Every Saints fan will tell you that there are only two positions that need immediate attention and neither are in the midfield, so why do the media keep linking us with every available midfielder on the continent.

Stop any Saints supporter in the street and ak him where Saints need to strengthen and they will all tell you we need to buy a striker and a central defender, so why given the fact that we already have six candidates for the three central midfield positions and that Claude Puel does not like wingers do the media continue to link us with virtually every midfielder in the game ?

Latest to be linked are Yoric Ravet and Lorenzo Pellegrini and that is just this morning's latest links.

Ravet is currently at Young Boys in Switzerland, at 27 Ravet has kicked about the French and Swiss leagues and it has only been in the last couple of years that he has made any sort of impact.

I would say that although Saints and Swansea are being touted as possible suitors, it will be alas poor Yoric for a move to St Mary's and that this is just his agent trying to stir up interest in the player to try and engineer a pay day for his client.

Pellegrini is a different matter, although it is hard to see where he would fit in at Saints at present. Currently as Sassuolo in Italy he is very much the latest wonderkid and supposedly being monitored by the likes of Chelsea and Manchester City with Saints and Tottenham about to go head to head for his signature.

Normally he would be the type of player we would be chasing, but Saints fans would rather hear news about a striker or defender.

But if we did go for him we would have to pay the 10 million euro buy out clause in his contract when he joined Sassuolo from Roma in 2015, that in itself is not a problem, but he would be one for the future rather than going straight into our side now I would suspect.

This one could come to fruition , but with his club not keen to sell in this window it is more likely to happen in the summer.

But these two being linked still asks the question why we are being linked with so many midfielders, it is not a priority area for us.

The reason is that we are seen on the continent as a progressive club who will give players a chance, Pellegrini although being linked with the big clubs will know that he would be unlikely to get in their starting XI or even on the bench whereas at Saints he would have the opportunity to impress and get in the side.

Photo: Action Images

SanMarco added 10:20 - Jan 18 How many other fan sites quote Hamlet eh? I suppose a cynic might argue that we have numbers in midfield but are short on real quality in depth. JWP and Hojberg are not world beaters and Clasie is yet to establish himself. I suppose if these are genuine possibilities it depends who wants them - Puel or Les? Puel should be wanting to shape his own midfield. I fear that in the summer the 'cash-in' spotlight will turn to our defence - so might be an idea to strengthen elsewhere before then.

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dowater added 10:46 - Jan 18 due to the fact that we are lacking quality up front at the moment with injuries and players that are not performing are we not going for saido berahino? he has proven track record of scoring, he has been part of the england under 21, squad as have a lot of our youth team and he is at the end of his contract and not being played by WBA, i know they still want £15m but at the end of teh day we are no doubt going to cash in, in the summer for VVD and this would be good business in my mind. i know that he has a lable for causing disruption for not getting a big move to a bigger club but lets face it, if someone came in with big money what would saints do SELL SELL SELL

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dowater added 10:53 - Jan 18 another thought if we are supposidly looking at a midfield player of 27ish, why do we not look to resign andrew surman from bournmouth, his wages are not silly he knows the club all too well (having come through the youth ranks) and is a great player and English. he is also out of contract at the end of the season if the papers are to be believed?
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dixiefrog added 12:18 - Jan 18 Blah blah blah yet more media and agent nonsense trying to sell a few column inches. It's frustrating but we all know Saints don't conduct their business in the public eye, I won't be getting excited until I hear something official from the club themselves.
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REEDYREEDOREEDZ added 12:26 - Jan 18 Lazy journalism. Not you Nick, the people making up the links. We won't sign a central midfielder. Dowater. Berahino? lol he's terrible!! Had one good season and it went to his head. He's a nightmare. Dreadful attitude. Avoid!! Dowater. Surman?? Decent player but he's 30 and isn't half as good as Romeu. We definately don't need any more central midfielders. Just throwing a name out there for a striker the club could sign: Łukasz Teodorczyk from Dynamo Kiev. He's on loan at Anderlect this season and has scored 24 goals in 30 games including 7 goals in 8 Europa League games. He's also scored 4 goals in 11 games (4 starts and 7 as a sub) for Poland, playing 2nd fiddle to Lewandowski. Good all round player, strong physically and dominant in the air, great finisher, decent pace, a natural born goal scorer. This is the type of player Saints need. A proper number 9. Someone to get on the end of all the crosses we put in.

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highfield49 added 12:49 - Jan 18 Just goes to show what a difficult job it is to sign quality players and whilst I wouldn't be too bothered if Les Reed left his well paid job for pastures new I also can't blame him every time a potential signing fails to materialise. Just suppose we buy Berahino and Sahko for a combined £25m and neither prove to be an improvement on what we already have in the squad? Yes, get players in but also look beyond the rejects touted by press and agents, there really are good players, like Teodorczyk mentioned above, who are where we need to be looking.

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redandwhitedee added 13:30 - Jan 18 It is to replace Tadic in the Summer.
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BoondockSaint added 13:34 - Jan 18 "Monitored by the likes of Chelsea and Manchester City" because they will let Saints do the work and take the financial risk. If he develops into a good player, they lure him away in a year or two.
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Jesus_02 added 16:49 - Jan 18 We will rightly buy anyone that is better than what we have wherever that may be. Midfielders are not in short supply ATM so represent good value for money. Jan Transfer window has always been a case of only buying if there is a bargain out there. We will not buy a defender or a striker as we actually need one that would put us in a poor bargaining position therefore its bad socernomics. Really we need to invest in a couple of left backs because that is the only position that we have genuine options. This will allow us to sell Bertrand from a strong position. As we don't need to sell as we will already have 50m+ banked from VVD. Thats good soccernomics. If we make it four seasons of massive profits in a row that level of success will be unprecedented and we should have an open top bus tour for Les and Freddy to celebrate regardless of whether we get relegated and even Peul gives up and moves on. We dont want to win the league we want consistent average achievement because at the end of the day we don't want to get too exited do we. If we end up in the championship then we need to reflect on the fact that we where in L1 at one point.

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A_Saint_in_Stoke added 01:13 - Jan 19 How many times have we got to stomach Claude Puel in every after match TV interview especially after ANOTHER pathetic footballing farce from the Saints tonight - saying " well we are creating MANY chances .... BUT WE WERE NOT CLINICAL ENOUGH. Derrrrrr I wonder WHY that is? Saints NEED TO BUY A PROOVEN GOALSCORER !!!!!!! Les if your listening - If you think that tonight's attendance was poor - just ask the saints fans WHY? Keeping the POUNDS safe in the bank mate - and not buying " Someone who will convert all these chances " ...... WILL TURN OUT - AND WILL BE PROOVEN TO BE - FALSE ECONOMY - especially seeing the decline of the league attendances. I am now REALLY worried now " The new MR TINKERMAN Claude " how many changes DID YOU AGAIN MAKE TONIGHT ?" - It has crossed my mind that you don't even know your strongest Saints team !!

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