Manchester United, West Ham And Leeds Circling Over Southampton
Tuesday, 15th Apr 2025 13:22

With Saints relegation now confirmed it is natural for other clubs to look towards us as a place to buy players cheaply and there could be 4 or 5 of our best players leaving come the summer, the rumour mill is starting.

Today's big Southampton news on the internet concerns Manchester United, the former giants of the Premier League, now in one of their worst periods of the last 35 years are blaming a lot of it on their goalkeepers and now it is claimed that St Mary's could be their shop of choice.

footballleagueworld.co.uk claim that Aaron Ramsdale is top of United's wish list and are very interested given that Ramsdale reportedly has a £25 million release clause.

This is pretty much what Saints paid for the keeper and although they will be happy to get back what they paid for Ramsdale this summer, they will hope that the price could be pushed up if a bidding war was to break out.

Of course Leeds United's name in the running is yet to be decided, if they fail to gain promotion, then they will definitely not be looking to buy Ramsdale and are likely to be conducting a fire sale of their own.

Although Ramsdale will be a loss, he has been one of Saints most consistent performers this season, the club will feel that with Gavin Bazunu having returned to action on loan at Standard Liege in Belgium, that they will have a ready made replacement for next years return to the Championship.

Although there are some Saints supporters who do not rate Bazunu, it has to be said he played a big part in the Promotion season and you don't go on a 23 game unbeaten run if you have a dodgy keeper.

All Photos Via Reuters

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City_boy added 14:03 - Apr 15 I think suggesting Bazunu played a 'big' part in our Promotion last year is very generous. Yes, he was in the Squad/team, but his stats were not too impressive.
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saintmark1976 added 14:32 - Apr 15

If Bazunu is between the sticks next season we will not be promoted.

He may be a better than average distributor of the ball with his feet but the rest of his game is poor by any metric.

To be frank, I don’t even think we would have made The Championship playoffs had he not been injured toward the end of the season.

McCarthy gets a lot of stick but his inclusion at Bazunu’s expense was ultimately the reason we got to Wembley.

Bowlercow added 14:51 - Apr 15 As a newly promoted club Leeds would be mad to buy Rambo They would be favourites for relegation and he already has 3 relegations on hi CV Is he better than Onana? Probably but a host of clubs are being linked WHU,Chelsea and Bournemouth to name but a few.l think that given a choice he would prefer to stay south of the Watford gap
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DellBoyWally added 15:54 - Apr 15 Bazunu is a poor shot-stopper as has been proven by his stats: worst on PL when relegated last time; third-worst in Championship last season. And before his supporters blame the defence, it's "shotstopping" so attempts are graded as to their difficulty. In Bazunu's case, he can't stop the easy attempts. Agree with StMark; we need a proper keeper.
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underweststand added 16:35 - Apr 15

(Nick).. you mentioned 4 or 5 players likely to leave ( I think we'd all have the same list) but this article seems to centre on goalkeepers. YES ..Ramsdale will certainly leave for A.N.OTHER Prem. side who have a better defence and hopefully there will be an "auction" otherwise we will make a big loss on the whole deal. I recall the catastrophic year that Sunderland were relegated with record goals against and their keeper was (one) Jordan Pickford. He went to Everton, kept them up every season and also won 70 England caps.

Bazunu seems to have a lifetimes contract (in some eyes) but with Lumley OOC in the summer, and McCarthy with one year left - to sit out on our bench - we can expect some new names in "the keeper dept." Not sure how Bazunu has performed on his loan out (?) and unless they are really keen to keep him (?)...he will be back with us after the summer.

With Shea Charles returning from his loan with Sheff. Wed. we might just see his goalie brother coming too - especially if Danny R. gets the managers job. Of those names above mentioned, they might just DAJFU in the Championship, but we really need " another type of Ramsdale"- if we are to get promoted again and be capable of staying up - longer term.

Colburn added 16:44 - Apr 15

Does anyone still believe these paper stories? They all need several articles each day as click bait and it tends to work..
Rambo is obviously going to go, the other 3 are league 1 standard and we won’t be promoted if any of them are between the sticks. After McCarthy turning into a PlayStation keeper against Liverpool, I don’t see why we don’t move him on as well. Bazunu was nowhere near top level and part of the reason we ended 4th instead of 2nd.
The club have to get this summer right with personnel in and out and that includes keeping Fernandes and Dibling. There is no point otherwise, considering we will bring in enough for other players to stay afloat and competitive.

KilkennySaint added 18:45 - Apr 15

Bazunu or McCarthy would be adequate in the championship, problem is there not good enough for the premier league if we get back. This is a problem not just with the keepers but most of the squad we have. I would like to see the club have somewhat of a vision and build a team around players that can improve and develop to a higher level.

If the team next year consists mostly of THB, Wood, Edwards, Wellington, Fernandes, Dibling, Charles, Downes, Edozie , a couple strong signings (has to be quality over quantity this time), this is something i can get behind, the club as a vision and looking to create a squad that has the potential to improve & grow in the coming seasons.

If the team next year consists Stephens, Bednarak, Manning, Sugawara, Bree, Aribo, Smallbone, Fraser, Diaz, Armstrong, Onuachu, Archer, Sulemana, I'm out, it shows SR has learned nothing since they been and still willing to roll out the same crap we been looking at for too long.

Also, i don't buy into keeping players that will be good in the championship, that's only a short term fix, if they get us promotion there is no chance we can take them up with us again, we weren't ruthless after the playoffs, so many players had to go, we need to start that process now.

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kingolaf added 20:33 - Apr 15 You’re judgement of keepers in s horrendous, just like Bazunu’s goalkeeping ability. One of the worst pro keepers I’ve ever seen.
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Block8 added 16:22 - Apr 16 Get an experienced (Decent) keeper in and let Baz go out on loan again. He's put in some very good performances for the Repulic and needs time to develop, we've nothing to lose getting him more game time. It also allows us to monitor his progress, or lack of as some suspect!
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