QuoteLolOriginally Posted by elatedscum
No, Bazunu is not going to Southampton to be McCarthy’s back up.
My guess is that he’s going there to initially be 2nd choice, but I think he’s definitely a better keeper than McCarthy and will win his place by January either way
Lol
No, Bazunu is not going to Southampton to be McCarthy’s back up.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...in-Bazunu.html
"Southampton wanted to sign a young goalkeeper initially as a No 2 but also capable of challenging for the No 1 spot and believe Bazunu is one option who fits the bill."
Luckily the Mail's back pages are more reliable than its front pages.
I love this move if it comes to fruition. He has a top class attitude and is destined to success, he has incredible talent but more importantly he clearly has a terrific attitude and resilience.
He has already made several mistakes (and has learned from them) and has come back stronger and has continued to improve, the natural development of an excellent young keeper. With his international experience, he certainly is ready for premier league football IMO. Alex McCarthy is an underwhelming opponent for the number 1 position. Exciting move if it happens.
It's very disappointing city are prepared to let him go for 10 million and that there are not other uk or European clubs willing to compete with Southampton and push-up that price. Are some of those bad handling and bad kicking blunders putting off clubs? What is tge reason clubs are not knocking down city's door for a 20 year old keeper who is 20?
By some accounts, the fee is only £10m because City are inserting a buy back clause.
https://kesslereffect.bandcamp.com/album/kepler - New music. It's not that bad.
I guess we can wait until there is actually something official, right now we only have rumors…
Bazunu will surely get his chance to take the Number 1 spot if he is good enough.
Maybe they’re looking for a 20 year old keeper who is 19.
Was it Nii Lamptey who was the highly-rated 20-year-old who turned out to almost certainly be a few years older?
That could be it
There a difference between a young player and someone like Bazunu, if this is the case Bazunu might aswell stay at City…
Why? He wouldn't be challenging for number 1 at City. That is just the plain fact of the matter. He'd be number 2. At Southampton, the gap or perceived gap would be narrower. Bazunu can back himself all day to overtake McCarthy. For now, not even the most biased Ireland supporter should think he will overtake Ederson in the short or medium term - even accounting for the odd error by Ederson.
Wonder what City are going to pencil into the buyback option... 10m feels a little low. Whilst he has had a mixed season and a great season at League One level, he's very young and has been excellent in a lot of international games. His ceiling is very high. And even if he never got near the ceiling, he will still be a very good keeper. Southampton paid City 13.5m for Angus Gunn, for example. Gunn is English though...
I've said it so many times about him but the beauty of Bazunu is that his attitude and mentality and maturity are unwavering and he's 20. You can't teach that really, can you? So combine that with the talent and, now, the experience, and 10m is such a safe outlay.
With Forster (19 league starts last season) having left, that leaves Southampton with the unconvincing Alex McCarthy (17 starts) and Harry Lewis (Never started a league game) as their only senior goalkeepers. 40-year-old Willie Cabellero (2 starts) has also been offered a new contract.
So it seems reasonably clear that Bazunu would have an excellent chance of establishing himself as number one were he to join the Saints.
At this point in his career, though, I see no reason why he would be in any huge rush to leave City permanently. A well-considered loan move would perhaps be his best option.
Opportunity knocks on those goalkeeper appearance figures.
10m seems very low to me. He has 2 years left on his deal at city which isn’t a huge amount of time, which probably knocks a few mil off the final price - but they could obviously renew and send him out on loan to the championship if they weren’t selling.
I get that the buy back clause is worth something but I don’t see why they wouldn’t prefer to sell for 15m with a 20-25m buy back if they could get it, rather than say 10m with a 15-20m buy back clause.
From Bazunu’s perspective, he’s got the choice of moving to Southampton and challenging for a jersey and hopefully breaking into the team sooner rather than later and hopefully keeping the jersey, as good as he is, he will make bad errors over 38 games and the premier league is far less forgiving than league 1 would be. Or he plays a season in the championship on loan and assesses his options in a year’s time. Might end up being about contracts - like for example, city only offering him a loan if he signs a new contract at X per week, or if he’s willing to move to Southampton permanently
Buybacks kill the initial value. Its like huying a 33 year old who has no onward transfer value. Southampton would know they are paying for a player and taking a 10m risk (if that's the number) with limited upside if he works out. Without a buyback he would be worth a lot more as if they butba 20 yearbold league 1 player and he plays well in the Premier he is an instant transfer target for big clubs at a potential massive profit. Think. Van dyk signed from celtic for 12m (I think) and sold to Liverpool for 80÷ (again from memory) As a rovers fan I'm thrilled for him if it happens and also for the club between the initial fee plus add ons plus the sell on we will have banked best part of 3m
Buyback is £40m apparently, so Southampton look like they're doing well out of this deal either way.
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