If Saints should lose a player or two in the summer then one thing that won't happen is that they won't get caught on the hop with the succession planning already underway.

There can be no doubt that the coming summer could be one of upheaval again for Saints with Morgan Schneiderlin likely to leave and Nathaniel Clyne waiting till the season is over before he decides on his future, a decision that although frustrating for Saints supporters is probably a wise one for the player himself and should not be seen as being disloyal.

Latest reports suggest that Clyne's replacement has already been identified and the wheels are in motion, that man is AZ Alkmaar right-back Mattias Johansson a Swedish International who like Clyne is out of contract in the summer, Johansson is 23 and has played for his country 3 times so far and would be available for around £2 million, certainly a lot less than Saints would get for Clyne should he leave.

Also on Saints radar is PSG's Jean-Christophe Bahebeck a player who although can play as a striker is primarly a winger for PSG, Bahebeck will turn 22 in May and again is the archetypal Ronald Koeman player, pacy with the ability to play in more than one position.

After a couple of seasons out on loan Bahebeck is starting to get more game time for PSG although with a lot of competition he is not by any means a regular starterand was an unused sub in the French sides recent Champions league game against Chelsea.

Bahebeck would be available for around £4 million pounds and again would be a fraction of the cost of what Saints could be recouping this summer.

If Saints do lose Schneiderlin and Clyne they would hope to bring in at least £45 million for the pair and that could be boosted should the likes of Manchester be willing to shell out £2o million for Jay Rodriguez, either way that would be a significant war chest for Ronald Koeman and a great opportunity to keep building and improving upon the squad.

This is the way forward for Saints, indeed it always has been, the trick is to produce through the youth ranks or buy cheaply but well and then sell high and then it is a case of keeping on repeating this formula, done properly it can be very successful.

Photo: Action Images

schatfield added 12:50 - Mar 9 its a shame we hadnt lined up a striker already in January then
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Jesus_02 added 13:40 - Mar 9 Strangley the idea of losing Jay Rod does not fill anyone I speak to with woe, I say strange because if he was available now. I imagine that people may be a bit more confident of making europe. Im NOT so sure that we will get £45m for Schniederlin and Clyne. We SHOULD. But I dont think that we will.
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tiptop added 16:32 - Mar 9 Spiders contract is to 2017. Thats not bad leverage at the bargaining table for arguably the best defensive midfielder in the prem. He should fetch 25m easily so i dont think we'll have a prob getting the right money. Might help if he score a screamer of two in the run in.Clyne needs to pick up his performance level i think to get his max return.
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saintsnutcase added 16:59 - Mar 9 I think we will get 25m for Spider but much less than 20m for Clyne - maybe only 10m. Also, I am getting really fed up with our players talking about moves to bigger clubs while the season is still nowhere near finished. This is what happened last year with Lallana and that idiot Lovren, and Shaw. It looks like we are going to lose our 3 best players from the first half of the season (Spider, Clyne and Alder) plus maybe Rodrigues. Yes we'll get some money in but you can t keep losing that number of top players. I agree that Clyne needs to wake up if he wants a move -- he has fallen away a lot lately.

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darthvader added 17:54 - Mar 9 He's probably been tapped up since he's played for England that's what happened last season .
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corkcitysaint added 19:22 - Mar 9 If we are going splash the cash, I'd like to see another defensive midfielder come in. We only have Big Vic & Harry Reed when Morgans gone. Wouldn't fancy Gardos in that position. Don't we have enough wingers at the moment?? Can't we just get an out and out striker to bag us a hat full of goals??
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saintwizzler added 08:01 - Mar 10 Another CB even if we keep Toby, Yoshida just isn't a top end Prem player and a Pelle type player to push Pelle for that role. Sam Gallagher played for the u21's the other night, but is he good enough?
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