Liverpool are after Mario Lemina, but the question is why, not just once not twice but three times !

The big rumour is that Liverpool are said to be plotting a raid on St Mary's yet again and will pay an inflated price for a player they could have signed for a fraction of the cost a season or two earlier.

But given that Mario Lemina has not always been Mauricio Pellegrino's first choice for Saints makes it a little puzzling as to why Jurgen Klopp would even want to sign a player who has started only 15 Premier League games plus another 5 off the bench.

Saints fans will tell you that Lemina is a class act though, but Pellegrino seems to disagree with their rating of the holding midfielder who joined from Juventus last summer. That though is part of the problem with Saints this season, too often the managerhas failed to pick the players who are a class act and inexplicably played others.

One thing is for sure and that is Liverpool will have to spend big to persuade the Saints board to part with Lemina, the manager might not rate him, but he is well though of as a player by both his team mates and the fans.

The second question as to why Liverpool would want to sign him is why they would want to assemble a team of ex Saints, to be blunt Manchester City are running away with the title because they have bought big and signed players with a good balance of reputation and experience with some of the biggest clubs in Europe.

But in contrast Liverpool seem to want to sign a complete team of ex Saints, if they are not careful the Anfield club will become the new Arsenal, perpetually signing players with promise who will take them to the cusp of glory, but ultimately will leave for bigger things and put the team back to square one.

Thirdly is why Liverpool would want yet another midfielder, their squad is packed with them, not to mention a number of players likeSadio Mane who although essentially attackers play in what is midfield for Liverpool.

If they want to win the title then there are probably 4 more positions than Liverpool truly need to buy in before they add yet another body to the midfield department, a Goalkeeper, a central defender and two fullbacks would probably be on the cards first if Jurgen Klopp has truly learned from some embarrasing results in the last season or two.

Photo: Action Images

aceofthebase added 21:30 - Mar 1 Lemina went off the boil after his injury and therefore was not selected. I am sure that MP rates him very highly. It's hardly surprising that Liverpool are after him.
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underweststand added 21:51 - Mar 1 Maybe they must admit we have the best set-up, but just buy their strikers elsewhere... There are very few players I'd be sorry to lose, but what the heck...if he does go , let Liverpool make a decent offer in the summer but avoid a replay of the VvD fiasco deal. Most interesting question is ....how much would he go for ?
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inthebox added 21:52 - Mar 1 They've probably got their eye on Hoedt, McCarthy and Bertrand
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KriSaint added 22:00 - Mar 1 He is not for sale. But if he was - 30 mill. pounds at least, because that´s the amount of money we would have to spent to find a proper replacement.
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SanMarco added 22:11 - Mar 1 I don't care what positions need to strengthen - in fact I don't care about them at all. This will all be irrelevant anyway if we are relegated. Let's stay up and then worry about losing players - and let's face it the fact that we would only have 1 or 2 to worry about is an eloquent comment on the quality of Les's squad...
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KriSaint added 23:00 - Mar 1 SanMarco, those 1 or 2: Lemina & Bertrand? To hell with the rest in your opinion?
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pete_boggs added 23:05 - Mar 1 No interest in Prowsey from Liverpool?
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steve73 added 23:06 - Mar 1 Not for sale KriSaint? Whatever gave you that idea 🤔
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BoondockSaint added 23:54 - Mar 1 Why? Because Les is their head of recruitment. Sign a player to the Saints, get him adjusted to the Prem, then sell him to the Scouse,-and only them. Rinse, repeat. Any other owner would get rid of him because the pattern reeks of conflict of interest (not to mention the questions surrounding Les' son being an agent). But our owner(s) don't care as long as they can pocket more money. Let's face it, over the past two years Les and the board have made the Saints not a team representing Southampton, but the Scouse farm team.

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SanMarco added 08:30 - Mar 2 KriSaint - When I saw the headline to the article I knew it was either Lemina or Bertrand. It is not so much 'to hell' with the rest as 'no big bids likely' for the rest. There is a sort of irony that we have had the big six 'looking at' so many of our players over the last few years and that showed the strength of the squad. Now there will be less interest and what does that show?

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JGH added 08:53 - Mar 2 A lot of (at times laughable) conspiracy theories here! Paper talk, nothing else... Find it staggering that some people hate Les Reed so much. Do they really not think he's done a good job in the last 7/8 years? Farcical views frankly...
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saintjf added 09:04 - Mar 2 Jurgen Klott and Liverpool probably best ignored to be honest.
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sausageofsaints added 09:36 - Mar 2 To JGH this a deliberate attempt at unsettling another one of our players and you must be blind if you can’t see their strategy.Do you not recognise Liverpool’s modus operandi,leak to the press then let their washed up old players do the rest.They are doing it with Allison the Roma goalkeeper also,tome it’s gamesmanship of the highest order.Paper talk ha wait and see.!!

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Crodney999 added 11:34 - Mar 2 Perhaps Liverpool can’t afford their own scouting set up and now rely on Saints.
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KriSaint added 12:10 - Mar 2 sausageofsaints - Yeah, how does such a thing get leaked to the entire press community unpurpously? Don´t directors, chairmen, scouters and managers discuss potential player purchases behind closed doors, especially outside transfer windows?? It could be an unsubstantiated rumour but - I agree - this could be an attempt to unsettle Lemina and initiate his dreams of playing for Liverpool. Sickening. I used to sort of admire Liverpool a little bit (NEVER A SUPPORTER) back in the day. In recent years and particularly after the vdd unsettling and after Jürgen Klöpp put substitutes Lallana and Lovren on the pitch at St. Mary´s, my dislike for them got kinda consolidated.

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1970 added 16:23 - Mar 2 Liverhampton have been under-hand for years that's why they have won so much, unfortunately for us our board and owners are loving the income and this bizarre association, I'm still surprised the football authorities don't raise an eyebrow oh sorry I forgot the fa are scousers coyr
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underweststand added 08:34 - Mar 3 Perhaps being an older fan ( first game 1959) I'm a bit more philosophical than many, but it seems quite a few people on this site (and others) tend to light the blue touch paper at the first media rumour than links Liverpool with one (or more) of our players. The truth is that for the past few seasons we have been punching above our weight and did so by finishing above "big teams " who just happen to have a bad season, and it coincided with Ronald Koeman's arrival and the 8 players he signed at a time when the team was already in transition and it worked for a while. (Mane, Pelle, Wanyama & Co.) Clubs who just throw money at their problems get short term success, before even they move on. It's good to recall that in his short stay with Saints, Pochettino wanted to sign Courtinho..who chose Liverpool instead and then onto Barca. Liverpool didn't think twice about selling him on... and for Saints.... the VvD deal was surely a no-brainer. The ill-devised and slightly illegal UEFA rules that are meant to protect "smaller clubs " from bankrupcy only serve to help the "big boys" which is why we can't come close to paying £100K /week to anyone. For my part I take these rumours with a pinch of salt until I see the player wearing another club's shirt - and so too ought many of those who panic at the first headline manufactured by a lazy journo on slow-news day. It's a long time until July 1st - so get used to it , and avoid criticising the Board if we haven't signed 3 new players ....by July 2nd.

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