If you believe the media then Saints have slapped a £40 million price tag on Sadio Mane's head and Manchester United are about to test their resolve.
Back in August Manchester United supposedly offered £20 million for Sadio Mane and Saints turned it down, in fairness to Mane if it happened, unlike his colleague he made no noises of discontent or petulance and just got on with his job.
Perosnally I don't think the bid was made, it's generally accepted that United were trying to deflect attention of the fact that they had let the signing of Pedro from Barcelona slip through their hands at the final hour and big rivals Chelsea had snatched him.
Certainly tough if they thought briefing the media they were chasing Mane was going to placate their armchair army they were mistaken and many United fans expressed strong views that signing a virtually unknown Senegalese striker was not going to placate them.
But all this is enough to start the media salivating that United are coming back in with an offer, athough they seem to be unable to make up their mind whether Mane is a direct replacement for Wayne Rooney or a winger.
So the rumours are now flying thick and fast, United are about to launch a bid ! Saints have slapped a £40 million price tag on his head ! He is going nowhere ! The rumours veer from one extreme to the other and no one is quite sure wha to believe.
So the big question is whether United are actually serious about signing Mane, back in August United's supporters were underwhelmed by Mane's scoring record, last season he scored 10 league goals, with 3 of them being in the final game.
This season he has hit just 3 and these aren't the figures that the Old Trafford faithful are looking for.
Ironically these rumours are surfacing almost a year to Mane's lowest ebb at Saints, tat was at Sheffield United when Saints went tamely out of the Capital One Cup and Mane was abused by his own supporters who felt that 1 solitary goal in 11 games in the Premier League was not good enough.
But that was the low point and Mane then scored in each of the next three Premier League games to show wat he was capable of. But his departure to the African Cup Of Nations did not help him and on his return 2 goals in 12 games was restoring him in the eyes of some supporters to his former status as a waste of money. These were a minority, but they were a very vocal minority, especially at away games.
He ended the season strongly scoring in the defeat at Sunderland and then that hat trick against Aston Villa and it was perhaps that which brought him onto most peoples radar, up to that game the jury was very much out on Mane, 7 goals was not setting the World alight, opinion was divided amongst the Saints supports and Mane was barely known outside of it. The hat trick changed everything.
This season has been a little stop and start for him and in many respects not one that would be linking him with the big clubs, 3 Premier League goals is not a great total, out of 13 games and is the same as the 1 in 3 ratio he ended up with last season.
That is not a record that would normally have the big clubs drooling over you, there are many players with a better record than him this season, so why is he being linked with Manchester United ?
I think the answer lies merely in the fact that United were linked in August, ts a cheap easy headline to dredge up now, United are trying to recapture former glory, they are only going to do that by signing players who are proven at the highest level for the biggest clubs, they cannot afford another season of winning nothing and seeing overpriced underperforming players in their squad, they have to sign the best or risk being a best another Arsenal, always there or thereabouts and not winning anything, or at worst another Liverpool slowly losing touch with teams that once they were light years in front of.
But elling Mane is very much in Saints plans, it was fro the very moment they signed him, this does not make us a selling club, it makes us one with a strategy and a strategy that is tried and tested at some of the top clubs on the Continent.
That strategy is to keep building and improving the squad by buying in players, building the potential into something tangible and then selling when the price is more than right.
Of course it relies on continually buying well, but that is the case whatever your strategy.
The good thing is the more that the strategy works, the easier it s to keep implementing it, a year ago our squad had much less depth, now it has much more.
That means we can afford he odd player that doesn't work out, last season we had no leeway, now we have more breathing space and e are now more in control of how we do things.
So it will be in Saints strategy to sell at least one player for big money in the summer, they know the worth of every player and when that valuation is exceeded ten it is time to sell, in truth its one that served the club well from the days of Ted Bates onwards, now however it is more refined and much more planned.
Saints supporters have to recognise this and realise that not every sale is a disaster, it is an opportunity, to say if we had kept all our players we would be in the top four is wrong, we would not have had the money to invest in the squad, we would have had a great starting line up but little else, that would have meant that when injury or suspension kicked in we would have suffered, the top four clubs stay there for one reason and that is not a quality starting XI, its a quality squad and that is what Saints have to achieve and it won't be don overnight, indeed look at a year ago, we were bringing on kids off the bench, this year ts Internationals.
So if every player has his worth, how much is Sadio Mane worth to Saints ? what figure do we think the club would accept for him ?
The alleged £40 million is a smokescreen, he is not worth that, his statistics don't lie and any potential buyer will look at those as part of any evaluation process.
Saints will probably consider bids above £20 million and £25 million being a snatch your hand off situation.
But they do not want to sell in January, they will prefer to do business in the summer.
However January transfer windows are always overpriced, we are top heavy with strikers, we will already be looking at options f United are serious, we will be planning and looking at what the impact of his moving will be and how that can be softened.
Part of that process will be in where we are in January, f we are still in with a shout of the top five and in the semi finals of the Capital one Cup hen we will not sell, if our season has dipped and Sadio Mane is the subject of a £25 million bid then I would not be surprised if we at least considered it.
If the players scoring record has not improved then to be blunt £25 million for a 10 goal a season striker is good money, after all Saints fans complained about paying less than half that for Shane Long a man with a record of around that ratio.
So how much do you think Sadio Mane is worth ? Give your valuation by giving a comment below and voting in the poll on the right hand side of the page.