Zak
But genuinely at this point, it's it's it's a complete unknown. And until we know what's happening with us, whether we're going up or staying in the championship, I don't think that there's, there's much we can speculate on, as you pointed out, because it's just, it's a roll of the dice. It's a roll of the dice and it's a shot in the dark. But what that was basically how his season has gone.
00:16:40
Zak
And what is probably, you know, not going to say a hundred percent, but I'm, I'm quite certain that he will not be staying at Newcastle either way. Okay.
00:16:49
DailySaintsPod
Yeah, it it seems unlikely. so
00:16:52
Zak
okay Moving on. And I've covered a couple of lone players as well that that like we're not not probably keeping. But it's just been interesting to see, you know, have we missed out? And this next man is a man that was quite forgotten.
00:17:06
Zak
He was well known for potentially not... breaking, like not not chasing somebody down after a corner, right? And then not appearing in games forever.
00:17:18
DailySaintsPod
Hmm. Hmm.
00:17:18
Zak
Charlie Taylor, who has been on loan since September at West Brom, we kept forgetting that a lot. Quite frankly, a lot of us kind of forgot that he played for us. And there's going to be a few players we go through who've gone out on loan that we kind of forget that they did actually appear for us a couple of times in like August.
00:17:37
Zak
And, you know, before all of the loan market opened up properly and when we had sort of EFL Cup victories.
00:17:44
DailySaintsPod
m
00:17:45
Zak
So he actually did manage to get on the bench once this season, Greg, in our 2-2 draw with Watford. So he is technically been a Southampton player in the championship this year.
00:17:57
Zak
He also played some minutes in the EFL victories against Northampton, where we won 1-0, and where we beat Norwich free ni That was like you know one of, I guess, the the highlights of the Will Still tenure, right?
00:17:57
DailySaintsPod
Yeah. Hmm.
00:18:09
Zak
Was that Norwich victory. were like, wow, if we could just play like this every time, and then we never managed that. However, he was in the West Orange Albion squad for the FA Cup against Swansea, where they won seven, eight on penalties playing the 120 minutes.
00:18:23
Zak
minutes Unlike when he played against Norwich for us, West Brom were knocked out after losing to everyone. So it kind of shows you, I guess, the difference. And obviously we remember what Norwich's start to the season was like as well.
00:18:39
Zak
So, you know, them knocking out West Brom, bit of a... He spent the first two games all on the bench getting a full 90 with a 1-0 draw with Leicester.
00:18:51
Zak
He then played 75 minutes in a 1-0 win against Norwich before dropping out of the squad for a game. So from October to November, he appeared pretty consistently from the bench for West Brom before spending three games on the bench and a further game against us.
00:19:04
Zak
Because obviously he couldn't play against us. So he was very spotty on and off.
00:19:09
DailySaintsPod
m
00:19:09
Zak
player for them. And then he was right in the squad consistently until he played, until West Brom played us in March. as we'll see like he But it hasn't been in the last games of West Brom before the end of the season, right?
00:19:26
Zak
He was on the bench for most of those games. So obviously there's something that happened there. You'll remember it's when West Brom got better and got a new manager.
00:19:35
DailySaintsPod
I played better, yeah, and won a load of games.
00:19:37
Zak
Yeah, yeah.
00:19:38
DailySaintsPod
Were like second on the inform table where only to us or something stupid.
00:19:38
Zak
So,
00:19:42
Zak
correct. How was his load then, I guess you would actually ask? And did we miss anything by not having him in our team? barr apparently according to Max Wilkins of West Brom News, he has been under fire since day one.
00:19:57
Zak
It's not really been a successful loan spell for him, but West Brom have struggled massively before they managed to secure safety at the end of the campaign. So it's, again, not the problem, maybe a problem, right?
00:20:09
DailySaintsPod
Yeah.
00:20:10
Zak
This is probably what it is. And Considering their financial woes and points deductions, they're very, very unlikely to want to pay his reportedly £30,000 a week wages, especially where he's played zero minutes of football since April.
00:20:25
Zak
He was stengled out in a bad performance against Oxford and got a lot of vitriol from a squad fan base at that point. And had a sofa score up to that point of 6.68, which I wouldn't bring up, but it is in some of the articles about why they're probably not going to sign him permanently, right?
00:20:45
Zak
I feel like, to be fair, like, yeah, it's it's not been a very good season for him. He was brought in on a two-year contract with the ability for us to extend. That looks incredibly unlikely. It looks like you'd probably gone at the end of the season.
00:20:58
DailySaintsPod
Yeah.
00:20:58
Zak
And i would be it would be interesting to see where he ends up
00:21:02
Zak
because I don't think it's going to be on the wages that he's currently on. And I don't think it's going to be a top tier championship side, if I'm totally honest. Wouldn't be surprised maybe if he goes to, know, Lincoln City or something like that for just providing them solid championship experience.
00:21:21
Zak
And I don't think the entirety
00:21:22
DailySaintsPod
Mm-hmm.
00:21:24
Zak
of West Bromham's season is down to him, obviously, either. I think he's probably just more of a casualty of circumstances. But when it comes to us, did we really miss him by him being out loan?
00:21:35
Zak
By the sounds of it, not really at all. He was played, you know often sometimes centre-back as well. so yeah, I feel like if you look at what we've had available and it would you put him in the spot of Manning or Wellington?
00:21:50
Zak
no. So, yeah, rough season for a couple of our loanees so far, mate.
00:21:57
DailySaintsPod
Yeah, that's yeah not not great stuff, but I guess that makes it good loan business to learn that not at our own cost, right?
00:22:07
Zak
Yeah, pretty much. And again, like he was quite consistent. And I think the managerial turmoil that West Brom had probably didn't help either. you know How many managers has he played under now in the last two years? What, like seven, eight?
00:22:21
DailySaintsPod
Yeah, that kind i can't help.
00:22:21
Zak
That's got to be like, no, not at all. And even if you're the most experienced you know head, having to deal with that much of a sort of mix around is going to be difficult.
00:22:32
DailySaintsPod
Yeah, and I mean, we saw at the start of the season the the kind of emotional hangover to a lot of these players and you know none more so, a guess, than a player who was actively singled out as one of the problems for you know a couple of these managers. So it's unfortunate.
00:22:32
Zak
Yeah.
00:22:52
Zak
Yeah, he was one of our... We went up to the Premier League and we thought we would sign a bunch of players from the teams that went down that have Premier League experience because they didn't do their proper research. And I don't think he probably had the best shot, but also kind of seemed like a weird decision at the time.
00:23:11
Zak
you know, and I think he's probably tried really hard the games he has played for us, but we just unfortunately have had more quality. So wherever he goes on, I wish him well, but yeah, I very, very much doubt we're going be triggering that extension.
00:23:24
Zak
So yeah.
00:23:24
DailySaintsPod
Yeah.
00:23:27
Zak
ROTO, probably the last one we're going to talk about today, because it turns out we actually have a lot more written down about a lot of players than I expected
Sugawara's Success at Werder Bremen
00:23:35
Zak
to. But Yukonari...
00:23:36
DailySaintsPod
I'm so shocked by that information. LAUGHTER LAUGHTER
00:23:45
DailySaintsPod
but
00:23:48
Zak
So Yukonari Sugawara, who was a bit of a shock when he went out on loan, of all of the players that we kind of expected to see go when we were talking, when there was speculation around a player having to go for his international career, this was not the player we expected it to be, if you remember rightly.
00:24:07
DailySaintsPod
yeah Yeah, I mean, it was definitely someone we thought we were likely to keep because of you know what he'd done for us last season and thought that we would build upon that.
00:24:13
Zak
Some
00:24:19
DailySaintsPod
But yeah, it turns out the Japan coach coming to World Cup wouldn't playing in one of the top five leagues. and So it kind of is what it is, I suppose.
00:24:29
Zak
some It's a strange one. Like, I do wonder, when we talk about why James Bree was sent out, I genuinely think this might be one of the reasons why. It's that we expected to have, you know, Yuki as well as everyone else that we were supposed to have.
00:24:42
Zak
You know, I don't know if we would have necessarily brought in Jalert on loan if we'd still had him.
00:24:46
DailySaintsPod
I just still think it's a strange decision based on the the the apparent quality that Brie has. I always personally rated Brie over Sugawara anyway, so it just seemed like it's such a strange one.
00:24:56
Zak
Yeah, I agree.
00:25:00
Zak
he had He had a bright start to the lot to the last season and just kind of fell off completely. And, you know, you kind of thought, actually, he might be a strong championship player, but it was surprising to see him so quickly move on. And obviously, he went to Germany to Werder Bremen.
00:25:17
Zak
In this, again, was him trying to keep his international career alive. He did play in the first two games of the Championship. He played for 60 minutes in the 2-1 win against Wrexham and as a late substitute appearance in our 1-0 draw with Ipswich. He played his only full 90 for us in our 1-0 win against Northampton in the EFL Cup.
00:25:38
Zak
So since his loan though, he's been an absolute staple in the Bremen side, playing 30 games, two as a substitute on the bench. So he has basically just been a starter for them solidly.
00:25:49
Zak
He's registered six assists this campaign and has been played at right back, but also on the midfield in the right as well, which, you know, doesn't really surprise me either. He has managed to keep his international spot in September, but was dropped in October and has then since been back in the fold.
00:26:07
Zak
He played 80 minutes in their 1-0 win against us as in England, and he played 62 minutes in their 1-0 win against Scotland. So, you know, safe to say that if the international career was the important part for him, he has secured that by making this move.
00:26:26
Zak
However, here's what we here's where we get to, Greg. His future is uncertain, with reports in January that Bremen might try to negotiate a lower fee, according to the German tabloid BILD.
00:26:40
Zak
And that's a bit of a... I had look into like sort of how reliable they are, and they are a bit of a mixed bag when it comes to reliability.
00:26:43
DailySaintsPod
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:26:48
Zak
But we'll just have to go with what's been reported. He did register assists recently in consecutive games against Hamburg and Sturgat, but nothing is certain as we still have him under contract on until 2028, and a return to Premier League football would theoretically give him another opportunity.
00:27:08
Zak
He said that he reportedly wants to stay, but it's complicated as the club might struggle to afford him. So where they have agreed like you know an opt-in-by fee afterwards, they might not even be able to meet that fee.
00:27:16
DailySaintsPod
Hmm.
00:27:24
Zak
Looking at some of the sort of the fan forums around it and some of the conversations that fans have had about it, they say it's sort of a pattern of behaviour that's really frustrating, is that they kind of
00:27:32
DailySaintsPod
Hmm.
00:27:35
Zak
keep doing this with lone players and keep kind of like almost tempting fate, but then never being able to see deals over the line or like kind of trying to shortchange people a little bit.
00:27:46
Zak
I don't think anywhere near as bad as our you know history with Trasnambur, right? With the whole Orsic and don't think it's quite like that.
00:27:51
DailySaintsPod
hmm
00:27:56
Zak
I just think it's what they keep fighting off for than they consume.
00:28:01
Zak
the... fact that we're going back the Premier League and being one of the top five, them not potentially being able to afford him, and the fact that we still have him on contract until 2028, once again, it's another player whose outcomes will probably be entirely decided by the outcomes of the playoffs, right? So if we manage to go up, potentially we might see him back next season. If they decide they don't want him at all, he might go on the transfer list,
00:28:29
Zak
is very, very ambiguous to whether or not he stays at Bremen. He's happy there, the club are happy with him, but if you can't afford it, you know, I don't know if we'll allow the cut price.
00:28:34
DailySaintsPod
Yeah.
00:28:40
Zak
Maybe we will.
00:28:41
DailySaintsPod
Yeah. So, so...
00:28:41
Zak
Maybe we're going to be in a situation to need to allow the cut price, but
00:28:44
DailySaintsPod
it it It's an interesting one and one that i I guess subconsciously have been kind of keeping an eye on. Not deliberately at all, but I did see that since January, Bremen have come out and announced that they her in March, they came out and announced they've got some like additional investment and financial backing. I think their option to buy is like 6 million euros.
00:29:10
DailySaintsPod
So it kind of feels like, yeah, it kind of feels like with Fresh Investment, that extra 2 they will probably bit the bullet.
00:29:12
Zak
Yeah, they were trying to negotiate it down to like four, is what the reports were. but
00:29:24
Zak
Maybe should go to a player you've played 30 times in a season.
00:29:28
DailySaintsPod
Yeah, it seems like a good enough deal. I mean, it's it's it's hard to put it into context, right? Because if we go up into the Premier League, six million not going to get you like a decent striker's left toe.
00:29:40
DailySaintsPod
Like it's...
00:29:40
Zak
Yeah, so it might be worth having him back, but it's it's going to be difficult because, again, it's entirely down to to what happens.
00:29:40
DailySaintsPod
Yeah. Yeah.
00:29:44
DailySaintsPod
is
00:29:48
Zak
and And this is obviously the kind trend right that we've we've seen.
00:29:51
DailySaintsPod
yeah
00:29:52
Zak
And maybe maybe there'll be some players where it's not going to really matter, the outcome, as we've already seen, like Charlie Taylor. They're not going to extend his contract. He's probably going to go Spoiler a alert, I imagine Ariba isn't going to come back.
00:30:00
DailySaintsPod
Mm-hmm.
Future Uncertainties for Loaned Players
00:30:05
Zak
Like there there is going to be a couple that have already been decided, but then there's these ambiguous ones like him and Ramsdale, I think have the most strangely uncertain future until we decide, you know, decide one way or another, whether we're going to go up or down.
00:30:18
Zak
And yeah, it's, it's more complicated, but when it comes to performances and, steve done all right. He seems to have enjoyed his football out there and he seems to be well-liked and a solid part of the side.
00:30:33
Zak
And it'll be interesting to see if any of these players could come back and reintegrate into the squad, depending on what the squad looks like. Because we know, regardless of whether we like it or not, we've probably got one game of seeing this current team that we have playing together Again, most likely, i imagine everything's going to change over the summer, up or down.
00:30:54
Zak
keep saying down. We're not going down. We're staying in the championship.
00:30:57
DailySaintsPod
Yeah.
00:30:58
Zak
But like it's going to feel like it, I think. so yeah, that is where we're going to leave it today. We've still got couple of other players to come. As you imagine, we've got some midfielders and some strikers that are out on loan that we'll talk about.
00:31:11
Zak
But yeah, that is all we've got time for today. i hope everybody has enjoyed this little break from the
Podcast Wrap-Up and Promotion
00:31:19
Zak
chaos. Thank you, Greg, as always, for joining me, as I always like to join you.
00:31:24
Zak
It's always great. I'm sure you like an episode where you can kind of just be a passenger.
00:31:30
DailySaintsPod
your Your research episodes are some of my favourite things because I always learn so much and in particular with these stuff.
00:31:37
Zak
it's It's always fun. It's always fun because it's like, this is where I use my degree. but Like, like, sources and all those bits and pieces that I put out, it's all part fun.
00:31:49
Zak
But yeah, obviously, thank you to all our wonderful listeners and supporters. <unk>s but a It's been a bit of a weird week to be a Saints fan. It's definitely been a weird week to be a Saints podcast.
00:32:01
Zak
You can obviously catch us on all of the social medias.
00:32:04
Zak
We are on X, the Everything app, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Blue Sky. think we might even be on LinkedIn now. I can't remember.
00:32:15
Zak
We're everywhere. So check us out. We will be back next week. Don't know what we'll be doing. We'll probably do part two of this to start the week up with, unless we need to do some sort of crazy emergency bonus episode, which I'm hoping we have no crazy, hectic news.
00:32:35
DailySaintsPod
sailing from this point forward, right? Part two of this and then four days of build-up to the biggest game of the season. Yeah.
00:32:41
Zak
There it is. Right. So, yeah, that's that. As you can tell, i haven't done an outro for a while. So thank you all for listening and we will see you in the next one.