Transfer news: Southampton to reinvest in squad if star players leave, says Les Reed
Thursday 12 June 2014 15:38, UK
Southampton executive director Les Reed has reiterated his stance that the club do not intend on selling their star players, but says the money will be there for the new manager to reinvest if some are to leave.
It promises to be a busy summer for the Saints, who are still to find a replacement for Mauricio Pochettino and have a number of key players attracting interest.
Rickie Lambert has already joined Liverpool for a reported fee of £4million, England duo Adam Lallana and Luke Shaw have been the subject of bids from Liverpool and Manchester United respectively, while defender Dejan Lovren has reportedly handed in a transfer request
But Reed is hoping that the new boss at St Mary’s will be given the chance to convince any players thinking of leaving to stay, while he is optimistic of adding to the squad regardless of any exits.
"Ralph (Krueger, Southampton chairman) mentioned we’d had bids and enquiries for our players – but not as many as I thought," Reed told the Southern Daily Echo.
"When I said (back in April) that it wasn’t our intention to sell any players, that was correct – it wasn’t our intention to sell any players.
"The important thing about what I said then was that we’d had no bids, and at that point we hadn’t. We’ve had enquiries and we’ve had some bids.
"However, there is no way that I or the board were going to make any decisions without the new manager having the opportunity to assess those players and their value to the squad, and having the opportunity to talk to them and to try to persuade them that this was the place to be."
Reed maintains that the new man will be allowed to strengthen the squad with any profits from departing players, but is hopeful that the Saints will be able to hold on to their main men.
"We will only make decisions based on what’s right and best for the club, so if we do sell players then it’s guaranteed that any revenues we make will be reinvested in the team," he said.
"There’s a logistical job to be done there because we do want to bring players in and improve the team so it’s important that, whatever happens, when we do kick off on August 16 that we have improved the team and the depth and strength of the squad with the players that have come in, even if players may have gone out.
"However, our intention is to keep all of our core players – I wouldn’t want people to think I’ve just opened the door for transfers, that’s not the case."
