Recent stories in the media seem to be suggesting a transfer chain that could lead to Mario Lemina leaving St May's after only one season.

Last week saw a raft of transfer rumours suggesting that West Ham United were about to make a move for Mario Lemina, although transfer rumours are ten a penny at this time of year, this one seemed to be a little more persistent than the normal speculative ones.

Now comes the news that Saints are allegedly in the frame for Danny Drinkwater whose career seems to have stalled at Chelsea, he made only 12 Premier League appearances for them last season and only another 10 in all other competitions.

Now with Maurizio Sarri appearing to revamping the playing squad including the style of play he looks now to be completely surplus to requirements.

So why would Saints be looking at signing yet another central midfield player ? especially one of Drinkwater's quality unless of course they are planning on letting one of the current squad go.

Certainly Saints are top heavy with players proven at Premier League level who can play in the centre of midfield, in addition to Lemina they still have Oriol Romeu, Steve Davis, James Ward Prowse, Pierre Emile Hojbjerg and Stuart Armstrong all able to play in this position, that's 6 players for 3 positions and even if Steven Davis should go that is still top heavy.

If Drinkwater was to arrive then it would be very crowded in the centre of the midfield.

All of those 6 players want regular football, even now with no additions or departures it is hard to see how all will be kept happy, so it is natural that Saints might be looking at shedding at least one not counting Davis.

That being the case then Mario Lemina might well be the obvious choice, there is no doubt he would command the biggest fee, there is no doubt that on his day he is the best player out of the lot, but there lies the rub, for various reasons it was not his day as often as it should have been and out of the five who were at the club last season it could be said he contributed the least overall.

It is widely accepted that he fell out with Mauricio Pellegrino last season when he was forced to play against Everton at St Mary's when he still felt he had nor recovered from injury, the question is whether that rift was just with our ex manager or runs deeper, in fairness he looked committed in the final weeks of the season, but the question is still there about his attitude and whether i prevents him finding the consistency to match his talent.

To add fuel to the fire Lemina did not feature in the win over Dijon FCO at the weekend with no explanation as to his absence.

This all adds up to the fact that if Saints could land Drinkwater either permanently or on loan then selling Lemina could look a good deal as they would be able to make a good profit on the whole situation.

There will be some who will see this as us being a selling club, however that would be far off the mark, if we are to succeed it is all about buying and selling players on our own terms and this would be the case here, we do not need to sell Lemina, but equally we can't afford to have a squad too top heavy in certain positions.

If this series of events happens then it should be seen as a positive move by the club and another step forward in showing that last season was a blip and that we can still challenge for the top 10.

Photo: Action Images

IWOZTHERE added 13:04 - Jul 31 It would be criminal and almost as bad to suggest it makes sense. it demonstrates much of what's wrong with our club. Is it to try to recoup some of the £50m dead money we've wasted on players no one now wants?
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BoondockSaint added 14:39 - Jul 31 A frustrating player. At times, doesn't get rid of the ball quick enough, plays backwards instead of forward. Other times, shuts down players, makes a great up-field pass, or takes a great shot on goal. I will say, however it seemed like he had his mind in the game more after Hughes arrived and played much better. So lets see how he does for the first half of the season. If no good, sell in the winter window.

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LoisDeem added 15:20 - Jul 31 There is something wrong with our recruitment if we're selling /loaning ANY players after just a year, whether we fans think they're krap nottarf or not.
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