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Saints Linked With Liverpool Defender
Saturday, 7th Jan 2017 10:20

Saints again being linked with Liverpool in the transfer window, but for once the deal is about a player coming South rather than moving North.

Saints are being linked with Liverpool central defender Mamadou Sakho a player who when he joined Liverpool for £18 million in the summer of 2013 had a big reputation both for his time at Paris St Germain and also with the French national side with whom he had broken through as a regular.

But his reputation has been destroyed at Liverpool and now he finds himself isolated by Jurgen Klopp and has yet to make even the squad this season let alone play a game, even when Liverpool have rested players for league cup matches.

Although he looks a little ungainly, Sakho is not only big and strong defensively but able to carry the ball forward and in many respects could be a perfect partner for Virgil Van Dijk in the short term.

His shortcomings at Liverpool were mainly about his positional sense, however the gung ho style of Liverpool was perhaps not suited to his style and his ability to carry the ball forward meant he was out of position as teams counter attacked.

Sakho knows that he needs to leave Liverpool to resurrect his career before it goes even further out of sight and Saints could be a good move for him with Claude Puel knowing his playing style well from their time in France.

The cost will be far less than the £18 million Liverpool paid in 2013 even though the player is only 18 months into the new 5 year contract he signed in the summer of 2015 as Liverpool will be keen to get some money back as well as his wages off the books.

Photo: Action Images



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perazi added 10:22 - Jan 7
Hope we sign him - good player.
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GeordieSaint added 10:25 - Jan 7
Fatty.
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vanmans added 10:33 - Jan 7
Hope we sign someone. After reading Les Reeds half term report on this season in the Echo it does not look like it.
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SanMarco added 10:48 - Jan 7
I agree there vanmans - Les has told us to keep calm. Evidently fans who think the football has been boring would feel happier if the games were more exciting and we will all feel happy if we get to the League Cup final. I have already forgotten the other highlights but basically Les and Claude feel our pain, oh and if those midfielders could just manage to score a goal or two.

Although I am obviously being slightly sarky I do have to say that at least someone at the club is saying something intelligible to us - even if it just "keep calm and carry on"...

Oh and was Sakho the one suspended for drugs??
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highfield49 added 11:24 - Jan 7
I believe he was suspended for testing positive to a "fat burning substance". Decent, strong player who will be signed by someone this month as he doesn't figure in Liverpool's plans. However that is the worrying thing, is his attitude suspect or is Lovren a better player? Hopefully the board will make the right decisions this month cos we can't make them for them despite our best verbal efforts.
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the_saint added 12:13 - Jan 7
He is a very good central defender I have a friend who is a Liverpool season ticket holder and rates him very high he has just fell out of favour with klopp, I have watched him a few times and always been impresssed so thets go and get him les
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sidsaint added 13:10 - Jan 7
I am surprised that we have not gone back for Morgan Schneiderlein. He had a great reputation here and played fair with the club as we did for him. With a French manager here I would have thought we would have had him under the microscope ever since Man Utd ruined him. As for showing ambition I realise that his wages would be much higher but the likes of West Brom as well as Everton have seen him for what he was to attract Man U in the first place and see him as a major influence for years to come. I know we like to keep our dealings quiet but it is frustrating to see other clubs linked to players that would do a good job for us when we still haven't replaced Pelle, Mane and Wanyama. I've read Les Reed's half term report still trailing the company line. My report would be done well with limited resources, (I still can't believe we were 7th at Christmas), but really going to try to strengthen with the help of our renowned black box to see us 7th at the end of May.
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SaintBrock added 14:44 - Jan 7
The gap between us and top six is now insurmountable.
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kenis added 15:17 - Jan 7
Re Sidsaint comment, Les/the club believe they replaced Mane, Pelle and Wanyama with Redmond (direct replacement), Austin (direct replacement as they expected Pelle to go in Jan-16) and Romeu (semi direct with VW future uncertain in Summer' 15 with Reed and Claise (Morgan replacement) supposed to be the back up/altos to Romeu in system with one holding player). Boufal, Rodriguez coming back from injury and Hojbjerg were supposed to add depth to be supplemented by youngsters.

I think we've missed Pelle (in more than just goals) and although Romeu has been better than I expected and one of our best players this season, I think we've still missed Wanyama and Mane developed to point he was impossible to replace (look at Everton and Spurs who spent fortunes on Sissoko, Bolaise and Valencia and our attempt with Boufal and Redmond). But we've also missed the form of Long, Tadic and Fonte, and not had enough game time from Bertrand or Cedric (not due to rotation due to injury) and we were always a striker and central defender short before the departures.

I'd like to see us sign Sakho or another central defender from the black box like VVD/Toby plus resign Morgan. Another striker is harder, not sure there's better than we have out there for less than £20m and don't want Sims/Gallagher to be blocked - could Gallagher be our Harry Kane?

Whilst I'm bored, frustrated and annoyed often at Puel style of play, I do think we should give him until this point next season to impose his philosophy and his record in France deserves our patience. We were spoilt with MoPo style which is best I've seen and RoKo kept that momentum, brought some tactical variation/nous in big games and lucked out with successful replacement signings Pelle/Mane/Tadic/Bert/Cedric plus Toby/VVD all working out (as Claise/Redmond/Boufal have not).

Agree top six clubs are another level, so it is about cups and being best of the rest and so if there's a season like 15-16 when up to three of top six are in transition we are ready to take advantage.
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BoondockSaint added 23:57 - Jan 7
If he's no good for the Scouse, avoid at all costs!

"Maybe" a good player, but if he is a waste on and/or off the field, we are stuck with a 5 YEAR contract and the chancess of finding a team dumb enough to take him off our hands are very low.

No way Puel gets to this time next year! If he doesn't turn things around soon (which could be Les' reluctance to get quality in), we will be looking for a survival specialist..... and Les will hire Bear Grylls.
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