Claude Puel is wasting no time in reviewing his squad and identifying potential targets, however if media reports are correct it suggests another departure from the Saints squad.

Now Claude Puel has his feet under the table at Saints the media is wasting no time in suggesting targets he is keen on, however given that most of them are either French or playing in France it does rather suggest that given Puel has only ever managed in that country they are being very lazy in their speculation.

The man with perhaps the honour of being Puel's first ever target is Dijibril Sidibe currently at one of Puel's former clubs Lille.

Sidibe is also linked with Sunderland with a fee of 15 euros being suggested and the question is whether this is just lazy journalism, his agent or a bit of both.

The problem with that though is that Sidibe is a full back, he is able to play on either side so it gives no indication of whether he is coming to replace Soares on the right or Bertrand on the left.

Soares has been the subject of speculation of his future at St Mary's after he fell out of favour with Koeman in the final third of the season despite seemingly being in good form, that would suggest that it would be he who would be being replaced and perhaps has indicated that he wants to leave the club, certainly he wasn't happy under Koeman but has that changed with a new manager in place ?

On the left Saints have both Ryan Bertrand and Matt Targett so are strong, but Bertrand's form is very good and he is certainly the centre of much speculation and Liverpool have been mooted as considering a bid.

At this stage Saints would be very loathe to sell and would be looking for £25 million plus, money that perhaps Liverpool don't have to hand after throwing so much at Sadie Mane.

The truth though is that Saints have a lot of money in their pocket and know they need to spend it, however a full back surely is not the main priority, unless someone is going.

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TheMoog added 13:54 - Jul 3 15 euros? I've got 60 in a draw at home so I'd be happy to chip in to outbid Sunderland. Bet he's rubbish at that money though 😎
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IWOZTHERE added 14:56 - Jul 3 Bertrand going would be a step too far. Shame if Cedric goes, but despite him doing well for Portugal , I've never been totally convinced?
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Sanguin added 17:43 - Jul 3 I'm not convinced we have a Premier League quality right back at the club. This could be a good signing.
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SanMarco added 18:14 - Jul 3 Sounds like we'll be "cashing in" on Bertrand then. I'd like to see us stop "cashing in" now we are an established top 10 club with a sound financial base. As I asked yesterday: In our "cash in" psychology what are the exact rules that decide who goes and who stays? Last two summers it seemed to be if you were slow joining the queue you had to wait another year. I hoped that this year it would be different. If Bertrand is not a key member of the squad who SHOULDN'T be cashed in then things haven't progressed in my view. It seems every player in the squad is for sale as long as the "cash in" value is good enough. That isn't the case for other clubs and to ensure stability we need to stop "cashing in" every time a club waves a large enough check. As for who we should sign - I guess the French league is as strong as the Dutch so turning our attentions a few hundred miles south might not be a bad idea...

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Big_T added 15:35 - Jul 4 He has done a deal with Monaco so it is just lazy journalist not bothering to do research.
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Big_T added 15:39 - Jul 4 I've just seen that this sidibe rumor was in the Mirror so not lazy journalism. Just s**t made up garbage journalism
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