With new owners Sport Republic now in place Ralph Hasenhuttl will now be talking to them and assessing where his squad needs strengthening, also on the agenda is who will need to be moved on.

Saints have a number of players out of contract in July, these include all four goalkeepers on the books, Fraser Forster, Willy Caballero, Alex McCarthy & Harry Lewis, striker Shane Long, defender Jack Stephens and of course loan signing Armando Broja.

The rumour mill tells us that Alex McCarthy has been offered a new deal, but these rumours have been going on since October when he was first choice keeper, Ralph said back in the summer that he would be looking to keep one of either him or Fraser Forster, the balance of power has changed in that position now and so could the Austrian's views on the position.

If McCarthy did sign a new deal then why was it not announced back then, I think that the goalkeeper position is still far from decided, I think a new man will come in and as it stands who will be his deputy will depend on money, Fraser Forster will command more money and is undergoing a revival, whereas Alex McCarthy will be the cheap option, he would not be able to get the salary of Forster either by leaving St Mary's or staying.

The decision here may be mainly financial, although if Saints cannot land an experienced keeper at the right price, I would not be surprised to see Forster start next season as the number 1 whilst they re assess their plans.

Jack Stephens is another quandary, whatever I say here, I am sure someone will accuse me of being biased, but I am going to try and be impartial, in truth my view on Stephens has remained the same for the last 5 years, he is a good squad player who can come in and do a job when needed, but he is not a man who is able to give you 38 games a season at the standard required in this league.

I feel as a back up player he is an asset to the club, we are not Manchester City we cannot afford to pay £40 million for Nathan Ake to be our back up centre half, we have to cut our cloth and in that respect Stephens is a good fit.

So the question for Ralph is whether he is the man to play that role next season, as it stands he is probably 4th choice in the centre of defence behind Mohammed Salisu, Jan Bednarek & Lyanco, Ralph also has the up and coming Dynel Simeu currently out on loan to gain experience and he has also used Yan Valery in the position.

He has six centre halves, that is too many, he might well consider that he now has the chance to get one of them off the books and take it, turning 29 during next season, Jack is not one for the future and Sport Republic's take may be that he doesn't fit their profile.

My question here would be, "Would we be looking to sign him if he played for another club" ?

I think the answer would be no, so I would not be surprised if we let him go and freed up the wages for elsewhere, Sport Republic will apply their philosophy not just to players we are looking to sign, but those on the books at present.

You could apply this to Alex McCarthy as well, if they have as rumoured signed new deals already they might just have got lucky, if they haven't then aside from why haven't they, I think their futures at the club are very uncertain.

But Hasenhuttl will also be looking to move on other squad members who for one reason or another might not figure in his plans.

These are in the main players whose contracts expire in 2023 and with a year left the club will need to make a decision either to offer them a new deal or sell them now.

Perhaps the highest profile of these is Nathan Redmond, he gets criticism in some quarters, but he has still been a vital player this season when fit, he is up there with the number of assists provided and although he has suffered injury in the second half of the season, it might be considered that given his transfer value is given as £16 million by transfermarkt, it represents better value to sign him to a new deal than sell him.

Likewise Mohammed Elyounoussi, at the start of this season he looked likely to leave the club again on loan with a view to a permanent departure at the end of the season, but he has played his way into Ralph Hasenhuttl's plans.

His value is given as £9 million and although he has been seen as a success this season, it should be noted that his contributions in the Premier League are not matching the standards that over the past few seasons have earned Nathan Redmond stick from some quarters if we say Elyounoussi is the man who has taken over Redmond's position this season and compare them like for like.

That being the case I would suggest that we would be looking to keep one and sell one this summer.

Theo Walcott & Yan Valery are also out of contract in 2023, but I would expect them to stay as back up players unless a decent offer comes in that makes it worth our while.

Moussa Djenepo is another who will have a year left on his deal in the summer, at times he has showed he has the talent, but truth is he has not done it enough times and this season has perhaps been his worse at the club although he has been hampered by injury, again I think we will look to take a good offer for him, but whether he leaves or now will depend on how much he is on at St Mary's and how much he can get elsewhere.

So as I have said there are a number of players who will leave the club in the summer, the decks are being cleared and wages freed up for new signings, room for sentiment is not going to be a criteria, it is going to about applying the Sport Republic philosophy and that means moving on players when it is the most optimum time to do so, whether a fee is involved or not.

Photo: Action Images

Block8 added 10:08 - Mar 25 Good article Nick and an area where we all will have our views, here's mine. Goalkeeper - Keep Forster unless we can sign better at less wages. CB - We need a better first choice CB than we currently have, which we can see every week, Salisu is one for the future but is still error prone, Jack should be moved on and maybe also Jan if we can get the right fee? Also as you have said we have Simeu to come in, I would maybe also let Valery go if the offer was right. Midfield/Winger - Unless we can find better I would keep both Redders & Ely but definitely let Djenepo and Walcott leave. We have looked a more solid unit with Elyounoussi playing but Redmond could be a very effective impact player, with his pace later in games. The biggest dilema is how are we going to replace Broja? I know we have to stop leaking silly goals but we need to keep on scoring goals too. There are also a few loan players out there that could offer us some options, I feel for these guys as smaller premier league clubs like us can't really afford the time to allow them to develope! Perhaps when Sport Republic buy the other two clubs they are looking for this might change but thats fntasy right now!

3

codge added 12:57 - Mar 25 Well Nick you might not want to say it but l will every time Stephens plays he’s an accident waiting to happen, and if l am being honest he would barely be a utility player in the Championship, just my personal opinion but there you are sorry if it upsets some people but that’s how l feel after getting frustrated watching him play.
3

IWOZTHERE added 17:57 - Mar 25 I'd assert that a whole raft of 'second string' players have not been productive enough to earn either a first team place or a move. Like FF, they are also unlikely to take a reduction in wages to drop down a division. As such, I'm concerned that we will be lumbered with sub standard players and their wages as we have been in the recent past? I include most of Walcott, Redmond, Djen, Ely, Stephens, and Diallo. That's six. Add at least one goalie, and Adam Armstrong who I think will come good somewhere but was a mistake as he's too similar to Adams? We won't get Broja, but he's shown us the sort of striker we need to invest (big) in..... I hope the owners will invest cos I can't see us recouping much for any of the above?

0

DellBoyWally added 19:02 - Mar 25 My squad: GKs: FF + A N Other. Back 4: KWP, Lyanco, Sali, Simeu, Valery, Perraud. DMs, Romeu, JWP Diallo. AMs: StueyA, Timo, Ely, Tete. Forwards: AdamA, Che, A N Other Maybe if Leeds go down we go after Bamford, a proven PL scorer?
0

underweststand added 10:47 - Mar 26 I agree with most of your assessments in a well-constructed article (Nick). Ralph is in a minority with his adoration of Alex Mc. and a revived Forster is much better, harry Lewis must find himself a good L1 club, but a new goalie signing must be on the cards, but another season with Willy C. as back-up keeper would do no harm. Full back places look good with KWP playing "anywhere", but it's still a first season for Livramento and Perraud and both will improve given time. Interesting to see what happens to the on-loan Vokins and Ramsay return. Valery has never had a good run of games so there's a big (?) there. Other names (Small, Simeu ) won't be regulars soon. Jack Stephens has been "pro" longer than JWP , but still hasn't nailed a regular spot. I think he'll stay, but a move to a Championship club (or a promoted Plymouth side?) would give him regular game time. IF... Lyanco and Salisu can get their acts together,and be sign A.N.OTHER CB it would give more depth at the back. Same might be said for Diallo, although I'm already sold on the "new look" Elyounoussi and we still have to wait for an injury-free Will Smallbone to properly come - on line. Adam Armstrong's start has mirrored the Horror show that Ché Adams had in his first season - but he will surely improve when we find the right role for him, but when Broja (inevitably) returns to Chelsea, we will need to find another " big man " up top PDQ . For someone who goes back to the 1960's, I always like to see a type of; Kirby, Davies, Channon, Le Tiss, Beattie, Lambert or Pelle, playing alongside a speedy goalscorer (type) O'Brien, Boyer, Moran, Pahars, Lallana, or Ings to complement " a big man " up top. That role may be easily filled with more consistent performances from Ché and/or Adam. Which leaves us with the " also-rans ". Nice for old time sake to see Walcott again, but he was never going to be here forever. Both Nathan Redmond and Djenepo showed good promise to start with, but have sadly lost their way. Shane Long has lasted longer than many of his contemporaries and may have another season in him - but not with Saints. There are a few promising talents coming through the Academy, but it's too early to see them as potential first team squad prospects (as yet). One thing is certain, I think we will see the biggest squad turnover since the Koeman's arrived and promptly signed up 8 new players pre-season.

3

halftimeorange added 21:34 - Mar 26 This is all very well debating what we would like but, to my mind, we have to retain those players who are EPL standard, excepting Broja who surely won't be here. The few good 'uns we have are KWP, Livramento, Perraud, Romeu, JWP, Stuart A, Adams and that's it. We then have those who might play well but, not consistently. They are Forster, Ely, Salisu, Bednarek, Lyanco. They'd struggle to find another EPL club. The rest are Championship standard at best, even when giving their all. There needs to be some rapid and smart recruitment to cement our place in the top division as we've flirted with relegation on and off for a few years. We won't always get away with it.

-3

Peterx added 13:19 - Mar 28 Would like to see Valery and Djenepo get more chances this season before we decide on them, just feel that there are players there that could be worth keeping.
0

TeamCortese added 14:17 - Mar 30 Peterx: Valery's had his time, unfortunately. He had the right-back spot a few seasons ago but didn't show enough hunger to retain it and improve his overall game. This was rightly taken by KWP who is definitely an upgrade. The fact he hasn't pushed for a move away since for regular game time elsewhere given that we also brought Tino in (putting him further down the pecking order) speaks for itself about his ambition and aspirations as a footballer. Djenepo deserves another chance but he has to change his attitude. Don't get me wrong he works really hard for the team but HE NEEDS TO CALM DOWN! Especially when he's on the ball. I can't for the life of me understand how this hasn't been fed to him in training. He's also lost a lot of confidence and most probably needs to reset. He might benefit from going on loan to the Championship or even a stint in French Ligue 1. Nonetheless, I still maintain a confident Moussa is among our most talented attackers.

0

Blogs 31 bloggers

Southampton Polls