Blackburn Rovers boss Tony Mowbray has confirmed to the media in Lancashire that he is interested in taking Michael Obafemi to Ewood Park from Southampton, but it won't form part of the deal taking Adam Armstrong to St Mary's.
With the news coming through that Adam Armstrong is in talks with Saints and about to have a medical, his soon to be former manager at Blackburn has been speaking to the media about whom he wants to replace him.
The man in question is Saints youngster Michael Obafemi who looked to have a bright future at St Mary's 3 years ago when he burst on to the scene, but has failed to truly live up to his potential and with the potential arrival of Armstrong to St Mary's as well as talk of Armando Broja also arriving on the South Coast on a season long loan, the Irish International is about to slip down the pecking order.
But Mowbray seems to suggest that Obafemi is not happy to drop down to the Championship.
"It’s something that’s been mooted, those sort of things become personal to the point the boy wants to make that move, his advisors have to see it as an opportunity,” Mowbray said.
"If it’s one he sees as a good chance for him to play more regular football at a level he sees himself doing similar things to Adam and build his reputation.
"It’s something we’re exploring but I won’t sit here and say that anything is happening, we will see in the next couple of days if anything materialises.”
Mowbray has confirmed that a move which will see Armstrong move to St Mary’s would be separate to any discussions involving Obafemi.
He added: "I have watched him for the last three months.
"I was aware of him making his debut, he made quite a bit of noise a couple of years ago.
"I have studied him a lot recently and I see similarities with Adam, he’s mobile, fast, can score, he’s a young boy but we use attributes to help the team play in a certain way.
"He has the attributes that will help our team but it’s not something we should be saying is a done deal as I’ve not personally spoken to the player so let’s see what the next few days bring.”
From a Saints perspective they would seemingly be happy to let Obafemi move on, the whispers out of St Mary's where that the striker had been influenced by older players in the squad that have now departed and had taken his eye off the ball both in terms of his attitude towards training and off the field activities..
In fairness he seemed to knuckle down and get his career back on track, but something has been missing and he perhaps needs a fresh start to get back to realising his undoubted potential.
Saints would be looking to get somewhere around the fee they received from Blackburn last summer when the Lancashire club paid just short of £6 million for Sam Gallagher, although Gallagher had a lot more experience than Obafemi in the Championship, his career at St Mary's never took off and Obafemi was considered a better option as back up a year ago by Saints.