Saints are reported as having held talks to bring Arsenal goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale to St Mary's, with reports saying that the keeper would be open to a loan move, Russell Martin is said to have spoken personally to Ramsdale.

One thing that has come out of pre season is that Southampton do not have a keeper good enough to see them through a Premier League season, Alex McCarthy is a good back up keeper, but he cannot play the ball around with his feet, so we would have to scrap our possession football game and Joe Lumley despite impressing in his 18 minute cameo against Getafe on Saturday is unproven at Premier League level.

So it will be music to Saints supporters ears that the club are making efforts to sign Ramsdale.

givemesport.com reports that Southampton have been in contact with Arsenal and that Russell Martin himself has spoken to Ramsdale about a potential move.

The problem at the moment though is not the player himself, but Arsenal, who if they are to lose Ramsdale, would prefer it to be on a permanent basis and at a fee approaching £25-30 million, that is perhaps not in Saints transfer budget, let alone matching his wages.

The good news is that Ramsdale would prefer a loan move, he still sees his future at the Emirates in the long term, but he is not prepared to spend a second season in a row on the bench.

So the deal is stalling at the moment, but Arsenal have accepted that the player won't be with them for the coming season and are prepared to let him go on loan, but only if they cannot find a buyer, so they seem prepared to hold on to him to the final week of the transfer window to try and entice a buyer, before letting him go out on loan.

Although Ramsdale is a top class keeper, there are few option in the Premier League for him to go to, most teams in the top half are sorted for a keeper and in the bottom half, it is probably only Southampton desperately needing a goalkeeper.

Nottingham Forest are said to be a club that is interested though, however they do have quite a few shot stoppers on their books, Matt Turner arrived last summer for £10 million, ironically from Arsenal, but played just 17 games, losing his place in January to Matz Sels who joined the club in February from Strasbourg, they were both joined by Brazilian Carlos Miguel.

So Forest have a number of experienced keepers on their books, so although on one hand they seem to be well served in that department, on the other they can afford to wait until the final week of the transfer window and them try to take Ramsdale on loan and if they fail, they still have Premier League standard keepers.

That is something that Southampton cannot afford to do, if they were to hang on to the final week and then fail in their attempts, that could prove to be the key moment of our season and not in a good way.

Photo: Action Images

Block8 added 09:15 - Aug 11 you say Lumley is untried at PL level but for some reason he didn't get a look in for the pre-season friendlies? He must be terrible in training!? Someone like Ramsdale can organise our defence and save us maybe 10 points over a season, if not him then we need to move on and sort another quickly!
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JoeEgg added 09:45 - Aug 11 The clock is running down and at the moment we are fodder for the majority of PL clubs. We dont have the overall quality and we dont have a goalkeeper or a goalscorer. Surprise that we didn't concede yesterday, but no surprise that we didn't score!
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underweststand added 10:46 - Aug 11 although we know the shortcomings in McCarthy's game, we should be grateful to him for his input at the end of last season, BUT the Premier League is another world and not one that McCarthy will be likely to survive in. Having satisfied ourselves that Lis is not a viable alternative at this level, and Lumley was not even proven in the Championship, we have no real alternatives and the expectation that Bazunu may come back after the New Year fitter and better than before is a most unlikely outcome, by which time we may be back in the drop zone. Every Prem. club need keeper(s) of established international class and a proven defence in front of them. We have fortuitously managed to cobble together half of a new squad for (in Prem. terms) a fairly miserly 60 million, but without a safe pair of hands at the back we will be fragile to say the least. Ramsdale fits the bill and we must go for bust in securing someone of his quality - or else.

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ElSanto added 11:08 - Aug 11 I think our transfer dealings have been great so far. Can’t see any waste so far. Ramsdale on loan and I’d be happy with our business until January. Yes, we are a bit light upfront, but I’m happy with the bottom half of our spine. What worries me more is playing out the back at all costs - this is where we could really fail this season. This is more important than getting an O’Riley or Coutinho

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Bowlercow added 11:14 - Aug 11 Just be aware that Ramsdale has been relegated twice from the PL Wit Sheffield and Bournemouth Playing sweeper keeper he has been caught in possession quite often That's why Arsenal needed to get rid If we can't get him on decent terms why not get Sam Johnson?? from Palace rumoured to be available for £10m
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dirk_doone added 11:14 - Aug 11 To be brutally honest, McCarthy is not even a good backup goalkeeper at Premier League level. Imagine what would happen if Ramsdale got injured. Lumley looks like he'd be a good backup goalkeeper. So, it would be preferable to have Ramsdale and Lumley, and loan McCarthy out.
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SaintPaulVW added 14:18 - Aug 11 Sounds like everyone is talking, hopefully a deal can be done. Would have thought a season's loan with an option to buy would suit everyone.
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StRipper added 14:24 - Aug 11 What confused me was Martin's statement that we can't sign a new keeper until we get one off of the squad. Seeing as it seems clear to many that McCarthy can not cut it, whatever was the logic in giving him a new contract? We had a great chance to get his wages off of the books and free up space for that new EPL standard keeper. But instead opted to shoot ourselves in the foot and restrict our options.

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highfield49 added 16:20 - Aug 11 I'm very much with Bowlercow on this, Sam Johnson is available for transfer and I'm struggling to understand why he wouldn't be a top priority signing. If the club preference is to sign a keeper on loan awaiting Bazunu's return to fitness then in my view the strategy is wrong.
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Colburn added 18:40 - Aug 11 I am also confused to hear that we have to sell before we buy. I thought the mantra of the new owners was the opposite.. looks like we could be keeping Onuachu and pinning our hopes on a couple of youngsters. That said it feels like the right time for Dibling to step in. Every game we go into without a ball playing keeper, our game plan and survival ambitions are compromised. I’m not sure some people know what they’re doing at our club and I wonder if that’s why we keep losing back room staff. In Premier League terms I think we have a very average starting eleven at the moment and little depth behind that. Very frustrating at the moment.

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