Southampton are set to wave goodbye to James Ward Prowse with West Ham United about to seal the deal, but there could be a familiar face to Russell Martin coming the other way on loan.
Saints are said to have been ready to do business with West Ham for James Ward Prowse because they are willing to put down a lot more of a deposit on the nose, something that is also rumoured to be the stumbling block as to why Romeo Lavia is still not a Liverpool player with the Merseyside club trying to spread the cost.
This is normal business for transfer deals , but cash is still king and the more that you can put down as a deposit as such is an advantage when trying to price a player from a club, the Hammers newly minted with the £105 million for Declan Rice seem to have sweetened the offer with more cash on the table and less spread over a couple of years.
But another thing that has made Southampton listen according to insidefootball.com is that the london club are willing to loan Flynn Downes for the rest of the season, meaning that Saints have a ready made replacement who Russell Martin knows from his time at Swansea City.
Saints have been linked with Downes earlier this summer as have several other Championship clubs, but the 24 year old was unwilling to leave the Premier League on a permanent basis.
Now there could be compromise, Downes struggled to get in the Hammers side last season only starting 7 Premier League games, although he made another 14 off the bench, as well as 9 appearances in the Europa Conference and various other cup appearances.
Saints would have preferred to have taken Downes on a permanent deal and the Hammers were agreeable to that, but the player does not want to leave and so it looks like a compromise can be reached with a season long loan.
There is no mention of any options to buy being included in the deal.