With the fitness of Andy Carroll up in the air and nestled in the bottom 3, The Hammers are about to throw the dice in an attempt to keep themselves in the Premier league.

According to National Newspaper reports on this New years day morning, West ham are about to offer Saints £8 million pounds for striker Rickie Lambert.

The initial response from many Saints supporter swill b to tell them where to get off, but that would be before considering the implications of this offer not only to outhampton Football Club but for Rickie himself.

As I said back in September to stand any chance of playing for England in Brazil Rickie has to be playing up front for Saints week in week out and scoring, sadly he hasnt been doing a lot of any of this, this season, this isnt his fault but firstly the folly of playing him and Osvaldo in the same team has not been of benefit for either player, in recent weeks as well not only has Rickie seen Osvaldo preferred to him, but when he has played in the side it hasnt been in the loan central striker role but wider with Jay Rodriguez playing in the more advanced position, to be blunt none of this is doing Rickie's England chances any good, whilst there are those who think he can do a more withdrawn role for Saints, England do not need him to do this, they need an out and out target man as an option.

So the potential move to Upton Park could be attractive to Rickie not only from the point of view of his England chances, but for a player who up until 4 years ago had earnt a modest living from the game it would be a chance for a final big pay day.

But for Saints it could also be an attractive proposition, fisrtly there is the money aspect, £8 million for a player who turns 32 in February is good money, in fact its silly money and with Saints perhaps not going to struggle with relegation this season its a chance to get cash into the coffers to build for next season.

But on the playing side it does offer the opportunity to free up space and play Osvaldo and perhaps try to get our monies worth, even if the Italian doesnt work out there is also the opportunity to use Jay Rodriguez up front which might just offer Gaston Ramirez a lifeline in that J Rod is the type of player who would thrive on Ramirez's ability to play a through ball, Osvaldo possibly to a lesser extend, but one thing is for sure Ramirez and Lambert arent really compatible to any great degree.

But will Nicola Cortese sell, for £8 million its going to be tempting and the way the club has built and improved over the past three seasons is because it hasnt been afraid to drop players, move them on and bring better ones in, Rickie Lambert is a living legend at St Mary's, but every man has his price and £8 million might just be Rickie's.

Photo: Action Images

saintmark1976 added 09:50 - Jan 1 Nick, a few months back I asked you (jokingly ) if you were Osvaldo's agent.You replied that you were of course not. With this article I (jokingly) wonder again. Are you seriously suggesting that bearing in mind that our recent form has been horrendous with only five out of a possible twenty four points gained that we let Lambert go to be replaced by Osvaldo? Osvaldo's contribution since his arrival has, in my opinion, been patchy at best and very poor at worst. He has scored few goals, been unnecessarily booked on many occasions and injured repeatedly. I am sorry but a better solution in my opinion would be to let Osvaldo go to West Ham and let Lambert lead the line on a regular basis again. Let his natural talent to score goals be used fully again and who knows he could still make the plane to Brazil. Happy New Year to you and Saints fans the World over.

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abingdonsaint added 10:36 - Jan 1 Another year, another load of conclusions being jumped to! Can't see this one I'm afraid. Apart from the fact the report is in The Mirror, so has a less than 50/50 chance of being true, Poch has always indicated that Rickie is an important player for us, Rickie has never given any indication of wanting to leave, and Hodgson has always indicated that he rates Rickie, so I reckon he is already pencilled in for Brazil anyway. Happy New Year to all!

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abingdonsaint added 10:43 - Jan 1 Ps.....a move to West Ham would also mean leaving an upwardly mobile club with a bright future to one which, under Allardyce at least, is chronically unambitious and may well be relegated. Risky!
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SaintNick added 10:49 - Jan 1 Im just reporting what I have heard and offering an opinion on what the options may be. Sky Sports has just reported that Pochettino has said lambert doesnt figure in his long term plans though. Im not Osvaldo's agent, what i try to do is disect the situations and offer opinions on what might happen, do i think that it should happen ? not all the time ! All I would say here is if you were told an unamed club had bought a striker for their club record transfer of £15 million and that they had been offered £8 million for a 32 year old striker, what would you guess would be the outcome, take the emotion out and things look quite simple sometimes

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halftimeorange added 11:22 - Jan 1 I agree with the sentiments expressed in this article. What will Saints get from Lambert - perhaps one more season and then age will start to tell, particularly as he's a big man. I'm not so sure about Osvaldo replacing him. It seems to me that the club is trying to bring young Gallagher on apace and, whilst we haven't seen too much of him, I wouldn't be surprised if he is seen as Lambert's longer-term replacement. I'm also doubtful that Rickie will make the World Cup. Irrespective of where he's being played his form has dipped apart from occasional inspirational flashes. That and his age doesn't add up to a plane ticket for me.

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ExiledSupporter added 19:07 - Jan 1 Yep, I'd sell Rickie at that price too...very sensible business and a major contribution to the coffers for a second excellent central defender.
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brianletiss added 20:16 - Jan 1 I love Rickie and all he has done for us. But he has a major opportunity to go to a world cup. I doubt he even dreamed about it a couple of years ago. He needs to be playing regularly and scoring goals to have a chance of going. I am not sure about Osvaldo but if he is not the answer we need to find it elsewhere. We also need to sort out what sort of strikers we want - a big target man or quick strikers who can feed off through balls from the likes of Ramirez and Lallana. £8m would be great business for all concerned. But if we get it, we need to spend it wisely.

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ElSanto added 22:06 - Jan 1 I agree, Nick. Ricky Lambert you will always be a saints Legend. Hopefully he can be his country's legend this summer. What a player.
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TeamCortese added 23:13 - Jan 2 I agree with Nick. We have to take away emotion out of the situation and look at things objectively. Despite being a loyal servant to Southampton through aiding our promotions and keeping us up last season we have a heartless chairman (myself obviously ;) ) who is only concerned with success. Rickie will always be remembered as a Saints legend but for his own good he needs to maximise his chances playing for England. I wouldn't blame him for leaving. However, I still feel from the club's perspective we should keep him till the the end of the season.

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