It's July 1st and the end of much ado about nothing, let the transfer window open in earnest and for Saints it may have a Shakespearean twist with a Manchester City youngster said to be in advanced talks.

The 4th act of the Saints transfer window is about to start if media reports are to be believed and Manchester City's Romeo Lavia could be about to about to become a Southampton players.

Lavia who is still only 18 has like many in his age group at the Etihad yet to make a Premier League appearance for City although he has been an unused sub on 9 occasions, including against Saints in our 0-0 draw up in Manchester last September.

His only action for City's first team has come in the cup's, he played the whole game in City's win over Wycombe in the League Cup and also managed 7 minutes as a sub in the FA Cup against Swindon.

He is a defensive midfield player and this is where he has played for City, although he can also play in the centre of defence if called upon.

Born in Belgium he started with Anderlecht before joining City in July 2020 and although City are said to be loathe to let him go so early in his time at the club, they accept that he is ready for first team football in the Premier League but his opportunities will be limited and therefore that it is in the best interests of both parties to part ways.

It will not be cheap though, the deal is said to be worth £10 million, but that will probably be dependent on a certain number of games etc being achieved and there will also be a buy back & sell on clause.

City are clearly ploughing a furrow where they accept that few players will actually break into their first team on a regular basis, they need players at the peak of their game now if they are to remain England's top club, but that doesn't mean they will abandon their youth policy, they are developing players that will get into many Premier League sides first team now and they are profiting from this policy by selling them and then regenerating the money towards buying the class of player they are in the market for.

Saints fit nicely into this strategy and indeed have a strategy of their own, like Tino Livramento last season, it is about targeting those on the verge of Premier League standards now, but who won't get a chance at Manchester City or Chelsea.

It is about paying a reasonable fee now and developing players and benfiting from them on the pitch and then off it in transfer fees.

Lavia is said to be close to signing for Saints despite interest from other clubs with Leeds United said to be keen.

Photo: Action Images

Block8 added 12:42 - Jun 30 It's great that we are trying to entice promising youngsters from the big teams but I'm quite concerned that we don't do enough to keep our own! We had an extremely successful U18 team last season, how many have we tied to professional contracts? I know they can't sign as a pro until they are 17 but with Newcastle rumoured to be throwing silly money at a couple of our, very very good, 16 year olds how do we keep them here? If they see us signing slightly older young men, which will inevitably block their path forward, where is their incentive to stay? As an added question what does this mean for our U23 side, due to become U21 with up to 5 overage players next season? None have progressed to regular 1st team football for quite some time and we don't seem to get that many out on loan early enough to make a difference to their advancement!

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