Saints fans will have mixed view on the news that Fulham are about to make a double swoop on the club, but the reality is both players have contributed little over the past few season, so from this perspective won't be missed.
The news that Fulham are said to have agreed an £8 million fee for Harrison Reed won't come as a shock to many, but when it seems that he will be joined by Mario Lemina, that will be a shock.
Reed has barely played for Saints in the last 5 years, not at all in the last 3 and in truth if he stayed at the club it would be hard to see who he would get in the side in front of, he is a tidy player but is he truly Premier League quality, some would say that he is, but he has barely played at that level and the last 5 Saints Managers have not seen anything that suggests he is better than what they had.
He needs a change of scenery and he is proven in the Championship, we will get a decent fee and get his wages off the books and we like him have to move on.
It is ironic that Lemina might be joining him, he is a player who is the opposite to Harrison Reed, whereas Reed is a hard worker and model pro and deserves all the success he gets whether it is at Saints or elsewhere, Lemina has undoubted talent, but has a poor attitude and would rather be a squad player and take the money, than push himself to his limits and become a solid professional.
Like most clubs he goes to the fans will see some good performances and initially he will look a bargain, but he cannot apply himself for long and it will soon become apparent just why he has had so many clubs and that turning 27 next week he has only started 106 league games plus 44 as sub spanning 5 clubs and 7 years, ironically Saints being his most productive period and we all know that wasn't exactly a raging success.
A good weeks work for Saints that even if they have to sell Lemina at half the fee they paid for him will be a case of freeing up a lot of wages, if Saints pull in £16 million for the pair they will also free up around £85 k a week, that will finance another good signing.
Of course we might see them both great successes next season, that is a chance we have to take, but Lemina in particular failed to turn his talent into consistency and given that neither have played for us recently this deal represents good business.