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Southampton Transfer Links Mainly In Strong Areas

Saints are being linked with all and sundry in the January transfer window, but the problem is most of them seem to be in positions that we are strong in, we have enough full backs and midfielders, we need a striker.

The latest player to be linked with Southampton is Celtic's Josip Juranovic, he joins Lecce captain Morten Hjulmand as a supposed target for the club.

The problem for Saints though is that Jurnovic is primarily a right back and Hjulmand a holding midfield player, two positions in which Saints are not in crisis.

When Tino Livramento returns from injury we will have two quality right backs at the club with Kyle Walker Peters primarily also in that position and in the centre of midfield we have adequate cover with the return of Romeo Lavia to the fold.

Perhaps the club are looking to the future with these signings, if we retain our Premier League place then it is likely that at least one, perhaps two of this trio could well leave.

This is the reality of football these days and in this case if we are chasing these two players for instance, that does show forward planning in that we are not only strengthening the squad now but also looking to the future positively.

Many were ranting on social media in December that the club were preparing for the Championship in appointing Nathan Jones and than signings would reflect this.

That hasn't been the case so far, the two signings made in Orsic & Alcaraz are not players for the Championship, one being an experienced International player who has just played for a Croatian team who have just had a superb World Cup and the other an Argentinian wonderkid who is definitely not coming to England for the Championship.

But as mentioned getting players in to the club in these positions is not critical, the main position that we now need to fill is a striker, yes of course it would be good to see classy signings in other areas, but it is the lack of goals that is just as much as a concern.

In conclusion so far this has been a good transfer window, we have improved the squad already and as I have documented in the past, our issues this season have been more about injury issues than the quality of the squad, however the one area that can't be glossed over is the failure of our strikers to hit the back of the net.

None have played that badly in terms of their contribution to the side, but ultimately they have to hit the back of the net in the Premier League and we haven't done that enough times and we need to address that.

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