Southampton Still Have Two Irons In The Fire For A Goalkeeper

There are conflicting stories coming out of the media about just who Saints are going to try and sign as the transfer window enters it's final week, but what one will it be and will they succeed or fail on a season changing decision.

The pursuit of Aaron Ramsdale has been in the rumour mill for the past month or so, but with Arsenal seemingly hanging on to the final week of the window in the hope of generating a bit of a bidding war, either for a permanent move or a loan deal, the trail went cold for a while.

Earlier this week sportsview.co.uk reported that none other than Fabrizio Romano, that much respected predictor of transfer rumours was claiming that Southampton were in talks with Feyenoord over Dutch international keeper Justin Bijlow.

But just as Southampton supporters started to get a good feeling about this deal, it now comes out that Saints are preparing an official loan move for Aaron Ramsdale, so the pendulum swings again.

Ideally, the Gunners want to sell Ramsdale permanently or on loan with an obligation to buy. But Saints getting him on loan at the moment, and it remains to be seen if the deal includes the option to buy him next summer.

Wolves have held talks for the goalkeeper and they could provide strong competition in the race to sign Ramsdale.

So it seems that Saints are fighting on two fronts to get a keeper in before the window closes, but are they playing a risky game, the Bijlow deal seems to be a permanent transfer and from that perspective it could be the easiest to get done and dusted and the goalkeeping problem solved.

If they pursue the loan option for Ramsdale and lose out to Wolves, then they could find themselves struggling to get in a keeper in the final days of the window and if they fail to bring one in, then it could have repercussions on our chances of staying up this season.

So a big dilemma for Russell Martin and those tasked with getting a transfer ove the line, do they stick with the pursuit of Bijlow or twist and keep hedging our bets.

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