The whisper is Saints are trying to snatch Olympiacos full back Omar Elabdellaoui from under the noses of Celtic.

Norwegian Omar Elabdellaoui looks set to exchange one set of red & white striped shirts for another if the latest press reports are to be believed, the Norwegian international right back declared himself happy to remain in Greece amid reports that Celtic were lining up a £4million bid and Olympiacos countered by suggestion that they valued the player at around double that value, which would effectively rule Celtic out of the bidding.

But that would be small change to Saints and they could take him to St Mary's for around £6 million a calculated risk given that we are lacking any real experience and cover at right back.

The Norwegian international right back declared himself happy to remain in Greece amid reports that Celtic were lining up a £4million bid and Olympiacos countered by suggestion that they valued to player at around double that value, which would effectively rule Celtic out of the bidding.

But that would be small change to Saints and they could land him for around £4.5 - 6 million and it would certainly plug a gap in that we are short of experience in the right back position with Jan Valery showing promise but not yet maturity.

Elabdellaoui who turned 27 last month started his career at Manchester City joining them at 16 from Skeid in his native Norway but did not make an appearance for them, he did however go out on loan and eventually signed for Eintracht Braunschweig in Germany after a successful loan spell.

He helped them to promotion and then spent a season in the Bundesliga top flight befor joining Olympiacos in 2014.

After two good seasons he joined Hull City on loan in January 2017 to try and help them stay up, as we know that turned out not to be the case and he returned to Greece.

He has played 34 times for the Norwegian team and has the blend of age and expereince that Saints could do with at the back.

In truth his career so far has been fairly average, but at the prices quoted he would make a reasonable addition to the Saints squad and as I said it would plug a gap.

Photo: Action Images

andywelsh added 11:51 - Jan 30 Although this rumour is persistent I can't see it happening. Hassenhuttl made it clear any signings would be for the future and this guy would seem to have reached his peak after a fairly lacklustre career. The guy from Genk, Maehle would seem more of a fit and a more exciting purchase.
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underweststand added 12:03 - Jan 30 so....ANOTHER Norwegian. Buy 'em in pairs used to be the call back in the 20th century. Looking back to the late 1970's when foreign imports were allowed into English leagues. Saints began with 2 Yugoslavs (Golac and Katalinic) although nowadays they'd be different countries. Then came 2 Russians , ..which got me thinking..then we had the first group of Norwegians; (Johansen, Ostenstad, Lundekvam, Solsvedt and Tessem) and then 2 Latvians and 2 Equadorians, one Finn and an Israeli, then 5 Swedes and 2 Moroccans, 5 Poles .and a partridge in a ...(yeah, yeah) ...and Uncle Tom Cobleigh... Just to show we were (then) still part of the EU..we added a German, a Belgian, a Dane , 3 or 4 Frenchmen, a Belgian and a Dutchman... (long before Koemans time), and a few (troublesome) South Americans. Well Koeman ransacked the Dutch league for players until now we are truly international with a Japanese defender and an assortment of African players. ...but this thread is about Elabdellaoui -isn't it. A Norwegain with North African heritage currently playing in Greece....well it's only a few hours flight time to anywhere today. Very few of us have heard of him (and even fewer seen him play) I'm sure, but at least he will be company for Moi..and might even help him improve his game. Who knows what happens, but right now it feels like a long time until Thursday evening.-

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dirk_doone added 13:55 - Jan 30 He played a few games for Hull in 2017 but was dropped for several months after their 4-0 defeat to Everton so he didn't play in the 0-0 draw at St Mary's. He was then brought back for their final Premier League game before they were relegated, a 7-1 home defeat to Spurs. They didn't extend his loan deal after that. At least he has previous experience of a relegation battle, albeit a losing one. And, of course, he will be able to link up with our other Moroccan Norwegian, giving us a monopoly on Moroccan Norwegians in the Premier League. They'll all want to join us after they hear that. The one Ralph really wanted was Joakim Maehle but at £12 million he is out of the club's current price range.

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SaintNick added 15:07 - Jan 30 I think he may have been injured because he didnt even feature on the subs bench in between that Chelsea defeat and the game before the Spurs defeat,. Did Ralph really want Maehle ? having sold Gabbiadini for that amount and with options on Hoedt and Cedric to call in the summer, he was not out of the clubs current price range, so either we think he is overpriced at £12 million given that he has only played 43 League games for Genk and his value is said to be about £4 million, or we have faith in Valery and want a stop gap whilst we nurture him

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SaintBrock added 15:07 - Jan 30 In your dreams Nick, when have we ever raided anybody? First in the queue at Poundland maybe.
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SaintNick added 15:52 - Jan 30 SaintBrock erm we have raided plenty of clubs for players even since Koeman left, Hojbjerg, Armstrong, Redmond, Gabbiadini, Bednarek , McCarthy, all players under the radar and all have played big parts in the last two years or so, you could add Lemina to that number as well. We have had a few that have been less successful, but perhaps they will come good either in getting our money back or like Redmond for instance suddenly showing that they do have the quality In Hasenhuttl we have a manager that believes in positivity and banishes negative thoughts, perhaps we should trust him

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underweststand added 17:05 - Jan 30 quick note to ....dirk doone I think the player concerned was actually born in Norway (and has Morroccan born parents) and therefore he is a Norwegian international, and we shouldn't forget that Boufal is technically still a Saints player (as a well as being a Moroccan international) and so we definitely have a monopoly in that area.
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1970 added 18:12 - Jan 30 why don't we make Danny ing's loan permanent? Because we have no intention of buying him, we have missed the boat with the Brentford CB who ticked all the supposed boxes and are still working hard to get rid of people. As west Ham showed recently we are miles away from mid table but instead we are fodder like 5 or 6 other clubs.
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RedandWight added 10:06 - Jan 31 I would really like Saints to bring in Elabdelloui. Watch his Youtube video for Olympiacos. He's quick, strong with amazing close control. Yeah I know we need a central defender and another attacker but this guy really is a joy to watch.
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