With Ronald Koeman now installed as Saints manager the rumour mill will go into overdrive about just who he will target to bring into the Club over the summer.
Initially Koeman's job will be made that much harder in that until he has met all the players he will not be sure just who will be going and who will be staying, the likelihood is that Saints will lose another couple, but will hang on to most of the squad, however the departures will mean that Koeman will probably have the biggest transfer budget outside of the top six clubs in the Premier.
Before the speculation began about who would and who would not depart there would have been money earmarked for incoming transfers, this has already been augmented by the fee's recieved not only for Mauricio Pochettino and his staff where Spurs will have had to have shelled out about £2.5 million, but from Liverpool for Rickie Lambert, this means that before anymore players are sold Saints have approximately £6.5 million extra to spend, the sale of Shaw and Lallana alone could add £50 million to that kitty, this would mean most clubs would be casting envious glances towards St Mary's with Koeman having about £60 million to spend.
Ideally of course Saints would hang on to both Shaw and Lallana, but if they dont and hold on to the rest of the squad then we will be in a very strong position.
So who would Koeman be targetting ?
It is easy to start with his old club Feyenoord and the first name mentioned is Lex Immers, signed by Koeman in 2012 Immers is a midfielder who can also play as a forward, in his two seasons at Feyenoord, Immers who turned 28 last week has had two identical years, playing 32 games and scoring 12 goals in both seasons is the Eridivisie.
Previously Immers played for his hometown club ADO Den Hague where in five seasons he made 145 League appearances and scored 25 times before signing for Feyenoord for around £1 million on a four year deal in 2012.
Clearly this is a player who Koeman has signed for a cheap fee and considerably improved as a player.
Feyenoord have reportably agreed a fee of 7.5 million Euros with Lazio for the player, but the deal has stalled in the past couple of weeks, possibly because of Koeman's links with Saints.
Immer would not perhaps be seen as a marque signing, however over the past 15 months under Pochettino what has become clear is that the ex manager concentrated on building a team rather than a squad, he concentrated on a nucleus of 15 players rather than on a squad overall, perhaps now we can build on that nucleus to make the squad stronger and Immers would fit that bill being a goalscoring midfield player, something we have lacked.
Another Feyenoord player being linked with a move from Saints is Graziano Pelle a 6ft 4 inch striker, like Immers, Pelle has been at Feyenoord for two seasons, the first of which was on loan from Parma in his native Italy, again like Immers he has blossomed under Koemans with 27 goals from 29 games in his first season and 23 goals from 28 games in his second.
Pelle is a late developer in that until he joined Feyenoord he had had mixed results with a number of clubs in both Italy and Holland, certainly he would be a reasoably priced target for Saints who need to consider Rickie Lambert's replacement, the drawback might be his age, he will turn 29 in June and is under contract to Feyenoord till the summer of 2017, but those who cite age as being a problem should remember that Rickie Lambert was only a year younger than Pelle when he joined Saints.
These are the first two names being touted as possible transfers into Saints and certainly both look likely to be in positions we will need to strengthen next season, what is clear from the statements being put out by both Ronald Koemans and the club is that the clock has not just started ticking, Saints have certainly been working for some time on possible transfer targets and it seems that Koeman himself has not been idle and has possibly been working closely with Saints for a week or two in identifying those targets.