Saints are being linked with making a move for several of their former players, but is their any substance or is it just lazy journalism.
With Saints fan hankering for a return to the type of football played under old manager Ronald Koeman, it will be interesting to see how many would be prepared to forgive a few of our old players who will be seeking moves in the January transfer window.
The two currently being linked are Luke Shaw and Morgan Schneiderlin, both went to Manchester United and both were not exactly success's at Old Trafford and now it seems Schneiderlin's move to Everton has not worked out either with rumours suggesting that he has been banned from training with the first team their due to a poor attitude.
Certainly both of their career paths have gone in a downward spiral since their departure from St Mary's but there are still several obstacles in the way of a move, for both of them it could be that they would see returning to Saints as failure and so such a move would not attract, but a second reason would be that Saints currently have plenty of options in the positions they previously occupied.
In the case of Schneiderlin, both Mario Lemina and Oriol Romeu have excelled in the centre of the Saints midfield and given we also have a plethora of other central midfielders, unless we intended cashing in on one of the two, then signing Schneiderlin would seem to be nothing else other than just cluttering up the midfield.
Everton would be looking to get back a substantial amount of the £20 million they spent only ten months ago and would Saints be willing to pay that plus his high wages on a player that has now been underperforming for 2 1/2 years since his departure from Saints, plus with three years left on his contract, the player himself will find it hard to find another club willing to match his wages nor will he find a suitor in either the top six, indeed add Saints and everton to that number and his options in England at least are limited.
Luke Shaw is another whose career has gone South as he has gone North, stil only 22 he has barely kicked a ball in anger in the past year or so and as he heads for the fourth anniverary of his departure from Saints, he still has not managed to make half the Premier League appearances that he did in just over 1 1/2 seasons as a first team regular at St Mary's.
Injury has played a part in that and aso has lifestyle and attitude according to both his current manager and his previous one at Saints.
The issue for United is that his contract runs out in the summer and in January they have to decide whether to exersise their option for a further year, they are likely to do that to try and recoup some money, if they do not excersise it he will walk for nothing, if they do then it will cost them around £5 million in wages and signing on fees etc, but they might be able to sell him in the summer for in excess of that without actually having had to pay out most of it.
So it is likely that any potental suitor will have to pay his market value as United look to sell in January, but given his track record who out there would be willing to risk a not inconsiderable outlay in both transfer fee and wages, most of the clubs who might be interested don't have the money the likes of United do to gamble on his fitness.
From a Saints perspective, if they were to sell Ryan Bertrand in January then buying Shaw could be affordable and indeed would complete a perfect circle with Saints coming out of a 3 1/2 year spell both in profit and having got the best of both players form.
They also have both Matt Targett and Sam McQueen who are experienced at this level and who are highly rated. so again Shaw might not be attractive.
Perhaps the biggest reason though might be Shaw's style of play, when he left St Mary's I prdicted that he would struggle at Old Trafford, he is more a traditional left back than a modern wing back type of player, these days it is about getting your full backs up and down the line and putting in crosses, in his time at Saints Shaw could never do that, his crossing was average at best and he had only one assist to his name, his style is just a little dated.
The third of the prodigal sons could be Calum Chambers, he was linked with several clubs in the summer including Saints but ended up going nowhere, he has played only one game this season for the Gunners but has been injured and they will probably look to unload him if the deal is right, they only extended his contract last month but the main reason could be more about protecting their investment than his actual chances of making the first team at Arsenal where he has barely played a Premier League game in almost two years, although he did spend most of last season on loan at Middlesbrough.
Of the three Chambers is the most likely for Saints to make a bid for, the transfer issues in January are going to be about central defence both in and out and although Virgil Van Dijk might have to stay for the summer Saints will be keen to try and have his replacement lined up if not in January but for the transfer window opening.