With Dejan Lovren desperate to join his head which is already in Liverpool, it is unsurprising that Saints are linked with not one but two central defenders, both of whom have links with Ronald Koeman.
latest name to be linked with Saints is Feyenoord defender Stefan De Vrij who recently played in all seven of Holland's World Cup matches in Brazil, at 22 years old he looks to be just the sort of player that Saints should be in the market for.
Although it would be unfair to say that De Vrij was nurtured by Koeman given that he already had a season or two under his belt when the new Saints manager arrived at the Rotterdam Club, he blossomed under him and became Captain and made his debut for Holland in 2012 now having won 19 full caps for his country.
Saints face opposition from Manchester United for his signing according to the national press, however Saints could be in the driving seat given that United in rebuilding mode might want a more high profile more experienced defender in their defence given that they already have teenager Luke Shaw there, Van Gaal will be aware that he has to get things right and that he needs star names in not promising youngsters.
The key could be Ronald Koeman who knows the player well in transfer terms I would say that De Vrij's right foot could already be at Southampton.
We are also linked with Ron Vlaar of Aston Villa who unsurprisingly is also linked with United, again Koeman has history with Vlaar at Feyenoord as does Van Gaal with the Dutch national side, from a United perspective Van Gaal would sit with their faithful far more easier in that he is an established Premier league player and has the pedigree, but conversely he might just be a little too old at 29 for United to go for, the same could be said for Saints, but we need some stability at the back and Concrete Ron could give us that.
One central defender who we were linked with earlier in the summer but on whom the trail appears to have gone cold is Virgil Van Dijk of Celtic, again a Dutchman the 23 year old although not having won a full cap for his country yet could be a useful addition to the Saints squad.