Saints could bring in an experienced German central defender on loan as they look to cover not only the departure of Jose Fonte but an extended spell on the sidelines for Virgil Van Dijk.

Spartak Moscow's Serdar Tasci could be arriving at St Mary's on loan for the rest of the season according to media reports this morning.

The German who won 14 caps for his country between 2008-10 won the 2006-07 with his first club VFB Stuttgart and played over 200 games before joining the Russian club in 2013 although due to an injury in training it would be several months before he made his debut.

He went back to Germany in January 2016 where he signed for Bayern Munich on loan to relieve an injury crisis in the centre of their defence.

Saints are looking at a crisis of their own and it could be that two central defenders arrive in this window, although Saints kept a clean sheet at Liverpool, the euphoria after the result has made fans forget that essentially we are down to our third choice centre half and an untested youngster.

At Anfield although we kept a clean sheet, in many respects it was more luck than judgement and as heroically as Yoshida and Stephens played, the fact was that Liverpool had 3 or 4 chances in front of goal that they really should have buried but luck was with us.

Tasci who will be 30 in April will be out of contract in April and Spartak Moscow are happy to let him out on loan now as his contract runs down.

Photo: Action Images

LordDZLucan added 09:11 - Jan 27 Sounds like a smart move. We're definitely short on numbers and quality assuming Virgil is out for a few months although I must say that Maya and Jack did brilliantly on Wednesday night. Maya seems to be thriving on the responsibility that has been thrust upon him. Where's his new contract offer before another club tries to prize him away?
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highfield49 added 09:27 - Jan 27 According to the Liverpool Echo James Humphreys did well playing alongside Yoshi this week. Not sure how good James is going to be but it explains how our defence controlled their attack so comfortably with an extra player on the pitch? That aside, it's essential to get some experience whether it's Sakho orTasci but I'm not totally convinced Jagielka would be a good signing. Hopefully the club now have a clear idea how long VVD is going to be out of the side and will act accordingly. Whoever comes in is going to have to blend in quickly because we can't rely on Yoshi and Jack to be available for every game.

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saintjeff52 added 10:21 - Jan 27 Exactly what we need. Go get him Les. Getting in experienced 'Old Sweats' worked for Lawrie Mac.
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SaintBrock added 10:35 - Jan 27 ...but what is the long term plan? Fonte has gone for good, van Dyke may never wear a Saints shirt again....
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SanMarco added 10:38 - Jan 27 Sign James Humphreys is what I say !!
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highfield49 added 11:33 - Jan 27 Seems as though the Liverpool Echo have recognised their error and Jack Stephens has now replaced the mysterious James Humphreys on their website. James had his fifteen minutes of fame anyway.
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StRipper added 11:42 - Jan 27 I'll be surprised if we sign a player who is injured for any length of time. What would be the point? Unable to cover for VVD while he's out injured and hardly a long term solution. Sounds more like a Jos Hooiveld type signing at 30, hardly much future scope? The talk of us signing Jagielka is a joke too. Shoddy journalism at its best.
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StRipper added 12:10 - Jan 27 Note, Mamadou Sakho has an offer to go to Spartak, where Tasci is currently playing and who Saints have also been randomly linked with. Someone has just put 2 and 2 together and come up with 7, even though I doubt Saints actually have any interest in either player
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LordDZLucan added 12:21 - Jan 27 StRipper, I read the article as saying that Tasci got injured back in 2013 when he joined Spartak Moscow. He's not injured now. I think the signing could be just the ticket because he'll be the stop gap until we get Virgil back or failing that until we sign Harry Maguire in the summer!
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highfield49 added 10:47 - Jan 28 With Gardos seemingly back to fitness and in the squad it could be that the club have decided that a loan signing, if any signing is now deemed necessary, is the way to go. It certainly seems less and less likely that they will risk signing Sakho who could prove to be a massively disruptive influence at the club.
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StRipper added 18:06 - Jan 28 Hey LordDZLucan, my misunderstanding. I thought Nick said he's currently injured. Tasci does appear to have a bit of injury history. Though I'd also say that Tasci can't be good enough. He's never played in the Prem, only played a handful of matches on loan to Bayern and hardly played at all for Spartak thus season. Oh, and hasn't appeared for Germany for many a year. What exactly is he going to bring to Saints, even as a stop gap. By the time he gets up to speed, the station would be over and he'd have leaked a shed load of goals I reckon

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StRipper added 18:07 - Jan 28 Season no station
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