With the silly season opening imminently the media is full of stories about who Saints are interested in and who they are not, the truth is most are just rumours spread around by agents but that doesn't stop the media merry go round.

If you take a tour of Saints related websites this morning of the two dozen or so stories posted up in the last 24 hours, around 3/4 of them are about Saints alleged interest in one player or another.

Headlines like "Southampton & Liverpool keeping tabs on 20 years old" Southampton weighing up move for Bristol City star" or Southampton leapfrog Liverpool in race to sign absolute beast" tempt the viewer and are soon taken up by those websites who seem to exist only to pass on rumours and make them seem real.

The truth is actually that very few of the original sources of these stories have any credibility, they are at best agents trying to elbow their clients into view in a packed market place and at worst lazy journalism to fill up column inches by someone who just puts two and two together and says if Southampton need a striker then Aleksandar Mitrovic MUST be on their radar given his situation.

Then their is the rumours about the so called latest big sensations, and this is where it is easy to come a cropper,

"Southampton make £20m bid for Standard Liege ace Moussa Djenepo " is perhaps the latest one of those.

Hitc report our interest in signing the "Forward" starting with With "no one in Southampton’s squad scoring more than seven Premier League goals this season, it is clear where the club need to strengthen"

They then go on to claim that Djenepo has 11 goals and 6 assists to his name, tat is correct but they are not all in the Jupiler League where he has scored only 7 exactly the same number as our leading scorer.

A closer look at his stats reveal that at 20 he has only played around 40 Jupiler League games for Standard Liege scoring 8 times. This season has been patchy, he has been a regular in the team but goals have been hard to come by, after 4 in the first 9 games of the season he would then score only once in the next 20 games, before netting a couple of goals in the final game of the normal Jupiler League season t the end of March.

Since then in the play off stages (dont ask me to explain) he scored only once in six games and was not included in the squad for the 7th game.

His lack of goals could be attributed to the fact that essentially he is a left winger rather than a striker, but HITC call him a forward and suggest he will be a solution to our lack of goals.

His current market value on transmarkt is given as £4.5 over four times his value of a year ago.

So to recap his agent is essentially trying to tout him around Europe at £20 million that for a player who essentially has one years first team experience behind him and that not in one of Europe's strongest League's.

Ironically HITC see his potential arrival as raising questions about Mo Elyounoussi's future at the club, they are right but the questions asked should be more about not making the same mistake twice.

A year ago Elyounoussi arrived as a far more experienced player and two decent seasons behind him at Basel with a goal per 3 game ratio, yet he has failed miserably in the Premier League.

I am sure that Saints will have looked at Djenepo, perhaps very closely, after all that is why they have an extensive scouting network as well as the famed black box, but whether that will equate to a bid is another thing.

There has been a tendency in the past couple of seasons to make the odd panic buy to placate the fans, Boufal, Carrillo and Elyounoussi spring to mind, but overall even over the past couple of year when Saints have stuck to the formula they have done what they do well, the message is they need to keep doing what brought them success in the first place not trying to outbid the opposition.

Perhaps Djenepo will sign for Saints perhaps he will be another Sadio Mane, or perhpaps he will go elsewhere and be a sensation and message boards will be full of yet another failure for Saints in trying to sign a player.

The reality is that in the football transfer market there are no guarantees, like football matches themselves you will also win a few and lose a few in the transfer market and things are not always in your control, stupid late bids from clubs with money to burn can always happen, we have been that club and paid the price.

So the stories this morning are just that nothing more than stories some will perhaps become truth, but the majority will not !

Photo: Action Images

andywelsh added 10:21 - May 9 Spot on Nick. We have had two years of rumours we are buying a left back and a defensive midfielder, two areas we are demonstrably strong in. We all know there are other areas we do need to strengthen in and Hassenhuttl has made it clear he is looking at players making their first or second move. Therefore we can discount any rumour for anyone over 24 years old and Saints will probably not want to throw money at unproven talent. As usual expect the unexpected. This season has shown that some of our recent buys may have considerably more potential than it appeared at first. Also as we do need to buy several players and move others on, I would not expect Saints to sell those they wish to keep unless offered silly money.

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arthurfane added 12:22 - May 9 True, there are no guarantees. Djenepo however is fast and skilful - exactly the kind of winger we need to complement Redmond and make us very dangerous on the counter (and what we've been missing so badly since Sadio left). Elyounoussi hasn't looked quick, hasn't looked decisive and hasn't looked incisive. Early days for him still, but he looks like wasted money sadly. Think we need that pacy winger, a centre forward who can score goals, a right back (backup/rotation with Valery) and a quality CB. That'll be enough and will set us in good stead for a top 10 challenge next year. COYS

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SaintBrock added 12:45 - May 9 Amid all the silly season noise it is as well to bear in mind the date when trading can actually happen. This from the ESPN website; "The Premier League summer transfer window in 2019 is again opening -- and closing -- earlier than other leagues in Europe. The transfer window will open on Thursday, May 16. However, international transfers will not be possible until the FIFA international window opens on June 9, although for contractual reasons many deals will not be technically completed until July 1 or later. The transfer window will then close at 5 p.m. BST on Thursday, Aug. 8 -- with the new Premier League season scheduled to begin on the weekend of Saturday, Aug. 10. No club will be able to buy or loan a player after Aug. 8 -- but they will be able to sign up players who are free agents."

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underweststand added 14:20 - May 9 the more sites you see, the more rumours there are. A year or so back, I tried counting those we were "linked with ". I lost count after 20 ....and in the end those signings we did make weren't on those lists anyway. The untold number of foreign players being bandied around isn't clear, but hopefully BREXIT won't screw up any possible transfer deals we may have on hold. As for the English market, the lad from Bristol is the latest "find" we are supposed to be in for, but the move up to the Prem. is too big a step for many - as we've seen with Bournemouth's deals for Mings and that lad from Brentford(?) who both faded badly. Worth noting that the majority of players who sign for Prem. clubs are usually already capped at international level... and buying a young player for a big fee is no guarantee of anything when they come to the higher level. One Hoedt was enough. Now reading the "story " about a possible record fee for Mitrovic (?). Without looking at his goal tally, I'd be more concerned about his disciplinary record. Think he went to Newcastle first and clocked up 2 (or was it 3) red cards in the first month there. YES -- Goals count, but we need to avoid suspensions when other strikers maybe off form / injured and we have no likely long-term replacement(s). One Osvaldo was enough. I don't envy clubs trying to buy someone who is a square peg at his club in the hope that he might (possibly) fit someone else (or Saints) better....One Carrillo is enough. Finally those elusive midfielders who somehow manage to clock up 10-12 goals a season yet still DAJFU is the middle of the park...are very elusive. One Boufal was enough. ME...I 'd take back Clasie and have Ralph give him a run of games, at least he's still a Saints player presently, and wouldn't cost us a big / wasted fee.

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SaintBrock added 18:10 - May 9 Totally agree with all off that underweststand. In the same way that we are trying to off-load journeymen players so will be other clubs and we don't want to get caught out selling one Chas Austin and ending up with another dressed up to look like Messi!
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SaintBrock added 15:16 - May 10 With 4 of our top 6 teams in the European Finals it is beginning to look like the PL really is becoming the "best league in the world" and as such is probably a huge draw for players from all over the world. Even 'though we deride ourselves for ending up near the bottom of the table for two consecutive years, bearing in mind the international success of 4 of the PL teams perhaps it is after all no mean feat just to be good enough to stay there amongst the 17. It could also be that we may be on the verge of being a very attractive proposition for players from abroad who would in the past never have considered coming to Southampton. I am not suggesting for one moment that we should be satisfied with 17th place but perhaps we should not take it so much for granted that it is our right to be in the BLitW. Mind you once they admit Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern, PSG & Dortmund we may have to try that wee bit harder.

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