Even if Virgil Van Dijk does extend his Southampton career into this coming season Saints are still short of a genuine quality central defender.

The biggest surprise back in the January transfer window was that knowing the ongoing situation with Jose Fonte that Saints did not land a quality central defender to replace the Portugese International and we paid dearly when Virgil Van Dijk was ruled out for the rest of the season meaning we soldiered on with Yoshida and Jack Stephens in the centre of defence.

Now it cannot be denied that both gave the proverbial 110% in the games that they played, but the harsh reality was that as a partnership they weren't good enough and we initially leaked goals with rarely a game going by without a soft goal or two being conceded, as was the case at Wembley when first Jesse Lingard and then in the dying minutes Zlatan Ibrahimovic were left unmarked in the penalty area to pick their spots.

Ultimately the fact that we went into the final third of the season without a recognised first choice central defender cost us the cup final at Wembley and cost us any chance we had of pushing Everton a little bit harder

At the time when I suggested this I was accused of having something against both Yoshida and Stephens, far from it my views on them are purely down to what they do on the pitch.

As the season went on our defensive frailties improved, however much of that had to be down to the tactics being adapted to protect the defence at the expense of committing to attack.

With respect to Yoshida we know what we get with him, he is adequate back up, but he is not good enough for a regular Premier League place, Stephens improved as the season went on and showed promise, but truthfully is he another Virgil Van Dijk or even Jose Fonte, I am not so confident on that one and perhaps the proof is if we ask ourselves whether ither would get into another Premier League team ? the answer is almost certainly no !

Jan Bednarek has come in as our only signing so far, but he is untried at this level and needs to adapt to living in this country and to a far higher standard of football here than in Poland. He is one for the future, we cannot pin our hopes that he will turn out to be the find os the season just yet.

So all of this being the case the biggest surprise of this current transfer window is that given we have yet to replace Jose Fonte let alone the ongoing issues with Virgil Van Dijk that we have not signed a truly quality central defender.

It is not as if we have not had time to think and pinpoint our targets and then sign them, back in January Saints claim they did try to sign several central defenders of the required quality but could not land their preferred choices, this being the case Saints have been aware of the need to replace Fonte for at least 8 months yet we still have not done so with barely a fortnight to the start of the new season.

Given that even if Virgil Van Dijk does stay then we still need a quality central defender to not only play alongside him but to possibly replace him, if not now but in the future, this being the case it amazes me that we haven't already made this purchase especially since the Van Dijk situation is so unclear at present.

What would be unacceptable would be a repeat of the situation back in January where we let the player go without replacing him first.

I hope that Les Reed is already working feverishly and quietly and will surprise us with a signing, but my worry is that given the length of time that he has had to deal with this issue that we are not at this stage very near to bringing in someone.

Saints are continuosly being linked with midfielders and attackers, but we have plenty of options in this area, our weakness last season was in the centre of defence after Fonte left and Van Dijk was injured, in 15 Premier League games we conceded 22 goals thats 1.47 goals a game not the greatest ratio in the division , yes we tightened up in the final 6 only conceding 4 but that was at the expense of scoring goals and the reason why we only scored 2 goals ourselves in that final half dozen games.

So the most critical element at Southampton Football Club at present is not the Van Dijk issue it is the fact that we have not even dealt with the departure of Jose Fonte over 6 months on, if we haven't done that how can we deal with Van Dijk if he leaves.

Saints cannot be blamed should Virgil Van Dijk leave St Mary's what more can they do, but they can be blamed if they do not deal with the situation, it is never about what happened it is always about what you do next, we are still wating for them to do something about the departure of Jose Fonte !

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surreysaint added 14:03 - Jul 26 Pete Boggs. "We've just bid £5m for the newest bargain our amazing scouts have unearthed" shouts Les Reed from the rooftops. "What's that? The price has now quadrupled? And now half the Premier League are interested too because they know our scouting team are better than theirs? D'oh." Yeah, damn his secrecy though. And damn again him for wanting to bring Academy kids through to the first team. The b*stard. What the Premier League needs is more ready made imports. And all sarcasm aside, 'carrying on from where we left off last season' would be a great place to start! A fifth season in a row in the top 10? Yes please (though a few more goals would be nice)! Could it be better - of course and i have suggested an opinion as to what we should do. But regardless of what happens this season, this is probably the most consistent period in our history, in league terms. Certainly in my lifetime. Question is: Why aren't you enjoying it Pete?

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underweststand added 14:03 - Jul 26 as for Pete Boggs post about Caceras...Maybe ...but he was a " panic / shirt-filler " buy after losing Fonte and VVD in short order. He did have qualities and maybe would have been good to keep a season or so, but (as far as I recall ) he was quoted as having a huge salary ..even if it was only for a few months. He may well have several good seasons left in him, but not at that level of salary (?)...perhaps Bednarek will prove to be a better signing by the end of the season...if called upon. and his " shelf life" will be considerably longer than Caceras'.

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underweststand added 14:17 - Jul 26 Why haven't we spent /or will...£20 or £30 million on a top player ?.. I honestly don't think we need to, although we may get close after selling VVD and have some money in the pot. We all look back on last season as a disppointment (to say the least) but overall the team didn't perform that badly ....aside from the obvious fault of not scoring enough goals, and losing key players for long periods. Even conceding the occasional " bad goal " would have been negated had we managed to score - at least once - in some of those poor defeats. I think the squad looks quite strong, but also look to see a few newer names - especially if Bertrand / Cedric / Tadic leave the fold sooner rather than later.

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aceofthebase added 14:50 - Jul 26 Here you go again Nick, the season isn't underway and already you are knocking Yoshi and Jack despite them both blending well in the latter part of the season after VVD injury. Insults like not good enough for a regular premiership place and attributing to them mistakes. Well I can attribute more mistakes by Cedric that cost us points or midfielders who can't shoot or attackers that have no clue where the goal is. The point is that we may need a strong CB but we need a strong midfielder and another goalscorer and maybe a better goalkeeper. I do think we will have an average defence, an average midfield and an average attack, some surprise wins, some poor performances, a disillusioned Manager and a Mid table end result. It will take only a few home goals and the stay-away fans will return. Plus of course, the manager doing stand up comedy act which will always win us points.

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SaintBrock added 16:10 - Jul 26 Not only is Reed the problem pete, it can only get worse. When Kreuger cashes in his chips and for sure that day will be very soon, Reed will be running the show. Remember it isn't just players who walk out on Saints, a couple of managers decided there's no future here as well and they seem to be doing OK since they left without the help of Reed and his 'black box' crap.

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Whatsforpud added 17:14 - Jul 26 For me, the weakest position at the moment is the goalkeeper. Forster's faults are that, a) he doesn't come for crosses - should be easy at his height, b) can't get down to those ground shots quick enough - maybe because of his height, and c) keeps kicking out to touch when under no pressure. Those points cover quite a proportion of what is required of a keeper.
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WanderingSaint added 18:22 - Jul 26 If VVD is to go, my dream would be for Barca to sign him and Couthino on deadline day. (Obv with us having signed CBs beforehand.)
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Toussaint added 18:50 - Jul 26 I think the reason he hasn't brought nobody in yet is because of previous success in buying players, clubs like WBA and Newcastle are now watching everything we do, it's seems it's now twice as hard for us to get the extra quality needed
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SanMarco added 22:11 - Jul 26 We may yet need a whole new back line if Bertrand and Cedric go. I think there is a complacency at the club. At the moment, without VVD, we will be playing with the same team (minus any other departures) as we did after mid-January. Alright we will have Austin back for a little while until he is injured again. That team does not look or feel that marvellous to me. It won one home game and basically stayed up on its away form. It certainly wont come anywhere near 8th. It is weak in central defence, has no decent attacking midfielder and would be very reliant on Austin + hoping like mad that we get the Gabby of the first five games back. Without some decent signings I envisage a difficult season. Oh and we also need Forster to get his act together of course.

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DPeps added 22:44 - Jul 26 Assuming VVD is leaving, then yes we definitely need a CB. And obviously we will have to replace whoever else from the 1st team who leaves. More creativity in midfield is needed too, either through a change of style of through buying someone. And another keeper would be good. Not to replace Forster necessarily but to offer decent competition. Although, I'm not sure how Gazza's loan went though, so I may be doing him a disservice.

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steve73 added 23:39 - Jul 26 Although not bad players it's possible we could start the season with a back line of Forster, Pied, Stephens, Yoshida, Targett. Not good enough by anyone's standards surely.
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Keesie66 added 07:55 - Jul 27 Why not Ben Gibson if VVD stays or not £20 mil or thereabouts....
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Keesie66 added 07:55 - Jul 27 Ben Gibson @ 20 million....
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Jesus_02 added 11:16 - Jul 27 pete_boggs and Nick are both strangely right. Les has been successful and he should be congratulated for that and when saints fail he will similarly be blamed. The big problem with Les's " strategy " is the same as Rupert Lowes... For its lauded success there equal failures and ultimately it is unsustainable. When we stop progressing (and i believe we have reached that point) we will start to drift backwards. This will mean that we wont attract players and cant inspire them to stay. The players that don't succeed, big teams wont want to buy and we will ultimately be stuck with average players. We have already gone from 2 quality players in key (central) positions to 1 . Gabiadini, Romeu and VVD are the players we pin our hopes on the rest are either emerging or solid squad players like Long and Davis. Previously we had Pelle & Mane, Wanyama & Romeu, VVD and Fonte. Worryingly the only team that has tried to put this much emphasis on youth is Villa. Its for this reason that Eric Black presence is such a concern.

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BoondockSaint added 13:42 - Jul 27 Nick, I don't understand. We have a bunch of average defenders and you say we need help. But before we signed Gabbiadini, we had a bunch of average strikers, and your posts were "Saints have an abundance of strikers." So doesn't this fit the business model: Just be good enough to stay out of relegation? As for Dithering Les:: In sports you are only as good as your last game or season. In the past he had the help of Cortese (Nasty social skills aside) aggressive boss who wasn't in awe of the big clubs, Pochettino, a manager who was a rising star and Koeman, a former star player. All of this helped attract players who saw the team as ambitious and going somewhere. Now that Les has been left to his own devices, the culture of the club has changed completely. By selling our two top players every summer, and not replacing them. Players see Saints football club as a gateway into the Premier League and a stepping stone to bigger better clubs. The "doing business quietly" bit is a joke. When they wanted to slag Fonte, there were plenty of press releases and interviews, but any questions about improving the club or lack of quality signings, and Les puts the fans on the Mushroom Plan: Keep you in the dark and dump cr@p on you at regular intervals!

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legineloc added 17:41 - Jul 27 Smalling, Gibson should be targets even if VVD stays and with Chelsea thinking of purchasing VVD Christensen & money could be a good option, as long as he don't go to scousehampton
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ItchenNorth added 22:25 - Jul 27 I've got a good idea, lets just panic buy !
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underweststand added 07:53 - Jul 28 A lot of people seem to expect all new signings " hit the ground running " from Day 1 but that rarely happens. OK Gabbiadini was a great exception, but looking back we can see that the likes of Cedric, Romeu, and Redmond looked considerably better AFTER their first season than they did from the start. Not to forget Sadio Mane who had a nightmare start (which prompted one fan to compare him to Ali Dia (!). Likewise strikers in particular have "purple patches " in form and then undergo long droughts of goal-less frustration. Older fans will recall that in James Beattie's "big season " he went 10 games before scoring his first goal, but ended the season second only to Thierry Henry. Later even Lambert and Pelle had their "dry spells " yet still ended their seasons with a respectable goal tally. I expect to see Gabbiadini back in the goals soon...what £ price for him if he has 10 goals by the New Year ?. Hopefully a fit Austin will contribute to the tally and Redmond and Boufal might find the net more often given the chances they get. I expect several "low key signings" to strengthen the squad, and more consistancy from Tadic and Clasie (given the fact they get game time) also seeing more loan outs for younger prospects like Gallagher and one or two of the Academy midfield/ defenders.

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