Saints are targeting Kevin Wimmer from Tottenham Hotspur to replace Virgil Van Dijk, but surely we need to get him to play alongside the Dutchman .

The Daily Mail are reporting that Saints will bid for Kevin Wimmer of Spurs, but they also claim that this will only happen if Virgil Van Dijk leaves and not if he stays.

I hope that this is not the case and that Saints do not think that Virgil Van Dijk or Kevin Wimmer for that matter will be sufficient to play in the centre of defence alongside the central defenders we currently have.

We have not replaced Jose Fonte yet, we need to make a statement of intent and sign a quality replacement for Fonte before we talk of replacing anyone else.

Much as Yoshida and Jack Stephens put in a shift last season, Yoshida's place in the squad is at best a reasonable back up and Jack Stephens is a raw talent who at the moment is at a crossroads at to whether he genuinely has enough in his locker to be a defender of Premier League quality or will be Championship at best, in fairness at the end of last season he showed that he has talent in some areas but lacked in others, turning 24 in January he should have shown that promise by now, he is roughy the same age that Dejan Lovren, Toby Alderweireld and Van Dijk himself where when they arrived at St Mary's all where the finished article at that age, can anyone honestly say that Stephens is up to that standard ?

Jan Bednarek is an unknown quanity and Florin Gardos been out for a long time, the stark reality is that we need to start the season with two players of the quality of Lovren, Van Dijk and Alderweireld, we are one short even if VVW stays, we need to plug that gap now.

Back in January we didn't and paid a high price for not doing so, we do not want to make the same mistake twice.

Wimmer has been linked before, he looks to be a good bet the only difference Saints and Spurs seem to have is the price, Spurs think that he has played 15 Premier League games in two years and rarely last season that is called developing a player and thus he is now worth £20 million nearly 5 times what they paid two years ago, where Saints have a more realistic valuation which says that his price is nearer that £4.3 million paid by Spurs than the £20 million they want.

The problem is that transfer fees have gone mad, Everton seem likely to pay £50 million for Gylfi Sigurðsson more than double what he is actually worth, there are a lot of clubs paying way over the odds at present, I can see why Les Reed does not want us to be one of them, but we have one weak area at present and it needs to be sorted fast.

Photo: Action Images

Sanguin added 13:30 - Jul 28 Prices won’t become more reasonable any time soon, particularly for Premier League players. Wimmer is a proven Premier League defender and would be a fantastic addition to the squad. I think he’s worth more than £5m, the fact that Spurs don’t want to sell probably does mean that £20m is a fair price. Given they know we have a £75m central defender, they won’t be likely to lower the price for us even if the player does want first team football. I can’t see us breaking our transfer record for him, even if van Dijk is sold.

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SaintPaulVW added 13:35 - Jul 28 You think we'll get a reasonable price from Daniel Levy? Even if the deal does happen it will be closer to the £20 million and on deadline day. Can't imagine a worse scenario tbh.
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Jesus_02 added 13:47 - Jul 28 Oh Nick... we simply are not going to pay 20m + for Wimmer otherwise we would have done so for Sakho. Its simply not soccerball if we do. The question is do we really need a CB when we have such a strong governance model at the club. We have so many board members do we really need to spend needless money on players? Seriously in the scheme of things this is the year that we should be pushing for Europe and we have the weakest team we have had for an age and a captain n strike. We have a new manager that has yet to be backed and a transfer profit of 8m. Our complete lack of ambition has finally come home to roost I'm afraid. And before I'm cast as a "negie" lets see how we do for season tickets this year.

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SaintBen added 13:55 - Jul 28 I think the staff/management believe that with VVD in the squad we will have enough at the back... And to be fair Stephens and Yoshida didn't pay bad at the back end of the season. The fact of the matter is, Stephens has all the attributes to be a top player in time, Yoshida is a very good backup (and they're aren't many players in the Prem that are willing to have that tag) Gardos has been out for so long, who realistically is going to come in and bid for him? And we know that our club thinks long and hard over signings before making them - Only signing players they believe are good enough, so they have to stand by these players in question or they go against their model and the process would look flawed...

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the_saint added 13:56 - Jul 28 My source tells me vvd gone by end of day hope its not true
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petesmaterob added 14:13 - Jul 28 We have to put some trust in Stephens. The success of England youth teams recently proves we have the talent, we just need to give young players time to develop. English teams are wasting a fortune on players and the rest of Europe soak up the money and use it to pay for clubs that are run as a sustainable business and develop players for their national teams. And whilst I am putting the world to rights I would like to state that as a Saints fan for over 50 years these are the good times and Les Reed and the management team are doing a great job. I think too many people think the only way forward is to keep chucking money at the problem and buying new players. I do appreciate the business modal of the premier league and the amount of money paid by sky and the sponsors but just spending money on over inflated players is wasting it. We could be using it to create a real legacy. Hope my mate Pete agrees.

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GeordieSaint added 14:25 - Jul 28 I agree rob, wholeheartedly.
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SanMarco added 14:37 - Jul 28 carroll: who to ??
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landerwal added 14:45 - Jul 28 The article is bit unfair on Stephens saying VVD etc were so much better than him when they came to Southampton at the same age. Of course they were better. They had the benefit of playing seasons of top flight football before arriving, whereas Stephens got unexpectedly pitched into the deep end and did a great job for someone so young and inexperienced playing at that level. Although there seems to be a bias against Stephens on this site, many many supporters I've spoken to think he did really well last season and is a great prospect.

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the_saint added 14:52 - Jul 28 Liverpool san Marco source usually reliable but does get the odd one wrong hope this is one of them
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the_saint added 14:54 - Jul 28 Last two he gave were the manager and the vvd spat which he got both right before they were on any threads
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patred added 14:59 - Jul 28 I wanted us to go for him in the last window to replace Fonte. I believe @ £20m he was slightly over priced, but now that looks about right in today's market. I would like him here even if by some miracle Van Dijk stays. If he goes, we should insist Shako is part of the deal. Shako plus Wimmer looks a good pair for the next 4 years or so.
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SaintBrock added 15:15 - Jul 28 The 'other' fan site is claiming the deal has been done but conversely Twitter is abuzz with rumours coming out of the training camp that HE will stay definitely.
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the_saint added 15:25 - Jul 28 Crazy crazy world we live in I remember when u had to wait for rumours off the daily rags now with social media it's all gone insane
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SanMarco added 15:52 - Jul 28 If he goes to Liverpool without putting in a formal request I will cancel my Sky subscription and not spend anything at all on football all season. I am not giving money to VVD to reward him for his inconvenience...
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highfield49 added 11:15 - Jul 29 Within all of the potential comings and goings, none of which seem to have any substance at present, am I right in thinking that Yoshi is one of the players who hasn't been presented with a new contract? If I am correct then it would appear that the club is willing to let Yoshi and Gardos leave if a suitable bid arrived or their contracts expire. However, I suspect that there are no bids on the table. VVD could well stay but is highly unlikely to feature in the the next month unless he is prepared to sit on the bench and take some abuse from supporters whilst he reintegrates. I suspect it wont be long before there are calls to get him onto the pitch and off the bench. So, assuming he stays, big assumption, I don't think Chambers is actually much better than Stephens, I don't want to see any Liverpool rejects wearing our shirt so either Gibson or Wimmer are the only currently touted players who we should be looking at signing to play alongside VVD or Stephens. That said, wasn't there a pretty decent CD from the manager's previous club available for much less money, or has he moved elsewhere?

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