Saints were keen on landing one of their targets before Claude Puel joined the club but the days spent whilst Puel acquainted himself with the club's transfer targets may mean one slips away.
Saints were reported as being quite close to a deal for Ferencvaros midfielder Adam Nagy, however Claude Puel asked the club to give him a day or so to evaluate Nagy and several other targets before going ahead with any deal and this delay may mean Saints miss out.
In the meantime Benfica have risen to the front of the race to sign Nagy and Saints along with Burnley and reportable Marseille may miss out.
This is of course like most transfer rumours only correct if you believe the media reports and it could be far from the truth and merely the players agent trying to start a Dutch auction between clubs and up the wages for his client.
Certainly Nagy is one of a number of players Saints are considering signing and perhaps Puel may be right if he has slowed things down on this deal, Nagy is not a player of great physical stature and in that terms looks to be very similar to both Jordy Clasie and Oriol Romeu.
If Puel is thinking along those lines then he may be right to not be too keen on the player, it does highlight that although our transfer system is good at identifying players, it still needs the input of ultimately the man who will pick the team.