The media in Italy are suggesting Saints are close to signing a goalkeeper from Fiorentina , given our limited transfer budget and the fact we have three Premier proven keepers on our books surely not !

Saints are reported to being on the verge of Polish goalkeeper Bartlomiej Dragowski from Fiorentina, according to Corriere dello Sport, the fee is said to be around £10 million, which given our transfer budget and the the fact that we already have to sell a number of our already over sized squad to raise a fair chunk of that, signing another keeper surely must be low on our priorities.

Having spent £12 million on Angus Gunn and also having not only the man he replaced Alex McCarthy on the books but also Fraser Forster who is vitually unsellable due to his large salary, this seems a strange move.

Dragowski who will turn 22 in August started the season as reserve choice but played 17 times in total in Serie A, however he doesnt seem to have the experience needed to step straight into the Saints first team so it is a rather puzzling transfer link.

Of course as I have said before transfer rumours are often nothing more than agents putting their clients in the shop window, but this one seems to have a little more substance behind it, or at least journalists wo are prepared to give it more credence than it actually has .

If Saints did sign the Polish stopper then it would surely mean the end of both Alex McCarthy and Fraser Forster at the club, but as I mentioned shifting them expecially Forster will not be easy give that most Premier League clubs appear to have decent keepers and the availability of the likes of Joe Hart and Jack Butland to name but two makes it a buyers market .

Perhaps Saints are looking to the future and feel that Angus Gunn will soon be targeted by the big clubs and are therefore thinking ahead, but if so it is an expensive excersise, but the rumours out of St Mary's suggest the purse strings will be loosened a little this summer if the right players become available and their is a new mood of optimism as Gao starts to stamp his methods on the way the club is run.

Photo: Action Images

dirk_doone added 15:08 - Jun 2 I guess he's been bought as an investment to be sold for profit. That's the way the club's transfer policy operates, although since Paul Mitchell left, nobody at the club has been very good at talent spotting. In fact Ross Wilson seems to be worse than the average fan at it.
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legod7 added 15:35 - Jun 2 I think that it is just agent talk. Don’t forget we already have Jack Rose in the U23 squad and 21 year old Harry Lewis. He was the third keeper in the first team squad when Alex McCarthy was out injured.
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SonicBoom added 16:22 - Jun 2 Why do we have transfer limitations. We are bottom of the spend league over the last few seasons.
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Redrum added 17:25 - Jun 2 Crazy.After 3 years of not buying a class striker and centre half if they dont this year we're in for another hard season.
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underweststand added 17:47 - Jun 2 Ralph seems to be thinking long-term. he has no qualms about dipping into the Academy for young starlets who can be trained up. He has voiced an opinion favouring Angus Gunn as first choice and Alex McCarthy seems to have one foot out of the door, and we'll likely be stuck with Forster until his contract runs out. If this lad is a good buy we'll need to build-up a good squad for the next decade, Small money spent now is a good investment for the future. A good deal?. I'd go for it.

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