If rumours in the media are correct and it should be noted that at this stage of the season they rarely are, Saints are tracking a left back from French top flight club Angers, but does this rumour have any substance.

According to the rumour mill Saints are looking at Angers Ivory Coast left back Souleyman Doumbia.

But the big question is that after recent speculation that Ryan Bertrand will be leaving the club at the end of the season as a free agent and that Ralph Hasenhuttl will not play him much in the final few games, is this just an agent putting his man into the frame and there will certainly be plenty of that in the coming weeks.

Accoring to media outlet Football Insider a Southampton source has told them that Doumbia, 24, is on their shortlist of targets and they are monitoring his situation ahead of the summer window.

Now this could have some truth in it, in that Saints with their black box system are continuously monitoring players in all positions at all times, but whether Doumbia is on that list is unclear as is the "Southampton Insider" Clubs do not usually tell the media who their targets are so as to not alert rivals, although they are not adverse to putting out false trails here and there to throw people off the scent.

Doumbia is no spring chicken and will turn 25 in September and so far in his career he has not exactly set the World alight, but then again neither had Kyle Walker Peters this time last year.

The left back first came to the fore in 2017/18 when he forced his way into the Grasshoppers team in the Swiss Super league, a move to Rennes in France didn't exactly pay off and he was soon shiiped off to Angers, initially on lon and then signed for a fee of around £2.5 million and his value does not seem to have risen too much since.

So is Doumbia a hidden gem as was Walker Peters or is he just a little bit of agents talk ?

My money is on the latter.

Photo: Action Images

geezershoong1 added 09:47 - Apr 28 A 24 year old who has only made 58 first team appearances? How much will we get ripped off here?
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DorsetIan added 10:46 - Apr 28 At best, he sounds like someone to fill the role of cover (which we don't currently have) for a first choice left back.
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dirk_doone added 11:21 - Apr 28 With a transfer market value of £2.25 million, we might be able to afford him as that figure is exactly equal to Shane Long's annual salary and we are hoping to offload him permanently this summer. Doumbia could even be the next Jeremy Pied.
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SaintNick added 11:25 - Apr 28 Dirk we are not hoping to offload him permanently this summer, he is out of contract so will leave the club after 7 years service
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dirk_doone added 11:34 - Apr 28 Unfortunately not, Nick. He got a new 2-year deal in June 2020. So, we will have to pay him until 2022 unless we can find another club willing to pay his wages. https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11700/12000403/shane-long-southampton-st
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dirk_doone added 11:37 - Apr 28 A lot of the club's finacial problems are down to spending millions on players who are not good enough for the Premier League. Doumbia sounds like he could be another one.
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Colburn added 18:23 - Apr 28 To fit our style of play, we could do with a left back a bit like that lad Aston Villa have.. Where do these other clubs find such gems?
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