Saints are being linked with all and sundry in the January transfer window, but the problem is most of them seem to be in positions that we are strong in, we have enough full backs and midfielders, we need a striker.

The latest player to be linked with Southampton is Celtic's Josip Juranovic, he joins Lecce captain Morten Hjulmand as a supposed target for the club.

The problem for Saints though is that Jurnovic is primarily a right back and Hjulmand a holding midfield player, two positions in which Saints are not in crisis.

When Tino Livramento returns from injury we will have two quality right backs at the club with Kyle Walker Peters primarily also in that position and in the centre of midfield we have adequate cover with the return of Romeo Lavia to the fold.

Perhaps the club are looking to the future with these signings, if we retain our Premier League place then it is likely that at least one, perhaps two of this trio could well leave.

This is the reality of football these days and in this case if we are chasing these two players for instance, that does show forward planning in that we are not only strengthening the squad now but also looking to the future positively.

Many were ranting on social media in December that the club were preparing for the Championship in appointing Nathan Jones and than signings would reflect this.

That hasn't been the case so far, the two signings made in Orsic & Alcaraz are not players for the Championship, one being an experienced International player who has just played for a Croatian team who have just had a superb World Cup and the other an Argentinian wonderkid who is definitely not coming to England for the Championship.

But as mentioned getting players in to the club in these positions is not critical, the main position that we now need to fill is a striker, yes of course it would be good to see classy signings in other areas, but it is the lack of goals that is just as much as a concern.

In conclusion so far this has been a good transfer window, we have improved the squad already and as I have documented in the past, our issues this season have been more about injury issues than the quality of the squad, however the one area that can't be glossed over is the failure of our strikers to hit the back of the net.

None have played that badly in terms of their contribution to the side, but ultimately they have to hit the back of the net in the Premier League and we haven't done that enough times and we need to address that.

Photo: Action Images

Kenm added 08:45 - Jan 18 I'm curious we're the 7th riches club in the premiership but never spend it WHY, or is that why we are wealthy ???
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SWH1748 added 08:53 - Jan 18 Last 3 games scored twice in each, maybe our style is coming through and that is that it is and will be players arriving in around the box will score the majority of goals.
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HythePeer added 09:28 - Jan 18 https://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2023/01/18/southampton-transfer-news-saints-set-to-wi
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davenbennett added 09:34 - Jan 18 After the recent wins, the fear was always that SR thought we didn't need a striker. It We should have had one in on 1 Jan. Could use cup games to bring them up to speed. Rather spent the Orsic and Alcaraz money on one decent striker. Another fear was, after the initial deals, market goes quiet until 22.59 last day and we end up panic buying. Or missing out like with Gakpo and Ramos. Jackson might be signing. More of a winger. Don't mind, if better than what we got. But, we live in hope for a No.9!

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landsdownsaint added 09:58 - Jan 18 &we still got Tella too comeback
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GRIM added 10:33 - Jan 18 Tella ain't a ctr forward & he ain't coming back. If we sign a striker he needs to be a big & powerful player that not only scores regularly but is capable of holding the ball up & bringing others into play.
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Ifonly added 12:00 - Jan 18 I'm with you GRIM - we need a tall physical striker who gives us different threats. I was hoping we'd get Weghorst last summer when Burnley went down. But he didn't fit the policy at the time and he's obviously not an option now. He's the type that we need anyway, strong and good at linking play. I just don't see it happening now. The noises from the club suggest we might get another "forward" but not a "no. 9". It was suggested on another thread that you can use false 9s and so on, but the problem with that is that you need time to make the system work - and time is something we don't have. With a good no. 9 the system is ready made. You just stick the guy in the penalty box and put crosses in. Still hoping we get a no. 9 but ready to have my hopes dashed.

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highfield49 added 12:27 - Jan 18 Whilst I'm equally in favour of signing a goal scoring centre forward it is now obviously optimistic for supporters to have hoped that the right player on an affordable contract was lined up to sign a deal on the first day of the transfer window. Good players have experienced agents advising them whether or not to sign contracts and the club have done an excellent job in procuring Orsic and Alcaraz so far. The fact that every forward we have been linked with is also being linked with several other clubs illustrates the difficulties faced in getting a deal done. If the player isn't interested in playing for a struggling club or is only interested in his bank account rather than hard graft then where lies the benefit to the club. Wolves have just signed Lemina and, like Diego Costa, is a complete hit and miss character as we all know. The only players worth signing, at present, are those who will immediately improve the team and either score goals or provide unmissable openings for others. What we lack at the moment is an individual who tucks away those unmissable openings. JWP is showing some real class around the opposition goal but he's a bonus to the goal scoring woes and certainly not centre forward material. There are some quality players still being linked with the club and we have to trust those negotiating the deals to get the job done without any of the panic buys of the past. My gut feeling is that we'll get the right player in the next few days and I suspect he'll sign from a French team. That said, I wouldn't be disappointed to get Danny Ings back in the fold should Villa be open to negotiation.

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Block8 added 12:33 - Jan 18 I think you hit the nail on the head with the "looking to the future" part of the article. It is highly likely we are replacing a couple of players before we sell them, KWP & Lavia primarily. That would also return most if not all of our January outlay. Smart talk at present is Jackson is all but here & he ticks the boxes that we seem to like, in that he can play 9, 10 or wide. He is a big strong lad so fits that bill too, what we don't need is a big immobile target if we're looking to move the ball forward quickly.

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zonehead added 12:39 - Jan 18 If you have one best crossers of the ball ,why we have never signed a tall no 9 is beyond me
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felly1 added 13:10 - Jan 18 Brighton are a similar sized club flying high in the league. They have a non scoring target man in Wellbeck. But lots of threat from wide areas and attacking midfielders. Maybe this why we signed Orsic, Alcerez and we're linked to Jackson at Villerial who is another attacking midfielder.
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StRipper added 17:02 - Jan 18 Worries me that I am not seeing much about a LB. Clearly Perraud is not a good fit for the way we play and is not a great defender and Larios is young/injured. Beyond rumours of a young LB playing in Serie A that I saw at the beginning of the window, nothing else. Yet weirdly we now only seem to be looking at RBs and CBs (we have 4). If we are playing KWP at LB constantly, then we don't have the LB or LWB that we need. So why sign another RB to exacerbate that situation? For me, we need a goal scoring striker and a LB. Everything else seems to be coming along nicely.

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Whatsforpud added 17:14 - Jan 18 Zonehead mentions the crossing of JWP. While we haven't any great headers of a ball, perhaps it's time we varied our corners by including some short ones, when the ball can be inter-passed between the two players, to give someone else a chance of a shot along the ground. Otherwise, how many goals have we scored from corners?
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IWOZTHERE added 17:41 - Jan 18 Few from corners 'what's for.' Re the article, we don't know how much is 'agent speak' but I agree many names mentioned are in positions which shouldn't be a priority. It's highlighted by the 'background noise' about youngsters we are targetting, although I guess that's just a separate ongoing process? As for Perraud StRipper, I think he's a good player who should be a first choice 90% of the time.

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IWOZTHERE added 17:47 - Jan 18 I omitted to ask... please go for a quality striker and attacking mid. Don't go for half measures, buying several mediocrities like Ely and Diallo.
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TimSaint added 22:33 - Jan 18 We are being linked with right backs in the media, simply because the very same media said KWP is being sold to Man Utd or Chelsea and we will obviously need a replacement !!
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