Saints are being reported as trying to make a loan signing from Manchester City, but is there any substance in the rumours.

Saints target is supposedly 20 year old winger Patrick Roberts who has spent the last season and a half on loan at Celtic.

Last season he started 20 SPL games with a further 12 off the bench scoring 9 times following 9 (2) appearances in the first part of his loan the previous season and 6 goals.

However it is hard to judge his standard given that Celtic have had no competition since Rangers demise and relegation a few years ago and last term won 34 and drew 4 of their 38 games, it is hardly a tough enviroment to assess a player.

For City Roberts has played just once, four minutes as sub two years ago and his career seems to be at a crossroads and perhaps not been the success he had hoped since joining City from Fulham in the summer of 2015 for £12 million after making only 2 starts for the London club plus 17 as sub, a couple of those in the Premier League where his debut was ironically coming on as a second half sub in Fulham's 5-0 defeat at Manchester City.

Celtic are again keen to take him on loan, but City ould prefer him to be at a premier League club in England where they can better assess his progress and whether he has the potential to break into their squad at some stage.

From a Saints viewpoint it is hard to see why they would be interested, mainly because they have a plethora of options in wide position, Nathan Redmond, Dusan Tadic, Sofiane Boufal, Josh Sims and even the option of using Sam McQueen or Shane Long in such a role.

So perhaps this rumour is more about where City, the player himself and indeed his agent would prefer him to go, rather than a real desire from Saints to sign him.

Photo: Action Images

Sanguin added 09:39 - Jul 19 Nothing in this one, unless it’s a loan to buy option.
1

SaintBrock added 10:10 - Jul 19 Agree Nick, this can't be true.
2

redandwhitedee added 10:35 - Jul 19 Now we're talking. This guy will be a fantastic addition to our squad. By the way, your comment is a bit baffling " it is hardly a tough enviroment to assess a player." ... I would suggest to you that Southampton have already a decent grasp of which players from the SPL can succeed here.. Forster, Wanyama, Virgil, Steven Davis, and even going back to the days of Danny Fox, Anti Niemi and Rudi Scacel, Cant think of many Saints failures really from the SPL apart from Neil McCann.

0

Keesie66 added 12:12 - Jul 19 Jay Rod scores on his WBA debut after 10 minutes...... thunderbolt...... I question......
2

IWOZTHERE added 13:06 - Jul 19 Getting disheartened by all these unsubstantiated rumours, particularly when they only seem to involve bargain basement prices or loan deals. What's the point or is everything on hold pending the club 'sale'? This is damaging.
3

StRipper added 00:04 - Jul 20 The players that we want are hanging on, hoping a bigger club comes in for them, as was the case with Boufal. We just need to wait, I'm sure someone special will come in
0

TeamCortese added 07:02 - Jul 20 This doesn't excite me. Why haven't we gone in for Hernandez or iheanacho? Why haven't we gone in for Sakho or even Wimmer? Where is the ambition and money? How can we say we're good at developing young players yet stifle their development by potentially developing players on loan from other clubs? I just want something to change. Even if we sell all our best player and have a genuine change in ownership that really wants to develop the club that would make me happier and more invested. Even Arsenal have seen the light and that's only because their fans had had enough. We're still operating on this stupid buy low sell high model. KL should just get out! If you don't have the money to run a football then don't run a football club! At the moment these buffoons don't care about the fans!!!!

0

TimSaint added 14:28 - Jul 24 TeamCortese - I don't believe there is anything in this and will be just another idle journalist doing an agent a favour, in an attempt to get his player a move. There are far better, more accomplished players that I'm sure we are after, so once we are back from France and the manager has fully assessed the players, there may be some transfer activity. As for the players you mention: Hernandez - 16m we can afford, but paying him 140k a week - big no !! Wimmer - 20m no way - he has only had a few appearances in the Prem and is more correctly priced at the 6-7m Spurs paid for him. Sahko - Valued at 30m by Liverpool, so if he is that good - which he definitely is not - why are they not playing him instead of Lovren or Matip ? I would be devastated if we paid 30m for him. He is not worth half that and if he was, don't you think Palace would have signed him by now ? I think we will have one or 2 established, or name signings in the coming weeks, plus perhaps another decent defender, depending on the VvD situation - I really wanted Nathan Ake to play along side VvD this coming season - but doubt I will see either !! I also believe one of the signings will be fairly 'marquee' in an attempt to appease the fans, but this should have all been sorted out a couple of weeks back. We always go into the season unprepared and despite having so much time, it is the same every year. We the fans, are just perceived as customers - so there is no sense of loyalty towards us from the club.

0

Blogs 31 bloggers

Southampton Polls