Since the departure of Che Adams at the end of his contract, a new striker has been top of the list for both the manager and also the Saints supporters, now it seems that the gap up front is about to be plugged and the signing could be announced as early as today.
The man in question is a man linked a few months ago, Ben Brereton-Diaz whose parent club is Villareal in Spain although he spent a successful loan spell in the second half of last season where he scored 6 goals in just 14 games, a strike rate per game which if repeated next season would see him well into double figures, somewhere around 14-15 goals.
The 25 year old Chilean who was actually born in Stoke on Trent has a lot of experience in England, 213 Championship games for Nottingham Forest & Blackburn earned him a move to Spain last summer, but he failed to take off and he was loaned to Sheffield United were he blasted his way back with 6 goals and an assist, good going for a side heading to relegation.
According to footballfancast.com who quote Fabrizio Romano, one of the more reliable journalists for transfer rumours, Saints have agreed a deal at somewhere around £7 million for the striker who is able to play either down the middle or as an out and out winger.
Wages were not a problem with his salary at Villarreal only being around £40k a week.
Romano also said that personal terms are "on the verge of being agreed" with the contract "set to be signed soon" and Brereton-Diaz set to travel to Southampton to complete the move.
The question though is where Russell Martin intends to play him, at Blackburn he was mainly played out wide where he was described as having incredible work rate and an ability to track back as well as score goals.
Although he played as a centre forward back then on occasions, it was the exception rather than the norm, but at Sheffield United he was played down the centre with devastating effect.
It will give Southampton options both in the centre and out wide and from this perspective he is a Russell Martin type player.