LDN Blue

Enter Varane..

Think of the profit my man $_$. Next job, let's get them kit deals.. In the words of Dalglish,

Get out of here you plastic glory hunter!

Not true, Shaw has actually been scouted by various clubs for longer than just this season.. He was also prominent last season so he's actually maintained this for over 2 years. He's a graduate of a very successful Southampton academy too so I highly doubt many people would've been dismissive. The only advantage we would've had is not having to pay £30m because we could have had him prior to a contract extension and then he would've been much cheaper and in an Azpilicueta situation. It's a poor argument. Every top player has to start somewhere. They said the same thing about Bale when Tottenham came up against Inter Milan and at the time the best RB in the world Maicon.. By the end of that game everyone in the world was singing "taxi for Maicon." His lack of experience against Ronaldo (he has come up v Bale.) could be turned around and I can say you haven't had a chance to see he can take on Ronaldo.

Could've been Vitesse captain by now!

COME ON INGERLAND

We'll have to wait and see regarding their transfer targets, BR won't be a fool though he'll definitely look at bringing in center backs

Hahaha indeed.. Although you've got to take Henderson off that now to be fair, BR has had a positive impact on him.

So Liverpool now bid £25million of Lallana. This is back to Dalglish spending. Lallana will be nothing but a squad player, he might play more this season but eventually they'll replace him in the following window. He's definitely not worth that imo.

Such painful memories of that thread, the amount of headlines day in-day out about how it was going to happen, going to happen, going torres..

You're joking?! - How many Hazards are there? We've got a trio of brothers in the academy too LMAO

And we all argued he's better defensively ffs lol!! That is a reason why I hope we're not buying an LB to be backup to Azpili, he'll flourish even further at RB!

Baines will be fine, Roy said it was precautionary and he could've finished the game.

You're being sarcastic right?

Starts v Bolivia right now with Azpilicueta

What could've been from Adrian Mutu.. Bloody coke head

I do, because he's shown that he is living up to the billing. To do it in one season, as many do, is one thing.. To then continue that consistency into a second season is something special. Southampton were successful because Rodriguez was scoring goals, Lallana was making a difference in winning midfield battles but who were most people talking about? Luke Shaw. Without his contributions, along with Lovren in defense Southampton would not have been as successful. A full-back won't single handedly win you a game, I agree, but he is going to make sure the guy who does is going to get a hell of a lot of support from him. I.e. him supporting Hazard on the left-wing. Of course it wouldn't be a sin should that happen, and you're right it is a matter of hindsight. But, to me anyway, it seems more logical to go for the the option who's more likely to give you longevity than the one who'll give you all of 3-4 seasons. If there's anything we've learnt from Luiz, Thiago Silva, Marquinhos etc, it's that the game is full of appreciation for attacking defenders and their prices are continuing to increase ever season. As said earlier, Ramos went to Real for €27m, Dani Alvez went for £23million + £7million add-ons. Shaw is simply unlucky Southampton weren't in Europe to showcase his already established talent.

Has that takeover been confirmed now?

If I could, I'd like to dissect this with you. Mata, I believe it wasn't sustainable to have both him an Oscar. Managers tried the combination of Oscar, Mata, Hazard but it presented evident problems that just wasn't able to have them function (probably because Mata/Oscar aren't wide players). Mourinho made a judgment call and only time will tell if he made the right one. But if Van Gaal is even ready to sell Mata....? KDB: Very unlucky, I think he actually did suit our style but my belief is that his sale was simply down to the fact we had too many players for him to compete with. On top of Hazard, Oscar and Mata (at the time) he's also got Willian & Schurrle occupying the wider roles. for KDB it was either stick it out or leave and no-one can have any qualms with him leaving. Luiz: As many have said, I don't think Luiz could have ever reached his potential in England. Technical defenders simply don't have the space to flourish like they would in Spain or France or Germany. We're not about the tiki taka b/s, he'd have struggled at City, Liverpool and/or United. It's why he did excel in Europe though, to an extent. Lukaku: Well, Mourinho is wrong here. Hopefully, he'll realise that before it's too late. Oscar: Oscar suits us, I believe. He's shown it to us when he first arrived and he demonstrated it to Mourinho in the first half of the season. For whatever reason he's done a Jekyll/Hyde and we must hope it's an issue of form/confidence.

Until he has one bad season where we'll beg PSG to sign him and we'll take the next flavour of the month

Agreed it's a risk, but looking at the way Shaw's progressed over the last 2 years in the Premier League I can understand why Southampton have put this valuation on him. They've seen guys like Oxlade, Bale, Walcott etc go for peanuts and they've gone onto to be stars so they're trying to reap rewards from their academy products. We would be putting our eggs into one basket, yes, but that being said it's less of a risk when it comes to a full-back. The only thing that's going to hamper Shaw's progression right now is a serious injury and that's beyond anyone's control. He's not in a position that requires confidence to always be up there, like a striker or attacking midfield player. He'll have support in defense from Terry & Cahill and whoever sits deep alongside Matic. He'll also have help from Hazard on the wing or, if Mourinho chooses to, Willian. To spend £20m on a player you're getting 3 seasons max out of is more of a sin then £30m on someone who could give you 15. Like I said before, sometimes you have to take age out the equation and judge a player on the merits they present. Shaw has been one of the most consistent LBs in the league, he was definitely up there with Azpili and Baines last season too and that alone.. In this league, is a big statement for anyone to make. United took Rooney on for £30m at the age of 18 and they haven't looked back because they gambled and it paid off. We're willing to gamble such sums on players in the n10, striker etc.. Why not a full-back then?

Lol, even if Courtois was set to be #1.. Mourinho wouldn't list Cech for transfer. Plus he's not just going to hand the #1 shirt to Courtois. He's going to play him and make him prove he deserves it, then he'll ask Cech if he wants to fight for it. It's not like we sold Cudicini straight away. Mourinho obviously won't stand in Cech's way, should he want to leave, but he can be persuasive in getting him to stay.

Firstly, never say "no offence" about Liverpool.. Offend them as much as you'd like Secondly, I see what you're saying but you have to bare in mind Lambert isn't the cream of the crop of their signings. He's just there for depth and something they want to secure asap. I fear we're going to see bigger names over the coming months.

Hahaha I KNOW RIGHT! Another three years for us to continue laughing at their seasonal rise & fall. Imagine Arsenal with a half decent manager

I actually agree with you. I think we've simply hampered him too much and he's just not going to find his confidence with us. If we keep sending him on loan it's just going to reinforce our lack of belief in him. and you're right, a club like Southampton would be ideal for him. Cork revived his career with them, of course now everything depends on their next manager. It's not even us cutting our losses.. It's for the player himself to rediscover his talent.