With only a few days left of the transfer window the rumour mill is starting to turn quickly and various media outlets are claiming that Southampton have agreed a deal to sign a striker.

The man in question is Stade Rennais forward Kamaldeen Sulemana, but a look at his career stats don't fill me with great hope.

Firstly at only 20 years old, he is not the experienced striker that we are crying out for, in fact a look at his profile shows that he is more a winger than a striker and how many wide players do we have at this club, yet still we seem to want more.

He isn't even a regular for Stade Rennais, so far this season he has only started 2 games in the French League, come off the bench in another 12 and sat on it without getting on for 4, these aren't promising figures.

Add to that he has scored just once with no assists in 314 minutes of Ligue 1 football and it is hardly shouting at us that he is the goalscoring saviour that we need up front.

But there is hope, for this season he hasn't shined, but last season his stats were a little better, he started a lot more games and in 1,015 minutes in Ligue 1 he scored 4 goals and 2 assists, a little better but still not what I would like to see.

We are said to have tabled a £17.5 million bid which is slightly more than the £15 million that the French club paid to take him from FC Nordsjaelland in Denmark in July 2021.

Photo: Action Images

Colburn added 10:34 - Jan 29 What's the point? May as well bring Tella back.. Sulemana isn't a striker, more of a winger. He may well be very good but the only thing I see us really lacking is a genuine striker. I would even go for Arnautovic for a few months, despite his reputation, he scores goals.. Or Dzeko on loan. I just hope they have someone in mind who can score regularly or I'm not sure where the goals we need will come from.

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Ifonly added 10:36 - Jan 29 Not the kind of striker I wanted. He sounds like an attacking midfielder. Apparently "He has been considered as one of the most promising young talents of the Danish Superliga, regarded for his technical ability, his dribbling and his speed, making him one of the most creative players in the league". He is 5 foot 9 inches tall, or should I say short, so he should fit straight in to our front line. Realistically, a kid who's been keeping the bench warm in France was about the best we could have expected. I doubt he'll make much difference.

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Ali_Diarea added 11:15 - Jan 29 If this is the last signing we make of the window then we are relegated, it’s as simple as that.
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IanRC added 11:17 - Jan 29 Really don’t know what Dports Republic are thinking. A big strong centre forward should have been bought last summer but still they stumble around buying other positional players.
3

RedandWight added 11:23 - Jan 29 I agree with all the main points of this article. He is another 'one for the future' ,he doesn't have a great goal scoring record and that doesn't fill me with confidence. Everyone has pointed out that we need a proven goal scorer who is going to hit the ground running. If we don't score goals we won't win games - its as simple as that.
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Block8 added 11:35 - Jan 29 Not sure if this is what we need, we might as well give one of the kids a go? A 20 year old winger that's not playing regularly, when we have central strikers putting the ball away, with aplomb, in our own 'B' team??
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dirk_doone added 11:58 - Jan 29 I'd like to see Romain Perraud replace Adam Armstrong up front. He would score more goals than the thirteenth choice in our bargain basement shopping list.
2

mgprobert added 12:05 - Jan 29 Another 'full of promise' signing that might turn out to be inspired. Let's be honest, a Chris Woods or Danny Ings is what we needed - but it might not be easy to attract recognised strikers to a team bottom of the Prem League. Let's hope there is another deal going through under the radar that will surprise and delight us all - but don't hold your breath :(
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kevleykeegle added 12:22 - Jan 29 Watch a few YouTube’s. This guy is not what we need at all! His stats are poor, his goal scoring record is meager and his final ball is as woeful as Djenepo’s. On top of this the papers are suggesting that saints are willing to offload Che - to a relegation rival! This is all crazy. Why is it that every saints’ fan knows that we need a out and out striker, but the club’s managers and owners remain clueless! Unfathomable. If buying this guy is our last roll of the dice, we’re heading for the championship and at some speed.

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davenbennett added 12:39 - Jan 29 Agree with other posters. Another non scoring dwarf! NO!
1

DellBoyWally added 12:53 - Jan 29 What's the point? We could be losing one of our best potential (and better in my opinion) talents from the B-team and paying a quoted £17.5M for a lesser, non-regular starting, low-scoring winger!? The owners may be clever at media and whatever else they do but not at running a football club.
3

mushinexile added 13:11 - Jan 29 Hope he likes Championship football.
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mushinexile added 13:29 - Jan 29 I thought a striker was somebody who scored goals, not somebody who doesn't. I suppose the data says different. Years ago, our bosses decided that we were all to be psychometrically evaluated by some onanist in red glasses. My mate came out right in the middle of all metrics. He was described as perfectly balanced and therefore unstable.
0

SaintPaulVW added 13:47 - Jan 29 Our transfer window travails remind me of this: Edmund: Look, there’s no need to panic. Someone in the crew will know how to steer this thing. Rum: The crew, milord? Edmund: Yes, the crew. Rum: What crew? Edmund: I was under the impression that it was common maritime practice for a ship to have a crew. Rum: Opinion is divided on the subject. Edmund: Oh, really? [starting to get the picture] Rum: Yahs. All the other captains say it is; I say it isn’t. Sports Republic, dividing the opinion in the premier league on the need for a proven striker lol

3

ElSanto added 14:31 - Jan 29 Should have given Jimmy-Jay a chance to shine.
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Big_T added 15:07 - Jan 29 @saintpaulvw I've been drinking my own since before sports Republic took over ! ;-))
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A1079 added 16:42 - Jan 29 This feel likes a mixture of a panic buy or a rubbish attempt to try and placate the fans but it defies all logic and has the same smell as the Carillo purchase. His stats aren't great as a striker, it does not appear to be his natural position and he is unlikely to be the saviour of our goal-scoring problems. We have other players who fulfill the role and it is a role we are not desperate in. Of course, a miracle could happen and he could score 15 goals, but on evidence that looks unlikely.

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YosemiteSaint added 17:26 - Jan 29 This smacks of desperation—at least for this season. It's all classic relegation script stuff. Panic buy, purchase incorrectly, overspend, etc. But perhaps the owners have a long-game in mind, especially when one considers that (1) there are few scenarios left in which we're not relegated, and that (2) we have a Championship manager. If we can get players for the future who we can pay well and who are willing to stick around for a season of Championship football, "perhaps" we bounce right back up with a rebuilt team. That's a lot of ifs, but it's the best I can manage. This season's shot.

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SaintPaulVW added 18:26 - Jan 29 How much for Paul Mullin? Asking for a friend.
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saintmark1976 added 19:14 - Jan 29 It’s my opinion that it’s not in Sports Republic’s business plan (nor has it ever been) for us to stay in the Premiership. They purchased S F C for relatively little in relation to the cost of obtaining a top flight Premiership team and will not be unhappy when we are relegated. The likes of K W P and J W P (along with a few others) are saleable assets and together with the proceeds of Premiership parachute payments will go a long way to recovering their initial outlay. In the meantime they are currently assembling a team of players together with a manager who will be happy to play in the Championship on much reduced salaries. It matters very little to Sports Republic that attendances in the Championship will be reduced by say 10000 per home game as the loss of income will be a drop in a bucket compared to the salary savings they will benefit from. Thereafter Sports Republic will take their chance on S F C being able to return to the Premiership quickly and perhaps become a yo yo club, not dissimilar to the likes of Norwich, Burnley, Bournemouth and W B A.

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DPeps added 20:06 - Jan 29 There's talk of Lucas Moura as well. I remember that we were interested in him a couple of seasons ago, so I think it's genuine. I'm not sure that Moura is the answer either, although it's fantasyland to assume that we'll land a top striker at this point
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Monksway added 11:06 - Jan 30 Looks like he is off to Everton now Gordon has gone to Saudi Toon. To be honest I'm not sure that the 6'4" Goalscoring centre forward who will score loads of goals is actually out there and certainly not within our price range.
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Saint4Life247 added 11:08 - Jan 30 Agree with others that he doesn't tick anywhere near enough boxes for what we need I read somewhere that we have been linked with Beto. he would be a better proposition imo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beto_(footballer,_born_1998)
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underweststand added 19:39 - Jan 30 Have all the other names being bandied around been purely smoke and mirrors.? Now we have bid for Vitinha from Braga who has a great goalscoring record at all levels he's played and if we get Moussa Dembele as well we really will have some goal power up front.
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