With only 12 days to go before the start of the season have Saints made enough signings or have they repeated the mistakes of the past.
A look at our transfer business of summer 2012 shows that we made some crucial signings early on in the window followed by weeks of inactivity before a rush of signings in the last hours before deadline day, in hindsight it can be said that the early arrivals were the most successful of the new players, whilst those who came in the last few days had varying degrees of success with none really being described as value for money or stand out.
Therefore at time of writing the words Deja Vu are springing to mind, it seems as if history is repeating itself, like a year ago we are linked with some big money moves, but again we don't seem to be able to persuade any of our targets to actually sign on the dotted line.
Perhaps the problem is that with aspirations of challenging for the Champions League we seem to be chasing that standard of player, this is great and shows ambition, but does it show reality, to be blunt our targets want European football, Europa League participation at a minimum and not only are they not going to get that in the coming year with Saints, on paper at least Saints are as far away from getting it as any club in the bottom half of the table last year, therefore players aren't going to say no to us, their agents will say the right words etc, but they are going to use us for leverage to try and get a deal at a club who is genuinely chasing not just Europe but honours as well, fine words are just that and in fairness as Fulham's new owner recently showed, there are plenty of Premier clubs outside of the top 7 talking about the next level, why should a potential recruit believe that we have the monopoly on that any more than half a dozen other clubs.
Put simply we are reaching for the moon and struggling to get the clouds let alone the stars, all that happens is that we end up with someone like Ramirez at over inflated prices and wages, basically all that is left over at the end of the window, don't get me wrong Ramirez is a good player, but he wasn't worth £12 million or so nor his big salary.
So far this season we have made only two signings, Lovren is definitely a player in an area that we need, however so was Forren, hopefully the Croatian will be the real deal unlike the Norwegian who quite clearly wasn't up to the standard that we needed, our second signing Wanyama is expensive but relatively unproven given he has just spent a year in the most one sided league in Europe, not only that but he is in a position that to be frank should not have been a priority In strengthening, Im sure he will do well, but at the expense of which other area of the field.
So as we stand we head towards the season having made little improvement to our squad when compared to most of our rivals who were around us last season, lets not forget that we finished only four places above relegation last season and five points, that's a fine margin with not a lot of room for error.
So whilst we have chased big names and indeed spent big, the money has been splashed on only two players, one of whom it could be argued wasn't really necessary, but look at the likes of Norwich, Aston Villa, Swansea, all teams who harbour the same aspirations as Saints next season, they have spent wisely and in key areas, they have improved in more than one area, we it could be said have not.
So the answer to the question posed in the headline is that No ! so far we have not used the transfer window well, but there is still time, the clubs who survive in the Premier League (and believe me when the season kicks off probably only 6 clubs are certain of not being relegated) are those that strengthen by having a strong scouting network and using that properly, buying in good players cheaply, perhaps selling them on at inflated prices and continually repeating the process, those that spend over the odds usually end up struggling.
As I said there is still time, but its now of the essence, we need to make at least one key signing before the transfer window ends and preferably before the season as every point will count, if we do that I feel that although we wont be chasing European qualification as has been mooted, we are good enough to repeat a lower mid table position as we did last year, but lets remember, you cant stand stillin the Premier league as Newcastle found out after an exceptional year in 11/12 and nearly being relegated last term.