Due to the timing of this years january transfer window opening its been a slow start, but with the weekend over things will start to hot up.

With New years day falling on a Thursday this year the start of the transfer window was always going to be a slow start in England.

With Premier games on New Years Day followed by a weekend of FA Cup games meant that not many clubs would have time on Friday to do any business.

However that is now set to change, with the weekend over and things back to normal it leaves plenty of time for a club to chase their transfer targets.

Saints have already got in early with the loan signing of Eljero Elia and the speculation now is what other ins and outs will there be at St Mary's.

Ronald Koeman has already ruled out selling any of the first team squad in this window, however in football you can never say never and if the right player became available then no player is expendable.

In the short term Saints do not have to sell to fund transfers in, however in the medium term the futures of several players are up for debate and although in this window Saints look set to keep Morgan Schneiderlin you have to ask the question about Jay Rodriguez and with the doubt surrounding not only his future at St Mary's but when he comes back from injury will he be the same player, it would not surprise me if Saints accepted an over the top offer from Spurs for his services, if we could get a replacement in now then I would almost welcome it in the fact it would be providing the start of what looks set to be another big transfer kitty for Saints in the summer.

So the next few weeks will be interesting although I think Saints may stick to loan signings in this window, these should not be scoffed at, they provide the opportunity to get a player into your squad short term that otherwise you may not be able to do so, the arrival of Toby Alderweireld was an example of this, of course Saints would like to have secured him on a permanent basis, but clearly they were not able to do so, possibly at the time the player was not willing to commit himself to a club that had gone through turmoil, possibly Athletico Madrid weren't willing to let him go, probably a bit of both, but it is better to have a player of his capabilities for one season than not at all.

Photo: Action Images

Stephen added 12:21 - Jan 5 My preference is for loan players where we have an option to buy. We really do not want another Osvaldo deal.
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SaintNick added 12:33 - Jan 5 An option to buy is always good, the problem is though that the option is only enforceable if the player wants to come
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leighsaint added 16:31 - Jan 5 How many loan players can you field at one time???
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GeordieSaint added 07:59 - Jan 6 I think you can only include 3 loan players in a squad which we already have
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perazi added 09:11 - Jan 6 Nick, I agree with you re J-Rod; if a giant offer came in from Spurs, then the Club should consent to sell. I have a feeling he won't come back at the pre-injury level, and even his best form for us came at a time when our playing style was different. You seem to be guarded about the likelihood of Toby joining at seasons end on a permanent basis - could be that AM exercise the 1:5 mill. buy-out-option-to-sell-clause and sell on for a higher fee, but let's hope he stays beyond the summer.

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