Chairman Ralph Krueger is now being quoted in the press discussing the sensitive subject of transfers out of the club with speculation showing no sign of slowing down when it comes to the future of Adam Lallana, Luke Shaw and Jay Rodriguez in the main.
The quotes are pretty much everywhere today, and Krueger is basically saying that the club are in no great rush to conclude any offers that may come in, because playing squad changes ahead of the coming season will include input from our new manager – whoever that may pan out to be.
‘It’s very clear that we are in control of all the player transfers. All the top players are under long term contracts. Any transfers that take place will be under our terms. We will decide the terms to potential transfers in and out of the club. We will involve the manager. That is important for everybody to know.’
I suppose you could read that as meaning the club already have a clear mind on potential replacements, and whilst I’m sure the club probably had a strong inkling on Pochettino before things became ‘official’ and could start the process of identifying a new manager quietly before this all came to a head, I’d be amazed if we were that close yet unless preparations began many months back.
Krueger goes on to say.
‘We have been able to not agree to any transfers to date because we have control of the situation, and anybody who is saying anything else doesn’t understand that we are in a strong position with the Saints. We do not need to sell.’
Whether that’s an implied confirmation that bids have come in previously or not, or a muddled ‘we are in control, and no bids have come in, so obviously we are in control’ scenario is probably open to debate, but we all know how football works and if a player wants out nine times out of ten they get their wish regardless of the position of the club, so it’s still wait and see time really – at least in our favour nobody is making any real noises about moving which is usually the case, but whether that’s a positive or just natural professionalism to do things the right way, we’ll know soon enough.
One bit of potential player unrest, comes from midfielder Victor Wanyama, and if fans remember he wasn’t slow to come forward during his mildly protracted transfer to us in the first place, so he is somebody who seems to talk ‘in the moment’ but clearly he hasn’t been happy with the departure of Mauricio Pochettino as he’s quoted as saying.
‘I wanted him to remain because he had the passion for the club and I think the owners should not have let him go because the team can do better next season. It’s a big blow because he had a good connection with the players. He played a big role in my career development. I learned a lot from him, he taught me more and that’s why I have grown as a player and there is a big difference compared to when I was at Celtic.’
To be honest, quite what he thinks the board could’ve done is beyond me, Poch had one year left and just like players who want out, it’s sometimes counter productive to hold them to contract – as they mean little in football reality anyway.
There’s no doubt though this will cause some unrest in the proverbial dressing room, how much remains to be seen, but Poch was popular but again it’s football, managers leave and players have a job to do.
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