Reports in the Italian media are suggesting that Saints are looking at Lazio's goalkeeper Christos Mandas, who played the second half of the Rome clubs friendly at St Mary's last week.

sportwitness.co.uk are one of the media outlets who are citing Italian sources linking Christos Mandas with a move to Southampton, but with a twist that Wolverhampton Wanderers are also in the frame.

They say:

"Corriere dello Sport today report Southampton and Wolves could table €20m offers for Mandras. It’s claimed the two English sides are being pushed towards the Lazio man and that they are both in the market for a goalkeeper."

They go on to claim that Saints could be using Charly Alcaraz as part of the deal.

That all sounds good, but then when you take a closer look at Mandas, something doesn't add up.

The keeper who will turn 23 next month, actually has very little experience.

He started his career in his native Greece with Atromitos and left them in the summer of 2022 for OFI Crete with a fee of around £600k where he established himself as the number one keeper.

During his time with both Greek clubs he amassed just 43 League appearances.

In the summer of 2023 he moved again, this time for Lazio, for a fee said to be around £1.2 million, however he has not been the number one keeper during his time in Rome, in Serie A last season he made just 9 appearances.

So where is a fee of 20 million euros coming from, there is no evidence as to why his value should have sky rocketed in the last 12 months.

Indeed transfermarkt have his current value at 3 million euros, pushed up slightly by the fact that he gained his first cap for Greece in June.

To put this in perspective Alex McCarthy & Joe Lumley are valued at 500 & 600 euros respectively.

Bizarrely Southampton's first choice keeper Mateus Lis, is valued at more than McCarthy & Lumley combined at 1.6 million euros.

But value aside, why would Saints be looking to spend any amount on Mandas, let along 20 million euros, we are top heavy with keepers already and Mandas has the least experience of any of them.

How could we contemplate throwing a 22 year old with so little experience into the cauldron that is the Premier League, look what happened when we did that with Gavin Bazunu two years ago, the Irish International has not yet recovered from the trauma.

If Saints are to stay up this season they will need an proven experienced Premier League keeper behind what is going to be a defence likely to also have very little experience in the top flight of English football.

I don't blame Saints here, they are in a bit of a dilemma, they clearly see Gavin Bazunu as their long term option, so do not want to waste some of the transfer budget on paying the transfer outlay they would need to buy a proven Premier League shot stopper, but on the other hand, loan deals are hard to get over the line until the last week of the window, after club's have realised they are not going to be able to sell their player.

This seems to be the case with the two keepers Saints are linked with, Arron Ramsdale of Arsenal & Sam Johnstone of Crystal Palace.

Some Saints supporters seem keen on Mandas, they were impressed with his 45 minute showing at St Mary's, but is that really enough to show he is ready to play in the Premier League, if we apply those standards then Joe Lumley's 18 minute cameo would make him first choice.

Something doesn't quite sit right with this deal.

Photo: Action Images

WestSussexSaint added 12:35 - Aug 12 A loan for Ramsdale still seems to be the best option in my opinion. Proven quality and if the reports are correct that we need to sell first for more signings then we should be able to accommodate a loan even if the sales for ABK, Tall Paul etc don’t materialise quickly. The Lazio lad may have the right skills but it seems a high price for an unknown quantity and also someone who could end up as back up when Bazunu is fit.

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