Danny Ings has rejected a new contract with Saints but the truth is that little has changed in terms of where he stands and now Saints have to consider what they do next.
The Danny Ings contract situation had dragged on without a new deal being signed, the stumbling block was around a sell on clause with Saints understandably unwilling to put in any set fee which could see him leave.
As it stands Ings would be worth at least £20 million given his age and a year left on his contract and Saints would be loathe to put in a deal less than that.
From this perspective anything lower and we would be better holding on to him for the final year of his contract and then letting him leave for nothing, simply put one season of Ings is worth £10 million to us in league placings and far more in what he will do to keep us up.
So this is the impasse Saints have reached, Ings understandably wants to leave himself able to take the options open to him and he also knows that the 4 year deal offered by Saints would reduce down the money he could get if the buying club had to pay a hefty contract.
So today's stories in the media are presented as something new, but the reality is nothing has changed for Ings or Saints in the past few months.
Both will now wait and see what offers come in, on the down side for Ings he will turn 29 soon and his resale value will be non existent in 3-4 years and this is a gamble for him and potentially any club buying.
Truth is that there are few who will be willing to splurge out and Saints will demand a hefty fee to let him go, Everton perhaps, Spurs if they sell Ings, but few in the top six will come a calling.
But truth is players come and go, Ings has had one good season at Saints and two injury hit ones, he scored 12 goals in the Premier League, but dropped away in the second half of the season, yes we want to hang on to Ings, but we have to replace him sometime, is this the time to do it, certainly if we could get £25 million for him or more then that is a good chunk to get a replacement and some would say Che Adams with 9 Premier League goals is ready to step up to the plate.
So the news today is neither here nor there the status quo is maintained for the minute, whatever happens Saints will move on.