Southampton

[sinkov]

Sam Wallace has a big piece on them in today's Telegraph, all about their problems and how they intend to resolve them, this is part of it.

"On Wednesday, the one-year anniversary of Sport Republic’s takeover of Saints from the inert ownership of Chinese investor Gao Jisheng, Jones’ Southampton side fell to their fourth defeat of his new era. It was the club’s sixth in a row. This cut that much deeper for being at home to Nottingham Forest and the home crowd responded angrily. Sport Republic is chiefly funded by founder Dragan Solak, a Serb billionaire. They have invested additional funds in the club, but on the pitch, performance has gradually declined.

This month they will have to do again with a transfer window upgrade of your to £30 million that will begin with the Croatia striker Mislav Orsic, who had his medical on Thursday ahead of a £6 million move from Dinamo Zagreb. The club are looking at an experienced centre-half such as Michael Keane, having failed to sign Conor Coady in the summer. They have looked at Terem Moffi, a 23-year-old Nigerian striker at Lorient in France. They have tried unsuccessfully to persuade Danny Ings to return. They may even bring Jan Bednarek, on loan at Aston Villa, in from the cold.

There is a theme running through the targets in this emergency window for Saints: experienced, older players. Orsic is 30. For Saints, who signed six players under the age of 21 in the summer, it is an admission that not every decision by the new owners has worked out."

No mention of Tella, and no mention of Tella in the entire piece, where Wallace emphasises that they're looking for experience to keep them up. Doesn't mean they won't recall Tella, but if they are intending to, it seems to have passed Sam Wallace by, so might be good news for us.

[warminsterclaret]

It looks like a deckchairs Titanic job to me. We'll see.

[Swissclaret]

I have read several articles about the Saints and not one has mentioned recalling Tella.

The club seems to be looking for experience, rather than youth. Let’s hope they see that as their salvation and leave Tella alone. It would not be the death - knell for us, but I would far rather keep him and even make it permanent.

[Claret_Matelot]

We battered Bournemouth yesterday with 54% possession and didn't even need to bring Tella on in the 70th minute. It would be a loss but at some point we need to be able to win games without any of our loan players.

[sinkov]

Three wins in a week for Southampton, do they really need a player who isn't even starting in the Championship ? Nah, not at all, leave him at Burnley.

[The Bedlington Terrier]

Three wins in a week for Southampton, do they really need a player who isn't even starting in the Championship ? Nah, not at all, leave him at Burnley.

It's all part of VK's Cunning Plan sinkov...

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