Saints vow to hang on to youngsters

Last updated : 21 June 2005 By Chris C

“We are not interested in selling any of our promising youngsters. Several of them have already proved themselves in the championship and we are looking for them to progress this season.”

Despite Lowe and Rednapp being on two weeks holiday, they have been active in denying or confirming transfer talk on the official club website. This is no doubt an attempt to improve communication with the fan base and to allay fears of a fire sale at Saints.

There has been interest from former boss Paul Sturrock, now of Sheffield Wednesday, in all four of Dexter Blackstock (also Watford), Yoann Folly, Leandre Griffit and Kenwyne Jones (also Stoke), who enjoyed such success on loan to the Yorkshire club last season, scoring seven goals in seven games.

Provided they are given opportunities to play this season, a move would be unlikely to benefit these players at this stage of their careers and Saints will be more interested in trimming the top heavy squad of its older players.

The official site also mentions the club that bid for Peter Crouch was Liverpool, as everyone already knew, but that there has been no further bid. Fortunately, Andy Johnson’s public ‘come and get me’ plea has diverted some of the attention away from Crouch and long may it continue if he is to spearhead Saint’s attempts to bounce straight back into the Premiership next season.