With a distinct lack of quality big name transfers this summer but several big name departures, Saints need to make a statement of intent before the transfer window closes.
I am not one of those who subscribes to the fact that selling players is a backward step, that is of course unless you fail to adequately replace them.
With three big names departing from the club so far this summer bringing in a total of around £60 million in transfer fees plus another £5 million compensation for Ronald Koeman , the fact that so far barely £25 million has been spent on beefing up the squad is perhaps the main cause for concern in the minds of most Saints fans.
In some respects Pelle'e replacement was already at the club in Charlie Austin, but the fact still remains that the squad although not as depleted as some would make out, does need a couple of additions before the transfer window shuts.
Perhaps Les Reed is still reading off Nicola Cortese's hymn sheet in that he would like to see the utopia of a squad with youth breaking through, but the reality is that no other Premier League club has managed that and that we have to have a good amount of bought in quality and experience to succeed at the level that we have done in the past two years.
The truth is that the rich are getting richer and it is harder for a club like Saints to compete financially with the big boys, but they should certainly be doing so with the likes of Palace and Stoke who are spending to improve their squads.
There are those who say that the fan base should have faith in what the club is doing and they are right, but that does not mean that sometimes the club has to go out of its way to show the supporters it is still focused and not sitting back on its laurels.
This is perhaps one of those moments, whilst I can appreciate that Claude Puel is going to talk about how the squad is good enough, the reality is that virtually every Saints fan can see where the gaps lie and know if they are not plugged then we will not have the depth to equal last season's exploits.
For one thing we need another quality central defender, even if Fonte does stay, we cannot rely on him and Virgil Van Dijk being fit and available for near on 50 games this season, if one of them is missing then we have problems, to put it bluntly we need a third central defender before the window shuts.
Then there is the question of a striker, especially if Jay Rodriguez goes out on loan which I think would be folly, but does show that it is hard for Saints to keep quality players happy, even if Jay stays I think we need another striking option.
But there is one important thing here and that is both the club and the supporters understand the situation, the supporters have to realise that there is a long term view and that sometimes a backward step or two are taken to keep moving forwards.
The club also has to realise that sometimes it has to give its supporters something to make them feel good, it is not sufficient to just assume that the fans are all onside because they can see the overall picture, that is usually far from the case, fans are sometimes like Club Chairman and that means a club is always only six games from disaster or triumph, indeed we were near both at points last season, if the fans had panicked then, would we have seen the season finish as we did ?
So it is time for Les Reed and the club to show us they are still focused, that they can see that there are still things that need to be done, I understand why they cannot say that publicly, but they can do so by actions and that action is spending out on a couple of signings that will excite the fans.