There will be a few players leaving St Mary's this summer and a few of them will be in demand, one of those players is Armel Bella-Kotchap who after playing in the World Cup for Germany is hot property.

With the transfer window due to open on Wednesday 14th June, the rumour mill is starting to turn and Talksport are saying that latest to look at Bella-Kotchap are Aston Villa.

Their report states that Bella-Kotchap is being chased by clubs in both Germany & Italy and that Saints are happy to let him go as long as their asking price of £30 million is met.

If Saints can get that for the central defender then they will be quite happy as it represents a big profit on the £9 million they paid Bochum for his services last summer.

Saints supporters will consider that the German international had a mixed time in the Premier League, although he was undoubtably a class act on his day, there were questions over his shoulder which saw him miss games through dislocation on two occasions.

There was also a question over his attitude in the eyes of the Southampton faithful who felt his performance levels dropped and by the end of the season he seemed to lack motivation.

Photo: Action Images

cocklebreath added 17:03 - Jun 7 I’d be amazed if we got that. Was thinking more £15 million
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SanMarco added 17:27 - Jun 7 Didn't exactly 'play' in the World Cup did he? I think £30m sounds a bit much for a player who had the look of a possible sick-note future about him. Nick mentions attitude but I think a lot of the younger players were simply lost and lacking any form of leadership as we slid inexorably towards the inevitable.
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highfield49 added 18:04 - Jun 7 On the basis that it's difficult, if not impossible, to negotiate a fee upwards from a low starting point I think the mooted price tag makes sense. Considering the list of players we've overpaid for in recent years maybe it's time we turned the concept around.
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Monksway added 19:56 - Jun 7 We are bound to take quite a financial hit on a number of players that we'll struggle to offload so I guess SR will need to maximise revenue for those where there is interest. ABK, KEPT, JWP, Lavia, Adams, Alcaraz and Tino.
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AmericanSaint added 15:46 - Jun 8 Well I do agree that maybe 30M is a bit high, I also think that they way clubs are spending move, this may not be so unrealistic, especially since he has 2 years left on his deal (I believe). That Germany sees him as potential national team players definitely helps our side in the negotiations. I guess we will see come June 14, but if we can get 25-30M for him, I say sell him and hopefully re-invest in some others. It will be interesting to see who Saints try to keep and who they are willing to sell no matter what.

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Waylander added 13:24 - Jun 12 Very young for a CB and has the potential to be a top class player once his shoulder is fixed. Hold out for the £30M
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