So far Saints transfer business has been fairly low key but with Ben Brereton Diaz about to arrive at the club for a bargain fee, it seems that the club is ready to break their transfer record to land Russell Martin's number one target.

So far Southampton FC have done some good business, they have got a balance right between some experienced old campaigners who are out of contract, some highly rated youngsters as well as bringing in two expensive signings in Flynn Downes & Taylor Harwood-Bellis who were of course on loan here last season, so n many respects don't feel like new signings.

In doing so, the cash spent has topped £50 million and so far we have only racked up £9 million worth of incoming transfer with the departures of Duje Caleta Car & Lyanco, although in the coming weeks I would expect a few more to leave.

But our spending is not yet over and according to givemesport.com we are ready to smash our transfer record in order to bring in Russell Martin's number one target Matt O'Riley.

As it stands it looks like a two horse race between Saints and Italian club Atalanta who can sweeten their offer to the player with the fact they are in the Champions League next season.

But that perhaps won't be as much as a temptation as it sounds as O'Riley could stay at Celtic and play in the Champions League.

So far Atalanta are far from Celtic's valuation of the player, Atalanta have so far only bid around £15 million with Saints said to have tabled a bid of £18 million, however Celtic want around £25 million.

That figure of course is the one they have allegedly touted around to stir up a bidding war, the reality is that it is going to be whatever the bidding clubs are willing to pay.

I suspect that a ceiling might be reached a little short of their asking price, but it is still going to be north of £20 million for a player it seems Russell Martin is desperate to land.

So it seems at the moment the next move is down to Atlanta, will they raise their bid and up the ante on Southampton ?

Like all transfers it will come down to how much each club is willing and for that matter able to pay and of course which destination the player actually want to go to.

Biut it seems that Saints have a very specific strategy in their transfer plans for this season, they know the key areas they need to strengthen, the players they need and what they can bring to the club, and of course how much they need to spend in each area and they are quietly getting on with it.

The problem is as the season looms is that ideally in a transfer window you would land your key targets first and then build round them, but the reality is that you often cannot do that as your key targets are in demand and as in the case of Matt O'Riley, their current clubs want to hang on and spark a bidding war.

Hopefully this week we will land Ben Brereton Diaz, we will bring in Matt O'Riley and we will also bring in a Premier League experienced goalkeeper.

If we do that then I think we will have achieved most of our targets for this window in terms of incoming signings, we will then need to look at pruning the squad and that is another story.

Photo: Action Images

Colburn added 09:17 - Jul 30 Well balanced view to be fair.. On reflection perhaps my concerns have been triggered a little early, fingers crossed we bring in those big players we need this week. O’Riley does look like an upgrade on Stuey and Diaz more of a goal threat than Che. Ramsdale on loan would be fantastic.
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dirk_doone added 09:51 - Jul 30 I know it won't be popular saying this, but we really can't continue to ignore the elephant in the room. Unless we buy a proper goalkeeper, all these outfield signings are a waste of money, as with McCarthy in goal, we'll be relegated anyway.
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JoeEgg added 10:26 - Jul 30 Excellent points and at last some common sense from Saints. Diaz and O'Riley must not be lost and every avenue explored to get them. Just reading the article reminds us of how awful the preseason activity was last year and just how difficult it is to clear up the mess! Dirk's point about the goalkeeper should now be the main focus. Without a better goalkeeper,the acquisitions of Diaz and O'Riley would be wasted and a path firmly set out for a return to the Championship.

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Saidou added 10:56 - Jul 30 Desperation is a very unattractive thing. RM’s number 1 target was FDowns and now it’s MO? He is also desperate to have both? I think the best transfer decision to make is to keep KWP, who I still believe is the only real PL quality in the squad. As I said in another comment I don’t like record breaking signings because they have never worked for us so far in my life time

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ElSanto added 11:05 - Jul 30 The Shea Charles move the other way is interesting. I have seen good things from Shea, looks very classy at times. However, I just think he misses the bite of a Lavia or Downes to really make him a great player. I think the move to Celtic would actually be really good for him and we could end up regretting letting him go. But I think if we can get £12-15m off the O'Riley price and maybe only pay £7m, then it will be a good win-win deal for both clubs.

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Bowlercow added 11:30 - Jul 30 I haven't seen Matt play but I have seen Charles Given a good bit of coaching I believe he could develop into a star player MO certainly gets a good press but our record is not good when we buy a record signing
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halftimeorange added 13:16 - Jul 30 Shea Charles impressed me whenever he got the chance to fill in towards the end of last seson. I think it would be a mistake to let him goas he's only going to improve further, something that can't be said of a few others in our squad I could mention.
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SaintPaulVW added 13:35 - Jul 30 Selling Shea would be a bit of a risk. He is our only other specialist DM and we saw last season that Flynn can be a bit injury prone. Perhaps Nick's long held ambition for Jack Stephens to move into midfield is about to be fulfilled.
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Bowlercow added 17:06 - Jul 30 St Paul Sorry the thumbs down was an error on my part
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