Judging by the number of names being linked with a move into the Southampton central defence this summer, the St Mary's faithful need have no doubt that strengthening that position is a priority.

Anyone who has read this site for the last 18 months will be in no doubt that I feel that many of our issues have been caused by our failure to replace firstly Jose Fonte and subsequently Virgil Van Dijk.

It looks like suddenly those in the St Mary's player recruitment department have suddenly woken up to that fact judging by the number of central defenders the club is now being linked with.

Ben Gibson of Middlesbrough is being cited as the club's first choice with rumours of a deal imminent in the next few days, but there are other names being bandied about which suggest that perhaps the club might invest in not one but two purchases in this position.

If that is the case then that would mean that we could have 6 central defenders on the books, surely meaning that either Yoshida or Jack Stephens or perhaps both would be surplus to requirements.

Latest name is Jannik Vestergaard currently plying his trade for Borrussia Monchengladback in the German Bundesliga, ironically a team due at St Mary's in August as our final pre season friendly.

Vesterdaraard is a towering 6ft 7 inches and has had two good seasons at Monchegladbach since his transfer from Werder Bremen for around 12 million euros in 2016.

He is also a Danish International and part of their World Cup squad in the last 16 in Russia although so far he has been an unused substitute.

Turning 26 in August he has the right combination of age and experience, but he will not come cheaply with his fee likely to be at least twice that of the summer of 2016.

Saints will have competition from Everton if the media reports are to be believed, but as mentioned previously, with the transfer widow about to hot up once everyone has received their loyalty bonus, agent leaks dominate the media at present as they look to put their clients in the shop window and generate interest.

Photo: Action Images

BaselSaint added 09:56 - Jun 28 Is he a Big Friendly Giant?
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underweststand added 14:51 - Jun 28 well if he's not better than VvD - at 6' 7" he's certainly taller. The question is that, although this " Goliath " is menacingly tall ...is he manouverable? Strange to relate but Peter Crouch wasn't as clumsy as one might have thought at first sight. He naturally covered a lot of ground in one pace and was extremely hard to dispossess when he had the ball. The opposite is probably true of Fraser Forster who because of his height and body mass isn't so good at getting down to ground shots, and not nearly as agile as we have seen from Alex McCarthy. IF ..Vestergaard has been playing in the Bundesliga for several years he can't be that bad , and the fact that he's in a successful-looking Denmark World Cup squad may mean that he'll be a very good buy - if we choose to sign him. Suddenly the concept of " buying them in pairs" (as we did around 20-30 years ago) might go someway to helping the move as Pierre Emil Hojbjerg is already an established member of Saints squad.

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IWOZTHERE added 15:03 - Jun 28 Organisational skills and experience please?
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KriSaint added 12:02 - Jun 29 I know him being from Denmark myself. I like him! Great physical presence. Strong in the air. His technical levels are good for his size. He is mature and has brains, and I think he is captain or vice-captain for B.M. Gladbach. The competion among central defenders in the danish national team is immense. Simon Kjaer (key player for Seville) and Andreas Christensen (plays regularly for Chelsea) are just an inch in front of him, I think. BUY, I say. COYR

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