Gareth Bale

[jester]

very surprised theres not a topic on this yet.
http://www.fansfc.com/frontpage/frontpa ... sid=156799

i read this on teletext this morning (from the guardian i think, dont hold me to that)

would be a very good buy if true. he's a left back, which we're after, he's very technically good. And the freekicks he scores are magnificant!
I could see this going through, simply because we could do another deal with them, however, how much soton are willing to let go of every youngster coming through i dont know.
anyone who's seen him will know his talent already, and has already made the soton fans forget about theo

edit: from somewhere else (so no link):
WENGER TAILS BALE

Arsène WENGER is ready to launch a £4million bid for Southampton teenager Gareth Bale - a former room-mate of Theo Walcott.
The Arsenal manager had the 17-year-old watched several times this season after the left-back secured a first-team place.
Bale has attracted the attention of several topflight clubs but the Gunners are the favourites for his signature.

Wenger paid £12m for Walcott at the start of the year, a move which propelled the striker into a shock place in England's World Cup squad.
Saints insiders rate Bale just as highly and boss George Burley is determined to keep him.
But Arsenal are believed to be prepared to loan Bale back to Saints for at least this season.

 

[Army of Me]

now this is a believeable end-of-transfer-window story, none of this mascherano & tevez & buffon bollocks!

 

[jester]

quite sad really, this is the most likely to happen. dont get me wrong, i would love us to sign him (maybe i'm caught up in his hype like i was with theo) as he really does look the real deal at such a young age, but it'd be nice for a tevez or buffon

 

[Don Pacifico]

Would the signing of Bale mean that Wenger has given up on Clichy?

 

[Rohit]

So are we keeping Cole then ?

Him being bought and being sent on loan would make sense only if cole were to stay,because if he is the LB we are after then we have Clichy and Flamini or Hoyte as backup.

I hope i am wrong.

 

[jester]

maybe the loaning back to soton would be to ease the loss of another player leaving. wenger might not think he's at a high level yet so will do with clichy/flam this year? who knows.
that said, when we were buying theo the media said he'd be loaned back

 

[Don Pacifico]

But my problem is then, is that if Clichy is first choice, where does that leave Traore-i thought he was our future left back, so why buy Bale?

 

[jester]

just because we sing a young player dosnt mean we shouldnt buy another. why did we sign adebayor or walcott? i thought lupoli was future foward?

 

[Ratinho]

Gah, why in every thread does a new player mean THE END for one of the young players?

We should just have 22 players on our books, 11 in their 30's and 11 in their teens. Argue with that you c*nts.

 

[Don Pacifico]

True i guess...but I still cannot see it happening. I still think that Arsène would rather give Traore a chance this year than sign another youngster for competition.

 

[jester]

its my biggest annoyance - we cant sign cannavaro since we have connolly, or we cant sign mascherano, it'd hinder the development of song. I actually want to insert my computer into me, just to stop seeing those posts

 

[Don Pacifico]

its my biggest annoyance - we cant sign cannavaro since we have connolly, or we cant sign mascherano, it'd hinder the development of song. I actually want to insert my computer into me, just to stop seeing those posts

No i think you misunderstood what i meant. What i mean is just that Traore and Bale are so close in age, it would be direct and unnecessary competition at this age. By all means by someone experienced its what most of us have been crying out for.

 

[jester]

its my biggest annoyance - we cant sign cannavaro since we have connolly, or we cant sign mascherano, it'd hinder the development of song. I actually want to insert my computer into me, just to stop seeing those posts

No i think you misunderstood what i meant. What i mean is just that Traore and Bale are so close in age, it would be direct and unnecessary competition at this age. By all means by someone experienced its what most of us have been crying out for.

if wenger thinks bale is better why would he care about competition for traore? competition would make them better anyway. we want depth, and we'd have two good youngsters coming through. (he could always convert one anyway, i heard traore played CB last night and bale could become LW)

 

[Don Pacifico]

Maybe, I still see it as unlikely considering the questionable reliabilty of the sources provided on this one. If Wenger thinks its wise, by all means i would back him, but i cannot see it happening.

 

[jester]

he singed a two year deal on his 17th birthday last month, but that's just to avoid 'doing a walcott' as some saints fans forums put it (even though we paid them 12 mill when we didnt have to!)

 

[sabret00the]

Very good player, however the Saints fans love him, it'd be interesting to grab him, but can he be better than Clichy? definately. Traore? i'm not so sure.

 

[entropy13]

Wenger tails Bale article link

If only this happens, it might be a big help for us.

 

[Realwood]

How so? He's 17 and Traore is just as good if not better.

 

[go49oner]

oh dear, not another teenager.

 

[jester]

basically, what it says is we're willing to let him go back on loan, simply so we can get him.
they certainly have some good youth coming through, they had another player 'dyer' who was good too.
If they want to sell (dont think they would) they'd prefer to sell to us, we've done deal with them recently, and according to that article bale shared a room with theo!