It is not often that you hear the name of German giants Bayern Munich in connection with Southampton FC, but this is one of those occasions, as the Bavarian based club are considering signing a player from St Mary's.

According to insidefutbol.com Bayern Munich have been talking to Saints about bringing Armel Bella-Kotchap to the Allianz Arena.

Bella- Kotchap has been linked with another German club in Borussia Dortmund, but the hitch there has been where the central defender would fit in, as Dortmund are already well served in that position.

Perhaps because of that, Dortmund are not looking to sign the player on a permanent deal, but only on loan, in this case truly a try before you buy situation, this means that not only have Dortmund failed to agree a deal with Saints, but also failed with the player himself, who perhaps feels that he is going there to fill a gap in the squad and not as a first choice regular.

Bayern Munich have been monitoring the situation and with the deal stalling with Dortmund, are said to have contacted Southampton about what any potential deal, loan or otherwise would entail.

Bella-Kotchap himself would perhaps feel that in many respects his chance of regular first team football would be even less at Bayern Munich than it would be at Dortmund, but there would be a chance of far more games given that Bayern usually progress to the latter stages of most competitions they enter, indeed they have won the Bundesliga for the last 11 seasons and their domination goes back to 1998/1999 season, in the 24 seasons played since then up to now, they have only failed to win it on 5 occasions, the last being in 2014 and we say the Scottish Premier League is uncompetitive.

Southampton would prefer a permanent deal for Bella-Kotchap, but it seems that there is little interest in him from top sides in England, given his patchy season at St Mary's and in Germany he won't command the salary that he enjoys at Southampton.

So it looks like a loan deal is the best prospect of getting him off the books, if he stayed and got his head down at St Mary's he could yet play a part in this season, but given his absence from the first team squad this season, it would suggest that whilst not exactly refusing to play, that he has made it quite clear that he does not want to.

Bella-Kotchap is an undoubted talent and could well be destined to great things in the game, but Saints fans would question his commitment when things are not going his way.

Photo: Action Images

DPeps added 09:09 - Aug 23 harsh take on the player in this article. ABK got injured at the end of last season and, according to RM 3 weeks ago, he is still injured. RM was very complimentary about ABK's attitude. If ABK wants to go to bayern munich I'd hardly begrudge him. I really hope he stays with us but think that's very unlikely
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SaintNick added 09:46 - Aug 23 Slightly harsh, but he pulled up with a hamstring strain at Nottingham Forest 8th May, here we are 3 1/2 months later and it still hasn't recovered ? Would you buy a player who has been injured for that time and shows no signs of training or playing ? If he is still injured then given he has had no pre season etc, he is 6-8 weeks off being match fit minimum. ABK like Sulemana is said to be injured although no one is saying what that injury is, personally I think than Russell Martin has removed both from the squad due to other undisclosed reasons

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IanRC added 10:27 - Aug 23 In my view, it is a great shame that we lost Salisu and to lose ABK as well would be very sad as both are capable of becoming great central defenders. I also hope we hold onto Sulamana as he has the ability to make a real difference in our bid to return to the premiership. We and SR should not forget we don't just want to win promotion but stay up once we do.
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Monksway added 11:18 - Aug 24 Loans for Sulemana and ABK wouldn't be the worst bit of business. Neither want to play for Saints in the championship and both have the potential to increase their value with a year in Europe. Unlike Onuachu whose value is unlikely to increase and should probably be offloaded for a financial loss.
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