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Saints In The Market But Not Desperate

The club appear to have been talking to the Daily Echo about their plans and as we on the TUI have been saying since the window opened they prefer to avoid buying in the January transfer window unless the price is right.

The Daily Echo understands that Saints would still like to add one or two players to their squad before the window closes a week on Thursday but accept that may not be possible.

They remain likely to have to sell before they can buy and, therefore, are partially reliant on other clubs making moves.

That is understandable given that they spent heavily in the summer window in 2018 after breaking their own transfer record a year ago for the now out on loan Guido Carrillo.

Having brought in around £12 million for Manolo Gabbiadini they do have some money in the bank, but well run football clubs budget for transfer fees and if Saints want to bring in two players in the next week or so without breaking into the summer's budget then ideally they would shift one or two more.

It is not just about raising transfer fees though, but taking money off the wage bill, Fraser Forster and Wesley Hoedt are two players who have not played under Hasenhuttl and they are big earners especially Forster.

Hoedt lookslike he will go to Celta Vigo but that is likely to be a loan move with an option to purchase in the summer so it won't bring in cash for transfer fees, however if both do go out on loan then it could save anywhere between £60k a week to £140k if we could get someone to pay their full salary.

That is unlikely but even if Saints could save say £70k a week that is over a million between now and the end of the season and it all adds up.

Saints could also look to shift Cedric Soares, if the right incoming players become available, that could raise £15 million and add that to the £12 million received so far then you have a reasonable transfer kitty.

Indeed if the right offer came in for Soares then they could sell him anyway, with Yan Valery currently playing in the right sided role and other options available, Saints could well decide to cash in even if they do not reinvest the money til the summer.

Taking six points from the last two games has meant that Saints have pulled clear of the relegation zone and now are very much in the driving seat to stay up, the next three games are crucial and could see us virtually safe by the end of February and tat means that unlike last year the pressure is not on us to do something this window.

Les Reed has been much maligned but in the main his signings have in the main been good, indeed it is only when we have veered from the blueprint that things have gone badly wrong, signing Sofiane Boufal was meant to be a marque signing to appease the fans after the departure of Ronald Koeman and Guido Carrillo was a panic buy when Saints had to do something a year ago to try and break the downward spiral.

Other than that most other signings have contributed in one way or another, Wesley Hoedt is much maligned but last season he was virtually an ever present and came good in games when we needed him, perhaps we did not storm to safety, but suddenly the defence only conceding 3 goals in the last 4 games, 2 of them deep into injury time was built on solid performances in the centre of defence in which Hoedt was the only ever present.

So unless they can get who they want at the right price and not be held to ransom, it's likely that Saints will do little in this window but prefer to wait for the summer and do a major overhaul then.


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