Even before the signing of Charlie Austin there was a lot of speculation about the future of Graziano Pelle, now that has increased tenfold.

Graziano Pelle has been a great signing for Southampton Football Club he arrived at a time of crisis and was faced with the challenge of filling the boots of Rickie Lambert who some felt should never have been sold.

Almost two years later and there aren't too many Saints supporters who feel that this was a bad bit of business for Saints and that is down to the contribution made by Pelle in that time

This season he started it very well and in a couple of games, especially Chelsea away, he put in perhaps the best performances in the central striker role since we returned to the Premier League and i do include Rickie Lambert in that equation.

Approaching Xmas and things looked rosy for Pelle, by the end of November he had scored 6 goals in 13 games in the Premier League and was in sparkling form, then came not only a awful spell for Saints, but injury to Pelle himself that meant that he missed most of that spell and that perhaps extended why it lasted so long.

But now the future for Pelle is far from certain at St Mary's, the arrival of Charlie Austin has posed several key questions.

The first question was when Pelle would go ? even BC (Before Charlie) it seemed that Pelle would go in the summer, with his 31st birthday looming like the departure of Lambert before him there were many reasons why Saints would want to move Pelle on, the main one perhaps being resale value, this would not be unattractive to the player himself who had always expressed a desire to finish his career in his native land, somewhere he had not really proved himself at Serie A level.

This would have meant he could have left Saints as Lambert did with his head held high and the fans best wishes ringing in his ears, but the arrival of Charlie Austin has completely changed the goal posts.

Now Pelle finds himself down in the pecking order at St Mary's, Shane Long has come in and done a great job and is starting games on merit and the arrival of Charlie Austin has perhaps pushed the Italian down to third choice striker.

This now causes a dilemma for the player, with the European Championships looming he will be keen to make sure he stays in the Italian squad, he is there on merit and has scored some vital goals for his country, but if he isn't playing games then he is vulnerable to being left out.

So his participation in this summers tournament could be dependent on Shane long losing form and Charlie Austin being injured, without either of those things happening, he could struggle to even get off the bench for Saints.

Indeed that is if he is even on it, he wasn't at Old Trafford although that is unclear as to whether it was down to giving Pelle more time to let his injury fully heal or tactical in that you can't have too many forwards on the bench, the truth is probably a little bit of both with resting the injury being a convenient excuse.

So Pelle can probably see some writing on the wall for him and it isn't good news, from a Saints perspective I'm sure that Ronald Koeman would rather keep Pelle to the summer and will probably push for that, but that might not be the best thing for the player himself. But Koeman has to do whats best for Saints and if he did let Pelle go and both Long and Austin are out injured then a few fingers would be pointed.

So although most Saints supporters are extremely glad to see the arrival of Charlie Austin, they should also spare a thought for Graziano Pelle who a couple of short months ago seemed to have the world at his feet at Southampton and not only in the Premier League but Internationally as well, but now is facing being in the wilderness.

Saints will have to do what is best for the club and that is likely to be keeping hold of Pelle till the summer, if the club do that then Saints fans should not let Graziano Pelle become the forgotten man, he quite rightly should be given the credit for just what a big part he has played in not only Saints rejuvenation last season after the turmoil of 2014, but also this season.

Charlie Austin could well take the plaudits in the second half of this season and his goals could fire us into Europe, but without Pelle's contribution in the first half we would not be in a position to be able to achieve that.

Photo: Action Images

legod7 added 12:13 - Jan 25 RK has said no one will leave in January and I for one have no reason to doubt that. I think Pelle will go back to Italy in the summer for quite a high transfer fee. In England most clubs do not keep many players when they reach 30 , but in Italy none of the clubs seem to worry about a players age. Perhaps because Italian football is played at a much slower pace.
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bstokesaint added 12:30 - Jan 25 I just hope if he stays it makes him a better player. He's never been a bad player in my opinion and has more to his all-round game then a lot of other strikers. For starters he's constantly looking to put other players in. My biggest problem with Pelle is that he's not prolific enough. He nearly always needs two or three chances more than your average striker. It's pretty frustrating sometimes when we're chasing a game. At least with Long, Pelle, Austin, Mane and Juanmi we have a wealth of different attacking options.

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law101 added 12:36 - Jan 25 Pelle will soon be back when FULLY fit and will show everyone what he can do. A different option and I think he will be key during the second half of the season. Competition is only a good thing, for one it will allow the likes of Pelle to fully recover before being re introduced.
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arthurfane added 12:59 - Jan 25 I am so excited about the prospect of an attack including Mane, Pelle, Austin & Long, with JRod to return. If that strikeforce clicks, we could have a very, very impressive second half of the season :)
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SaintBrock added 13:12 - Jan 25 In short as we seem to have to repeat to you every week, NO! We need cover and competition for every position. Nobody suggests it is curtains for Rodrigues so why single out Pelle all the time? Austin must prove he is better than what we have to trigger any moves and there is along way to go before that happens. Pelle is a wonderful player but like all players in the striker position form can be elusive especially in today's over-crowded and physically hostile 18 yard boxes.

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BaselSaint added 14:22 - Jan 25 It`s a long long season and we have to change our mentality and play the squad game just as the so called big clubs do. Why should we sell him. No one can go uninjured forever and we will always need good cover.
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IWOZTHERE added 14:41 - Jan 25 Really hope he doesn't go for all above reasons. Particularly sad if he goes now as he's been getting 'stick' elsewhere cos the goals have dried up. It hasn't been all down to him, the old system was giving us loads of chances but the service was slow and for whatever reason it just wasn't working. He's been a good servant and deserves the chance to see what he can do under a system close to the current one.

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mesquita added 18:00 - Jan 25 I find the comments here really heartening. Pelle has done brilliantly for us and our whole game was built around what he did well. In his absence through injury RK has had to find a different way he has done so brilliantly. If Pelle wants to leave in the summer ok, but personally I would rather he stayed, he still has much to offer Saints
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saintmark1976 added 19:47 - Jan 25 Let's try and keep some perspective please. Austin plays a few minutes and scores a goal against a woeful United team resulting in Pelle being yesterday's man. How do you reach this conclusion Nick? Austin should have to prove himself over many games before Pelle is allowed to go, in my opinion. On a slightly different note who at United agreed to pay Mr Potato Head £300,000 a week? Talk about "more money than sense" All that he appears any good at is arguing with the ref.He must surely be the most overrated player in the Premiership at present.

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SaintNick added 22:23 - Jan 25 I havent reached any conclusion, I have always been a big fan of Pelle, all I have done is looked at the situation and made a few observations. It is more than just Austin scoring a goal, its about a lot of other things, not least keeping everyone happy
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SaintBrock added 09:39 - Jan 26 Sure Nick but you need to pay more attention to the situation of Jay Rodrigues who sadly may have played his last game for Saints even 'though we hope he will come back and put less focus on Graziano Pelle. We are told nothing these days of Jay's progress which in itself is ominous and a cause of concern. Even if he does get back to a level of fitness to play will his body, feet - legs in particular be able to cope with the pounding of high speed running and being sliced down and floored every week by lunging defenders?

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redwight added 10:07 - Jan 26 SaintBrock is right. JRod has been the elephant in the room all season, with nobody wanting to say what now seems likely - that he will never again be the player he was. I only hope I'm wrong.... As for Charlie Austin, if he stays fit this will be the best bit of business Saints have done in years, as well as being the signing so many of us wanted.
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