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Let The Southampton Transfer Rumour Mill Begin

The January transfer window is about to open and I think there will be a few ins and outs at St Mary's before the month is out, here we take a look at who might be leaving and perhaps more importantly who might be coming in.

Russell Martin will have been working overtime with Saints Head of Recruitment Darren Mowbray and plotting just who will leave and who will be potentially joining the club.

The biggest question in the departure lounge will be Che Adams, Wolves certainly seem to be hovering and other Premier League clubs have been linked, with his contract up at the end of the season when he will be able to leave for nothing, that means that we might well see it as beneficial to cash in now and at least get some cash for him.

If he does go and bearing in mind Ross Stewart looks set to be out for the rest of the season I would expect Saints to be in the market for two strikers.

The first as was mentioned in a story earlier in the week is Aberdeen's Bojan Miovski, he is well known to Darren Mowbray and could be got for around £6 million, Saints may see that as good business if Adams was to go and the fee would fund Miovski's arrival.

Also linked is Danny Ings, there would be a mixed reaction if he were to return after his somewhat hasty departure, but goals change opinions and if he came started scoring then he would be the Prodigal Son and not a pariah.

It is said that West ham are keen to get his salary off the books, but they know that a loan is going to be the only option here as he is said to be on £120k a week, the Hammers would hope to cover that for the next 5 months and this would interest Southampton.

Even if they had to pay the whole salary, that is a low price to get in a scorer of the quality of Ings.

Sources in Southampton say that Ings is already preparing to move back into his house in the Southampton area after renting it out for the past couple of years and that this is a done deal.

So up front I only expect to see Adams leave but given Stewart's injury status, that two striker swill come in.

At the back Mason Holgate has not had a look in with the form of Taylor Harwood-Bellis & Jan Bednarek and with the return of Jack Stephens after injury who appears to be a particular favourite of Russell Martin it is believed that Holgate will return to Everton with his loan spell cut short, but will then be loaned out again.

It is a pity because Holgate in his final games for the club let no one down, ironically his last appearance came in the 2-1 win against West Brom back at the start of November, a game in which he was man of the match.

If Holgate does go then it is a difficult issue for Martin and Mowbray, can they risk having only 3 experienced central defenders at the club, although James Bree has also played in that position so they might feel that they would struggle to attract a player of decent quality even on loan due to the low chances of the player getting any more game time than Holgate.

So I think if Holgate leaves then they might see that the 4 options they have including Bree might be enough, given that Shea Charles can also do a job there as well as Dynel Simeu who has played in League One out on loan.

An outside bet to go might be Kameldeen Sulemana, undoubtably a talent, but there was that nagging doubt that his heart was not truly in it, he has had some good performances this season, but he has been inconsistent and ultimately a loose cannon in a system that relies on each player doing a job.

If he goes we are linked with several other players, not least Amad Diallo who is linked with joining from Manchester United, although many Saints fans might feel that with the likes of Sam Edozie starting to flourish, Ryan Fraser in fine form and several youngsters such as sam Amo-Ameyaw chomping at the bit that getting our money back on Sulemana might be a good idea and that he would not need to be replaced.

Otherwise I don't see too many others leaving St Mary's aside from perhaps the odd member of the academy side.

I think in terms of incoming that Russell Martin will think that in the main his squad is well covered in all positions other than up front where we will need at least one in possibly two if Che Adams leaves and the potential arrival of a wide player.

We have built the best squad in the Championship as has been proved once the initial issues were solved, we do not need to tinker with it that much, if Saints made only two signings and they were both experienced strikers I would not be too disappointed.

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