As the transfer window heads towards its last couple of weeks, Saints are said to be about to break their transfer record to land a centre forward from Athens based club Panathinaikos, so lets take a look.

Rumours have started to come out of Greece that Saints are preparing a bid that will likely see their transfer record smashed.

According to givemesport.com are reporting that the man in question is Fotis Ioannidis from Panathinaikos.

The 24 year old centre forward has seen his value and reputation soar over the past year, in 2023/24 he hit 10 goals plus 5 assists in 20 games in the Greek Super League for the Athens club in the regular season and then added another 5 goals and 2 assists in 8 games in the Super League plays offs.

Overall in 4 seasons for Panathinaikos, in 144 Super League games he has hit 40 goals and 14 assists.

But it has been the last season that his value has increased and that has been helped by winning 11 caps for the Greek National team where he has scored twice plus another 2 assists.

According to media outlets in Greece Southampton are the front runners for his services and are preparing to match Panathinaikos's value for Ioannidis, that is claimed to be 30 million euros, which is around £27 million in English money, way above our previous transfer record.

Saints are not the only game in town, Leicester City are said to have already had one bid turned down, but have not yet come back with another as of yet. Likewise Ipswich whose near £20 million bid was turned down flat in June

The big question is whether Saints have a genuine interest in the 6ft 2 striker, or if it is either Panathinaikos or the players agent trying to generate interest and put up the price, we shall soon find out.

Photo: Action Images

andywelsh added 08:59 - Aug 13 It may be that the asking price is overstated but if we are thinking of spending this sort of money I would have thought a creative midfielder like O’Riley would be a more likely destination for our dosh. This guy constitutes a big gamble as he is untried outside Greece.
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Block8 added 09:20 - Aug 13 Totally agree andywelsh, Saturday showed our lack of creativity going forward. When we did manage to break the press both our strikers were out wide and there was no one breaking forward from midfield. Charly can probably bridge that gap but it seems, from the media, that we would be happy to see him go? And we stand the chance of another Onuachu Or Sulemana situation where we spent big for little or no return! We will happily spend biggish on untried young players from overseas but put very little trust in our own. The very players who were being heralded as our future for the last two forums?

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underweststand added 09:45 - Aug 13 yes ..I also agree with the above. If it means laying out that sort of money, let's get a deal with Celtic for O'Riley and get a proven player who will meet the requirements. Russell Martin is sold on the idea - go for it.
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saint_ben added 09:56 - Aug 13 Totally agree with everyone here. O'Riley needs to be our priority if we are spending 25 million on a player, and I would say keep Tall Paul, he would probably be very successful with O'Riley feeding him. Then Ramsdale on loan would be equally important!
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JoeEgg added 11:13 - Aug 13 While agreeing with much that is written above, I am fairly certain that neither Onuachu nor Adam Armstrong will regularly get us goals in the Premier League. O'Reilly would most probably be a tremendous asset in midfield but we still need someone to stick the ball in the back of the net. We are still missing a goalkeeper and a goalscorer - how many times does it need to be said!

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