It's five down and it seems that Saints are not yet finished with reports suggesting that the club still have a big budget left to sign a striker, but for now Rangers midfielder Joe Aribo is the latest new Saint.

Joe Aribo has arrived at St Mary's for a fee said to be around £6.5 million, reflecting the fact that although his true market value is around £10 million, he is now in the last year of his contract and Rangers can't afford to lose him for nothing in a years time.

At this price he seems to be a bit of a gamble for the club, but one they can afford for a player who will turn 26 in a week or two.

He is principally an attacking midfielder, operating in the land between the holding midfielders and attackers, a formation that Ralph Hasenhuttl has rarely used perhaps because he has lacked that type of player in his squad.

But he is versatile and can play in a more defensive role or out wide and as an out and out attacker.

Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhüttl said:

“Joe is a player with many qualities to his game, and we are very excited to welcome him to the squad in time for the pre-season trip to Austria.

“We believe Joe can bring energy and creativity to our side. Feeling comfortable in so many different positions is very helpful for a manager and shows he has a high level of football intelligence, with the ability to take on new information quickly.

“He has played a lot of games already in his career, at a very high level, and his performances in the Europa League prove he has the quality to play in the Premier League. This is a big ambition for him, and he is hungry to show everybody he can do it.”

The arrival of Aribo and Romeo Lavia in the last week means that we are now rather top heavy in the centre of the midfield, James Ward Prowse, Oriol Romeu & Ibrahima Diallo usually filling the positions last season.

It seems though that Saints are not finished yet in their transfer dealings, some media outlets are reporting we are about to spend big on a striker, well at least big by our standards.

So far we have spent almost £40 million on the five signings made so far, but if the spending is not finished yet then we will undoubtably need to get some players off the books.

Sport Republic have made a good start to what is their first full transfer window, Martin Semmens said when they arrived as owners that ultimately the real benefit of having them as owners would be the ability to do thing quicker, I took that to mean that in the transfer market we would now be able to buy players without having physically sold other players first.

That seems to be the case so far this summer, we are signing the players we want and are not hampered by having to wait till we have sold someone, the club now seem to have a definite strategy in place albeit a tweaked version of how we have run for decades, but it is the gentle tweaks that will make the difference.

Photo: Action Images

derbydog added 09:35 - Jul 10 Balancing the books… so you think JWP is on the way out then?
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Block8 added 10:15 - Jul 10 Thought Armstrong (S) played the position behind the strikers very well but that has not, to date, suited Ralphs tactics. My worry from Saints of old is, when we spend like this someone big departs. Hopefully that's not the case and most of us can think of 5 or 6 we could move on, to reduce the squad and get a couple of our promising youngsters on the bench as well?
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landsdownsaint added 12:07 - Jul 10 Looks like we are gonna be a very quick physical team , can’t wait too see the new signings
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DellBoyWally added 12:23 - Jul 10 “I’d say definitely pushing for Europe, that’s a big one. We want to do well as a club together, going on cup runs, pushing for semi-finals and finals, and having prizes to play for,” Aribo told the Southampton club website. Well, that's a positive attitude. Hope he isn't too disappointed!
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Kenm added 13:20 - Jul 10 Aribo I feel is going to be disappointed, we've not signed a scorer YET !, nor likely to until the dying minutes of the transfer window, we'll then get the players that nobody wants !, if the spurs match goes badly for us or any of the first 5 !, then another relegation battle is on !, with Aribo's high hopes I expect him to put his name on the transfer list at Xmas
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ericofarabia added 14:33 - Jul 10 Calm down mush! The Capital Letters 'YET' is hilarious. The Window, in reality only opened 10 days ago, with players hanging on for their Loyalty Bonus before leaving! Also players are having family holidays etc and have only just starting back pre season training a week ago. There are still 4 weeks before the season starts and 51 days before the window closes! Obiously ideally all deals wiuld be done before Spurs match for players to integrate into the squad, and also any out goings be of our own choice and surplus. This is the thing I hatr most about the window ending so long after the start of the season ..... the possibility of losing a key player late on and no chance of replacing and being held to ransom by selling clubs. I am still worried about not having an experienced CB on the books and if rumours be believed Bedz a confidate for leaving. And yes we desperately need a proven goal scorer.

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RedandWight added 10:08 - Jul 11 5 new players and of course we are all hoping for a sixth up front. Not all will walk straight into the first team or at least not straight away and perhaps that's no bad thing; trying to assimilate 5 or so new players into a team will take time. One thing is definite though and that is we are again strengthening our squad, providing cover and competition for most/all positions. Remember remain calm we are not going to win every game from the off it takes time to gel the new players. Now where's that new striker?

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