After a week in which it was claimed that Saints had changed tack over selling Matt Targett and buying Che Adams, it now looks like there has been a complete turnaround and both might now happen.

In the last week or so it was claimed that Saints had decided to make Matt Targett their first choice left back and also had cooled their interest in Che Adams and were looking at other striking options.

This of course sent social media into a frenzy with the usual suspects accusing the club of lacking ambition and plenty of other unprintable thoughts.

We at TUI have maintained the middle ground as we have done in every transfer window, we continually point out how few deals are actually done before July 1st and that silence is in the best interest of the club, usually to no avail.

Many Saints fans accused the club of lacking ambition because they were playing hardball with Birmingham City, but according to Daily Echo chief sportswriter as we go into July things are going to start to happen.

It seems that the rumour that Matt Targett was going to be first choice left back was false, perhaps aimed at pushing the price up for the left back, Leitch states that Saints will be getting a fee of £16 million for Targett with most of it up front and that this suits Saints as they still have Ryan Bertrand with highly rated Jake Vokins getting near the standard required.

This will trigger movement on the Che Adams deal and as Targett heads to the UK's second city to join Aston Villa, Adams will be making the same journey in the other direction for a similar fee.

This represents good business for the club, of course it is sad to see a highly rated player like Targett leave and his fee shows how he is rated outside of Southampton, but we have to wheel and deal as any club does, not just to bring in transfer fees, but also to give a balanced squad.

This has been the Southampton Way since the days of Ted Bates and it has been the way the club has built it's success and more to the point sustained it, most of our dark periods have been when we have deviated from this strategy, whether that was in 1974 when signing Peter Osgood for a record fee saw us relegated shortly after, the likes of Kevin Phillips before our relegation in 2005 or on a slightly lower scale the folly of 2006-09 when the likes of Jason Euell and Stern John were signed on big wages back then for a Championship club and not only saw us relegated to League One but to the brink of liquidation.

Adam Leitch makes the claim that both deals will happen with some confidence suggesting he has been briefed directly by the club, if that is the case then Saints are confident that things will happen in the next few days.

For the last 7 weeks we have been saying put July 1st in your calendars, not a lot will happen till then, it seems that once again we are right, it's not rocket science, it's the same every year, mind you it would not be so much fun if we didn't have a meltdown every summer on the internet, at Saints you can put that in your calendars as well !!

Photo: Action Images

SaintStu7 added 11:15 - Jun 30 Great business if it all pans out. Shame to see Targett go but it will open a door for Vokins.
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codge added 12:14 - Jun 30 Great piece of business for us,l liked Targett going forward but tracking back on defense left a lot to be desired.Coyr.
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legod7 added 12:39 - Jun 30 I see WBA & Villa are reportedly interested in Austin and Blackburn want Gallagher. Looks like things are moving along.
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ChristchurchSaint added 13:05 - Jun 30 Don’t always agree with you Nick, but 100% correct on this one. The Echo comments have got beyond the pale over the last week. The usual culprits who think they know much better than the club and convinced that Gao/KL are squirrelling away the profits into an offshore account, very personal comments flying back and forth and all because as has always been the case, SFC carry out their business in a cloak and dagger way. Now that we are at the end of June, loyalty bonuses will be paid, and then the players can’t get out of the door quick enough. Hopefully these two deals will be completed in a couple of days, and then RH can start to move a few out, and also look at a strong reliable CB.

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BaselSaint added 08:38 - Jul 1 Not sure about that.
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SaintBrock added 09:16 - Jul 1 Good business indeed, maybe at long last we have learned how to strike a deal. Maybe Trump has been tweeting, he likes to interfere in just a bout everything so you never know. To me Reed always looked like the shifty guy in the room nobody would ever trust!
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LoisDeem added 10:57 - Jul 1 On the balance of probability, one deal nearly done, and another that might have been resurrected? It would probably pay us not to associate them together, as it might put the mockers on the one's we want -here's hoping, and I tend to agree it's all heating up properly now, and that we could be more involved than most, especially in the Midlands! If only to lend perspective and reality, though, I do feel that de Ligt's going to Juve reflects a certain shyness of the rude exposure that is the PL, and that other than the fee and wages, we could have been one of the club's more suited to this man's talents, as he does look like a VVD in waiting. Don't ask me to predict a suitable centre back for us though, (who can?) as I don't want to undermine our manager and scouting network, who have a tough enough job already.

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