Saints are not finished in their transfer business for the summer and as the last two weeks before the season starts looms on the horizon, more deals across the board will start to become reality rather than rumour and there are plenty linked with a move to St Mary's.
A striker is still a priority for Ralph Hasenhuttl who admitted after the friendly at Klagenfurt that he still needs things to be better in the final third, but he also wants to bring in a central defender and ironically it looks like Crystal Palace signing one of our targets might trigger a chain of transfer that involves a defender both the Eagles and Saints have been linked with.
But the main problem for Ralph is up front, as it stands he has only Che Adams & Adam Armstrong as experienced front runners, although a tweak in tactical formation might see him revert to a loan central striker system.
It seems though that the Austrian manager might try to replicate his transfer dealing last summer when he signed Armando Broja on loan from Chelsea, the Albanian from Slough looks like he may be heading for West Ham, but Liam Delap son of former Saints record signing Rory Delap is again being heavily linked.
Delap doesn't turn 20 until next February but although he is highly rated at Manchester City, the chances of a Premier League breakthrough in their team is slim, so far just two appearances and 47 minutes of football to his name in the top flight.
Indeed his chances have been limited in the cup competitions, just 4 in total in the 3 cups City contest, although he does have a goal to his name in the League Cup.
In the Premier League 2 he has been prolific, in 32 appearances he has 32 goals and 8 assists.
Like Broja both player and club seem to think that a loan move might be beneficial and Saints are the team tipped to be his destination.
Saints target Chris Richards looks set to join Crystal Palace, the USA International defender is set to make the move, but that may open another door for Saints, Palace were also linked with Levi Colwill who now seems certain to leave Stamford Bridge.
At 19 Colwill already has a season in the Championship with Huddersfield under his belt, but with Chelsea signing Kalidou Koulibaly’s from Napoli. A £47 million bid for Sevilla’s Jules Kounde on the table and interest in former player Nathan Ake from Manchester City, Colwill feels he does not have much of a pathway to the first team at Stamford Bridge.
Colwill is a Southampton lad and is another player Chelsea have snatched from under our noses, this connection could be the key to persuading him that we are the club to prosper at.
Saints transfer business is not finished yet, already we have made 5 signings this summer, of course we may need to ship a player or two out, but what the new owners have brought to the table is the ability to buy before we sell and that is the difference between the austerity of the past 3-4 years and the set up now.