No Saints fan wants to see Virgil Van Dijk leave St Mary's but the reality is that it will be a question of when and not if, but could the deal Chelsea are offering actually be the right thing for Saints to do.
Every summer at St Mary's a section of our support goes into meltdown and claims that the club has no ambition and is only interested in getting money in and what could have been if we had kept every player we have sold ?
The reality though is Saints cannot compete against the likes of Chelsea and Manchester City and probably never will be able to do so as the top six clubs all have resources far bigger than Saints will ever have, that is not being negative, that is financial fact.
So if Saints are to keep competing as they have done over the past three seasons including this one, they have to keep doing what they do best and do better than any other club in the Premier League and that is buy emerging talent cheaply, nurture it, sell on and then repeat the process.
The fans don't like to see players depart, but there is no other way for Saints, even major investment will not change that because ultimately we cannot generate the incomes that the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal, Spurs, Liverpool, City and United can, investment will help us do what we do now better, but it will not allow us to go head to head financially with any of the aforementioned clubs.
So the big question is "when" Virgil Van Dijk will leave St Mary's and not if, the good news is that we are in control of that situation with the Dutch defender on a long term deal.
So our job is to manage his departure to the best interests of Southampton Football Club.
A number of clubs are said to be interested, with a transfer fee of between £50 -70 million being touted, but as I have always said it is gong to be what happens next after a transfer that matters.
So money for Saints is not the issue it is about who we replace Van Dijk with and it seems Chelsea are willing to try and sweeten the deal by offering us a part exchange deal.
The name being mentioned is Andreas Christensen and he appears to be ideal for Saints, indeed you have to ask why Chelsea don't keep him instead of Van Dijk.
At just 21 he has been at Chelsea for 5 years, however like many in their youth system he has struggled to make an impact and so far only has a solitary substitute appearance to his name in the Premier League plus a couple of cup appearances.
He has spent the last two years at Borussia Monchengladbach where he has been a regular in their line up, also establishing himself in the Denmark full International squad.
Chelsea are said to be ready to offer Christensen to Saints as part of their offer for Virgil Van Dijk and it has to be said this could be a tempting offer for Saints.
He is just the right age with just the right experience to make him the ideal Saints target as was VanDijk, Alderweireld and Lovren before him and if Chelsea make this offer and Christensen is willing to come, it has to be said that Saints should look at it very seriously.
Chelsea would like to see Christensen valued at £20 million in the deal, although he is perhaps worth nearer £15 million so there is room for negotiation
Chelsea's fans on social media are not happy with the loss of Christensen, they see him as one for the future, but the trouble is that future rarely comes for Chelsea youth team products who have to move away from Stamford Bridge to prosper.
So for Saints although we would prefer to keep Van Dijk for another year, this could be very tempting and actually the right thing to do going forward, although the St Mary's faithful won't like to hear that.
If Chelsea are that desperate to sign Van Dijk then they could perhaps throw in Nathan Ake as well and solve Saints defensive issues in one transfer deal, for me if we were to get Christensen, Ake and say £25 million that would be a shrewd piece of business for Southampton Football Club, it is what we do and do well and is the only way we are going to keep ourselves competitive.