Saints are rumoured to be hovering around Crystal Palace duo Wilfried Zaha and Nathaniel Clyne although the Selhurst park club are sure to want to guard their assets.

Zaha being a pacy winger and Clyne an up and coming right back would fit the bill for Nigel Adkins as he seeks up and coming British players to add depth to his squad, although both are inexperienced in the Premier they are at a level when they could be ready to make the next step up in their careers and prove themselves at Premiership level.

Clyne is perhaps the least known, at 21 he now has four seasons of regular first team football behind him at Palace with 118 League starts plus 4 as sub in the Championship to his name so far and to be blunt thats more than some of our players have at that level, Saints lack cover at right back and Clyne looks like the type of prospect that would fit the bill.

Zaha has made the headlines at Palace and although only 19 (he will be 20 in November) he has already made 60 league starts for the Eagles plus 23 as sub, a pacy winger although he is not a prolific scorer, scoring only 7, he has a combination of games under his belt alongside potential that could make Saints consider cutting their losses with Steve De Ridder and replacing him with Zaha.

Zaha is currently valued at around £6 million with Palace believed to value Clyne at around £5 million, however Clyne is out of contract so the likelihood is that they would accept £2 million rather than go to a tribunal, which is a route that perhaps Saints would prefer.

Both players fit the bill for the Saints Chairman Nicola Cortese, who like a previous incumbent of the job seems to prefer to look for players of a certain age who have a hunger to prove themselves, rather than experienced older players who may have no sell on value later, the answer is though that if Saints are to survive in the Premier they need a mix of both, Steven Davis if he arrives would be experienced but we need a little more, however perhaps both manager and Chairman believe that teams are built from the back and that being the case an experienced central defender or two with even a goalkeeper might yet be on the cards as the Premier league squad starts to take shape.

Photo: Action Images

Saintpaul120 added 11:15 - Jul 12 I'm interested in this unheard of guy Stephen Avis! When did we sign him then?:-) I'm not fussed with Zaha. He's easily wound up and once he's lost his calm he goes to pieces. Lost it against West Ham and us. Yes, he's pacy but . . . Oh well, we'll see what transpires!
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redandwhitedee added 11:38 - Jul 12 Surely a site such as this could do a bit better than just copy and paste paragraphs from the Daily Echo ? How about a real scoop for once ??
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SaintNick added 11:45 - Jul 12 I would love to have a real scoop, however getting one is a different matter, the club are very secretive these days, even the echo are in the main rehashing stories, as are all the other media outlets due to the club not communicating much with them. There have been plenty of real scoops on here over the years and will be a lot more in the future im sure, but real scoops come along even at the best of times very rarely

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schatfield added 02:23 - Jul 13 I dont read the Echo much, so welcome your scoops even if taken from elsewhere! Cheers Nick
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SingaporeSaint added 10:12 - Jul 13 Zaha could mature into being a good player but to be honest he flattered to decieve in a Palace team who were towards the bottom of the Champ. For me he has some way to go to prove he can cut it at the top level and the money being rumoured is crazy for a guy who hasnt proven anything. I'm far more interested in the Ryo Miyaichi rumours. This is a 19 yr old international right winger, who is reported to be quicker than Theo. I thought he was the only threat in a poor Bolton side last season. With him and Tadanari Lee in the team we would be box office in Japan too, and would have the possibility of 2 flying wingers on each flank. Not sure what we would do with Lallana - but is a nice problem to have.. I think we are likely to get Clyne - we need to get on with signing a keeper and Centre Half as these are key positions and training is already 2 weeks in..

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