Charlie Austin

[Sliced]

Austin is worth a punt provided we're not paying a fee and just plumping for the bulk of his wages.

Gayle would always be the preferred signing, given he's not available on those terms it seems, Austin isn't a terrible substitute.

It'll be a permanent for Austin

And that's my concern.

Daily Mail are saying season's loan, but given he has 12 months left on his deal, I can't see Saints doing that unless it's a Greening style loan/purchase.

We cannot pay a fee for Austin... and we certainly can't commit to wages of 40-70k depending on where you read beyond this season!

It won't be a large fee and hopefully a 2 year deal (3 year max), but do we really have a choice? Without a striker of Austin's calibre we can kiss goodbye to any hopes of promotion this season and we're not going to be getting anyone better in at this point. We need to keep him fit, if we do that then he'll score a shedload

[MassDebater]

He was always on our list wasn’t he
Gone back in for him obviously after others have failed to materialise
He’s a finisher at this level and we have a good record with players who have had injury’s in the past
We would all prefer Gayle but he is quality

Well I really hope you are right.

[TartanRug]

Charlie Austin on his way to West Brom from Southampton to sign on a permanent deal. West Brom also getting two more players today....

So along with Pereira and Diagonal then... Means no full time striker for the whole season. That would be disappointing.
<where's the money gone?! Lai out, Dowling is a robbing Seal, Jenkins is a twat etc..>

Agreed... I'm ok with Austin but we're going to be very dependent on him, we really do need another striker in as well.

[clem4england]

Austin is worth a punt provided we're not paying a fee and just plumping for the bulk of his wages.

Gayle would always be the preferred signing, given he's not available on those terms it seems, Austin isn't a terrible substitute.

It'll be a permanent for Austin

And that's my concern.

Daily Mail are saying season's loan, but given he has 12 months left on his deal, I can't see Saints doing that unless it's a Greening style loan/purchase.

We cannot pay a fee for Austin... and we certainly can't commit to wages of 40-70k depending on where you read beyond this season!

It won't be a large fee and hopefully a 2 year deal (3 year max), but do we really have a choice? Without a striker of Austin's calibre we can kiss goodbye to any hopes of promotion this season and we're not going to be getting anyone better in at this point. We need to keep him fit, if we do that then he'll score a shedload

Charlie Austin scores goals. He may not be pretty and may seem a bit thick, but who cares? If you can't get excited about Austin you may as well give up....

[74bus]

Played with Phillips at QPR & had a good understanding. It's a yes from me.

I do hope you're right, if he comes. I can't see him and Zohore playing together, though, and I'm not sure how Charlie, not known for his patience, would react to being a bench player in a Championship team.

[SW4Baggie]

Austin is worth a punt provided we're not paying a fee and just plumping for the bulk of his wages.

Gayle would always be the preferred signing, given he's not available on those terms it seems, Austin isn't a terrible substitute.

It'll be a permanent for Austin

And that's my concern.

Daily Mail are saying season's loan, but given he has 12 months left on his deal, I can't see Saints doing that unless it's a Greening style loan/purchase.

We cannot pay a fee for Austin... and we certainly can't commit to wages of 40-70k depending on where you read beyond this season!

It won't be a large fee and hopefully a 2 year deal (3 year max), but do we really have a choice? Without a striker of Austin's calibre we can kiss goodbye to any hopes of promotion this season and we're not going to be getting anyone better in at this point. We need to keep him fit, if we do that then he'll score a shedload

The Charlie Austin of 3 years ago would be great,  but the injury prone 30yo who has struggled for regular games and goals since 2015 isn’t as appealing.

Our transfer business so far this summer has been exciting and has plugged the exact problems we have both positionally and in terms of that age bracket between 22-25... Austin smacks of the kind of desperate, poorly conceived short termism that got us into this mess.

[MassDebater]

Austin is worth a punt provided we're not paying a fee and just plumping for the bulk of his wages.

Gayle would always be the preferred signing, given he's not available on those terms it seems, Austin isn't a terrible substitute.

It'll be a permanent for Austin

And that's my concern.

Daily Mail are saying season's loan, but given he has 12 months left on his deal, I can't see Saints doing that unless it's a Greening style loan/purchase.

We cannot pay a fee for Austin... and we certainly can't commit to wages of 40-70k depending on where you read beyond this season!

It won't be a large fee and hopefully a 2 year deal (3 year max), but do we really have a choice? Without a striker of Austin's calibre we can kiss goodbye to any hopes of promotion this season and we're not going to be getting anyone better in at this point. We need to keep him fit, if we do that then he'll score a shedload

Charlie Austin scores goals. He may not be pretty and may seem a bit thick, but who cares? If you can't get excited about Austin you may as well give up....

I'd have got excited by him 2 years ago.

With the young, exciting (sounding anyway) players that we've been linked to this just feels like Old Panicky Albion (heck if there's only us and Brizzle in for Austin that alone doesn't bode too well). What happened with that Konate for example? Sounded very exciting (sure unproven at this level). I just feel we need someone in addition to Austin. I don't think Zohore will get many more than 10 - 12 this season. I don't think Austin will play in more than 30 games, even if he gets 1 in 2 that'll be around 15... Just feels like something will still be missing to me.

Here's hoping there is an Ace up Dowling's sleeve and a younger, hungrier player who will manage to play nearly the whole season is going to magically appear as well.

---

Austin is worth a punt provided we're not paying a fee and just plumping for the bulk of his wages.

Gayle would always be the preferred signing, given he's not available on those terms it seems, Austin isn't a terrible substitute.

It'll be a permanent for Austin

And that's my concern.

Daily Mail are saying season's loan, but given he has 12 months left on his deal, I can't see Saints doing that unless it's a Greening style loan/purchase.

We cannot pay a fee for Austin... and we certainly can't commit to wages of 40-70k depending on where you read beyond this season!

It won't be a large fee and hopefully a 2 year deal (3 year max), but do we really have a choice? Without a striker of Austin's calibre we can kiss goodbye to any hopes of promotion this season and we're not going to be getting anyone better in at this point. We need to keep him fit, if we do that then he'll score a shedload

The Charlie Austin of 3 years ago would be great,  but the injury prone 30yo who has struggled for regular games and goals since 2015 isn’t as appealing.

Our transfer business so far this summer has been exciting and has plugged the exact problems we have both positionally and in terms of that age bracket between 22-25... Austin smacks of the kind of desperate, poorly conceived short termism that got us into this mess.

+300

[ColliersWoodBaggie]

I'd like Austin with A N Other to be fair. But to keep harping on about JRod /Gayle tally is really missing the point. We'll get more goals from others this season and will be tighter at the back, more organised than last season. We may score 10-15 less than the 87 last year, but that would be enough if we concede 20 less. We conceded 58 was it?

[Birdman1811]

So, no one or Austin. Other targets have gone elsewhere or aren't available. Austin scores goals, he wasn't injured much last season but wasn't used much. He isn't first choice but he's one we can realistically do.

[MGalea]

Disagree with Austin.

Simply on the fact that - can you name a better alternative that is available to us in our current position?

We tried for Ajeti, we wanted Gayle back, we'd have had Maupay and undoubtedly we've sniffed at others.

Of course they could just pull a striker out of the Bosnian third division like magic.