Southampton are considering a £12m bid for Lazio's Wesley Hoedt according to reports in the press. Arron Sanders runs the rule over the reports.

Saints are according to the Daily Mail, weighing up a £12million move for Lazio centre back Wesley Hoedt as they allegedly prepare for Virgil van Dijk's departure.

Van Dijk is due to discuss his future with the club this week after He spent last week training on his own at the Staplewood training base while the team were on a pre-season trip to France.

Liverpool were warned over their approaches to Van Dijk earlier in the summer but that has not prevented the 26-year-old from voicing his desire to move to Anfield and play under Jurgen Klopp.

Mauricio Pellegrino has been using Jack Stephens and Maya Yoshida as his centre-back pairing during pre season and also now has Polish Under 21 international Jan Bednarek to call upon.

However, talks have taken place over Hoedt, another Holland international, who has been at Lazio since 2015.

The 23-year-old was a target for Southampton last summer while Middlesbrough, Leicester and Everton have also considered the former Alkmaar centre back. Hoedt is strong in the air, comfortable on the ball and a good reader of the game.

Off course the Dutchman could just be a replacement for Jose Fonte, and also a way of pursuading Van Dijk to give us at least another season by signing a fellow Dutchman.

Would you welcome the signing of Wesley Hoedt? Or would you prefer either Yoshida or Stephens to get their chance this season?

Photo: Action Images

A1079 added 21:03 - Jul 31 On the face of it, he sounds a good addition to the squad.
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1970 added 21:46 - Jul 31 if we play a season with yosh and stephens as are main defenders, at the beginning of the season the defeats will be close with us competing quite well but ultimately losing and then the real beatings will begin and we will go down with our best result being a draw which is a real shame when there are such sh^te in the league, stephens needs a van dijk to learn from and yoshida needs to play in the championship, I don't care what anyone says these two are not prem players shame we got rid of caceres coyr

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TeamCortese added 21:51 - Jul 31 1970: you're talking absolute garbage! If it wasn't for Yoshida last season we probably would have been relegated...
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pete_boggs added 22:00 - Jul 31 We shipped more goals when VvD got injured. This is a fact. Yoshida/Stephens are not as good as VvD/Fonte. They both should have been replaced. Team Cortese check the facts then pontificate.
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patred added 22:19 - Jul 31 If the club has come to the conclusion that we need 2 quality central defenders then I am pleased. Even if VvD leaves we need to replace him and Fonte. Stephens and Yoshida as cover are fine, but the thought of them being used as first choice central defenders was giving me the screaming ab-dabs.
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northernsaint1 added 05:06 - Aug 1 Stephens is just not good enough right now for us espesh with Yosh maybe with VVD he would come on but as of now we would be lucky to finish 17th!!!
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mattlegod added 07:56 - Aug 1 I don't think there was any coincidence that during the period of yoshida/Stephens we struggled to score as we played deeper to protect the defence, and Fraser's performance declined. We need a solid back two now.
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kristianJ added 13:02 - Aug 1 People on here are very harsh on Yosh and Stephens (who are both decent players) - however given the VVD situation it might be expedient to try to land Hoedt now. From what I have seen of him he looks a good player, he seems to have excellent balance and a good range of passing, he will also add height and muscle to the back 4. At £12 million he offers much better value than either Wimmer or Sakho so would seem to fit our approach (that's not a criticism). The other factor here is that Yosh has only a year left on his contract so even if VVD stays we may need to replace Maya in a year's time - we might as well get a replacement in now.

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bstokesaint added 13:19 - Aug 1 I agree Kristina. Yoshi played very well last season and to write him off as "Championship" is incredibly insulting. His pace often gets us out of trouble and he had very few lapses last season, which was previously his main (and pretty much only) criticism. I think the problem is as modern day Saints' fans we have been spoilt by the likes of Lovren, Toby and VVD who are all world class defenders. If it was either Yoshi or Stephens filling in with someone of the ilk of the previously mentioned three then no-one would be that fussed. Both together though and then people react with OTT comments. We definitely need to bring in at least one defender to challenge the other two, but whether that's two really depends on VVD.

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Justin33 added 21:02 - Aug 2 Just get another center back in mid 20's. Yoshida has been a great servant to saints but always just lacking that little something. Great for 45 mins or less but final third he's mostly found wanting. Vvd can go (fill in your thoughts here) because he's an unprofessional (fill in your thoughts here). Saints are bigger than the (fill in your thoughts here) vvd and saints can and will find or develop just as good a player. If there's a way to keep vvd n not Psy him or sell him for the next 5 years I would truly like to see that happen.

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