Saints are being linked with a raid on Claude Puel's harbour of attacking talent at Leicester City.

Saints are rumoured to be considering a bid for Kelechi Iheanacho who signed for Leicester City for £25 million back in the summer, but has failed to oust the likes of Jamie Vardy as well as Shinji Okazaki and Islam Slimani from th starting line up.

The Nigerian striker is being reported as being unhappy at the Foxes and Claude Puel is ready to let him go if they can get something near the fee they paid to beat off a number of other Premier League clubs in the summer.

The 6ft 2 striker looked a decent player at Manchester City starting 12 Premier League games plus another 34 as sub and scoring 12 goals in his two seasons as a member of City's squad with ironically 3 of those goals coming against Saints , he scored two in a 4-2 defeat for City at St Mary's in May 2016, and then he netted in a 1-1 draw up in Manchester the following season so Saints should be aware of his scoring prowess.

The question though is whether he can score for Saints as well as against them, certainly his career has stalled at Leicester where he has started only 2 Premier League games plus another 7 as sub and scored only a single goal, that being against Leeds United in the League Cup.

At 21 he is looking for a regular game, he has undoubted talent but it is a different matter shining in a rampant Manchester City side and being able to turn it on in a struggling Saints side.

Photo: Action Images

saint_ben added 10:45 - Jan 10 we wont get him, no chance! we have left things too late as per. Is it true about us only getting 17 million up front for VVD? the rest comes over a certain period of time?
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TeamCortese added 12:23 - Jan 10 I was saying this months ago but to be honest our board has never gone for mainstream signings (apart from Charlie Austin because he was ridiculously cheap). Let's wait and see.
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Webbinho added 12:51 - Jan 10 We generally don't buy from PL clubs as its simply too expensive. We will buy from someone that can't say no as they want/need the money.
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SaintJez added 13:31 - Jan 10 rumour hjas it that Iheanacho gets paid 115 a week at Leicester and still has 5 years to run on that contract. Assuming that's true, no chance of signing him permanently. Maybe a loan deal could work for both sides though as Leicester are unlikely to recoup their investment with him sitting on the bench (when he even makes the squad!). 5 good months at SMS with both clubs paying half the wages might be a win-win for all concerned. Is a bit sad we are hoping to sign Leicester's rejects though. (ps whether Mahrez stays or goes will be a factor too as he'll get more game time in a Leicester team that doesn't have Mahrez in it as their goals will dry up...)

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saintkev added 16:33 - Jan 10 We don't need a lightweight striker who makes lots of runs and never gets the ball because we have one of them already in Gabbi. The only times we have looked dangerous all season is when Charlie Boy has been playing so as Pellegrino is never likely to change the way we are playing, then we need to get another big Number 9. Someone like Grazi Pelle. Maybe Andy Carroll or Crouchy? Sam Gallagher ? Olivier Giroud ????

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underweststand added 16:37 - Jan 10 This " potential deal" (if indeed there is any truth in it )...is based on the fact that he has a good scoring record against Saints. As memory serves, he came off the bench and scored against us on few occasions, but got very few Prem. starts at City. Surprise , or ? The fact that he can't get playing time at Leicester could mean a number of things..but Puel is no fool but if he genuinely thinks the lad is a "square peg", then they might let him go, (at a price) ....but it sounds like a real outside chance to me. Whether he can score goals for us - rather than against - remains to be seen.

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sidsaint added 17:53 - Jan 10 Isn't it a bit ironic that our old manager that we let go amid much acrimony and because of lack of goals now has 3 strikers on offer. Can you honestly see Les going cap in hand to Leicester? No chance.
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heroholmes1 added 19:56 - Jan 10 I fear that it is fast becoming apparent that we have taken the VVD money with nothing in place. Let's hope I'm wrong and a strapping striker is coming in.I'd be amazed if any of the "spare" players from the top 6 of the prem come.By the end of this month we should have a clearer picture of our new owners intentions.
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REEDYREEDOREEDZ added 20:34 - Jan 10 He's not the type of striker we need. As Saintkey says we need a target man, Andy Carroll type to hit with crosses and to hold up the ball and play others in. The lad from Monaco sounded like this type of player. Another thing about Iheanacho is why haven't Leicester given him more game time? If he really was a £25m goalscoring machine why haven't they given him more chances to show what he can do? Maybe he's not as good as people thought when he was knocking them in for fun at city. Maybe he's not the type to work for the team and make things happen, like Okazaki, and wants everything put on a plate for him in the penalty box (like at city).

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Jesus_02 added 23:47 - Jan 10 VVD deal is £17m a year over 5 years. I cant see us splashing the cash TBH. Maybe a similarly structured deal for someone like Forests Ben Brereton... £10m upfront another 10m over time/performance ...although he may be a bit high profile. I suppose the other option would be to use the drip of VVD money towards as high profile but free players wages. Balotelli has been mentioned but that sounds like fantasy TBH

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