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Reed And Lemina Go To Fulham
Monday, 31st Aug 2020 10:03

Saints have offloaded both Harrison Reed and Mario Lemina to Fulham in what is a good piece of business for the club in trimming their squad and wage bill for the coming season.

There will be mixed feelings amongst Saints supporters about the departures of Harrison Reed and Mario Lemina to Fulham, but the reality of the situation is that this is good business as neither player played any part last season and to be blunt at all.

Mario Lemina has been nothing but trouble since he arrived at the club 3 years ago, at the time it looked a good piece of business to sign a player who had appeared for Juventus in the Champions league final, but someone at the club had not been doing their homework, he was certainly talented but had never applied that talent consistently and this would be the case at Saints.

He had been a bit player at Juve and we paid £18 million for a player who at 24 had started just 49 League games in his career, he had another 35 as sub, but in hindsight the warning signs were there.

It soon became clear that although he was undoubtedly a decent player he did not have the application and seemed to prefer a career as a well paid squad player than put the effort and dedication needed to succeed at the highest level.

He has a knack for saying the right things when he signs for clubs, at Galatasaray he gushed about them and his desire to play there this coming season, yet a few days later he was saying the same things about their big rivals Besiktas, seemingly having no shame.

Now he has joined Fulham on loan for the next year he is saying the same things about the Cottagers and their manager Scott Parker, but it should be noted that he would only join on loan, he would not take a drop in his high wages at St Mary's

There won't be many Saints fans who lose much sleep over his departure again, he has been disruptive to the squad with rumours of late nights and more worryingly a penchant for taking younger impressionable members of the squad with him.

The departure of Harrison Reed will see mixed feelings in the Saints support, his reputation in some part of the fan base is high and some touted him as a replacement for Pierre Emile Hojbjerg, but the reality is that he has played few games for the club, only 6 starts and another 11 as sub,

He has not played a competitive game for Saints since April 2017 and even in that season only managed an hour's game time in the Premier League and spent the time since out on loan, he has undoubtedly improved as a player in his three season out on loan, but the truth is he is not better than what we have, so to get the rumoured fee of £8 million is good business for us.

However Harrison leaves with the best wishes of all Saints fans ringing in his ears and all hope that he will be a success in the Premier League at Fulham although not when he plays against Saints.

So two departures that are good business for the club, but two contrasting messages from the Saints supporter base.

Photo: Action Images



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highfield49 added 10:50 - Aug 31
Hopefully there will be spectators at St Mary's in May next year to give Harrison a deserved warm welcome and I'm sure that we all wish him well at Fulham. As for Lemina I'm hoping that Fulham can pay a large chunk of his wages but fully expect Scott Parker to have seen enough of his character by then and won't be wasting a space on the team bus.That said if he has a few decent games and we can unload him for a fee in January I suspect that we still won't see him on the team bus in May. What a difference in attitude, Reed making the most of his opportunities and Lemina squandering a promising career.
2

NYC_Saint added 11:14 - Aug 31
Adam Blackmore tweeted Fulham have obligation to buy Lemina if they stay up. Shame RH couldn’t get him to knuckle down. If your right about his penchant for late nights, London not the best place for him...
1

Peterx added 11:39 - Aug 31
Not keen to spend 20M on a replacement as per the Ntcham rumours. Would rather we get 2 cheaper unpolished diamonds and potentially use Stephens in the holding midfield role if we get injuries to JWP, Romeu, Smallbone while we are getting the cost effective buys up to speed. We could also consider moving Armstrong back into holding midfield in emergency.
-2

ElijahK added 12:01 - Aug 31
Good luck to Reed. I mean he just didn’t get played enough as the only game I can specifically remember with him is last season when we were loosing to Spurs and he came on as a substitute and completely changed the game which resulted in us getting the 3 points! But yeah if he wants game time then I don’t blame him for leaving as I guess Hastenhurtle isn’t too bothered about him going and in the end I personally think the best he could be is a decent lower pl teams midfielder hence why it’s basically perfect that he’s moved to Fulham! But I hope he does all the best there (not too good though so we regret selling a superstar that was just about to shine! 😂)
1

SaintPaulVW added 12:40 - Aug 31
Good Luck to Reed he has earned and deserves his chance.

There are 2 wrinkles in the Lemina deal, as I understand it Fulham have to stay up plus he has to play 20 games for the obligation to buy to kick in. If they struggle and he loses interest I just can't see him making 20 games. I guess we are breaking even this season with the loan fee which probably covers his wages for the season. Just got to hope we can get some of his transfer fee back at the end of the season.
2

schatfield added 12:47 - Aug 31
SaintPaulVW, how do you know the 2 components in the Lemina deal? Sounds very plausable, just wondered where that had been documented (clubs dont normally disclose those kind of things)
0

Crispinmumbles added 13:33 - Aug 31
Word is Fulham have paid a loan fee of £2m and there is a clai=use that says they must buy if they stay up.
0

Colburn added 13:35 - Aug 31
Best wishes to Harrison Reed! Lemina... Lol.
1

NewburySaint added 14:33 - Aug 31
Great business from Saints-good luck to Reed, good riddance to Lemina.....again.

ElijahK: I think you’ll find that was Sims who changed the game against Spuds-similar in stature, just a very different hair colour!
0

SanMarco added 17:00 - Aug 31
I echo the good wishes to one and the less friendly farewell to the other. I don't think the Lemina purchase should be lumped in with some of the 'bad mistakes'. It did look like a good deal, or certainly a risk worth taking. Sadly we all saw the results.

Reed became, a bit like Josh Simms (and perhaps Jack Cork even), a player popular with loads of fans without there being that much evidence available. Of course the main reason for that is that they weren't given the chance. That was a judgment made by past and present managers. It will be interesting to see how Reed does at the top level with Fulham. I wish him well.
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