Tom Barclay<\/a> recently reported that the Saints are leading the hunt for the striker who could cost \u00a320 million.<\/p>\nThe youngster has scored two goals in 18 appearances in the French top-flight this term, matching the league goals tally of Adam Armstrong with Ch\u00e9 Adams and Armando Broja scoring three and four goals respectively.<\/p>\n
Definitely a prospect for the future but a \u00a320 million price tag will be a repellent for the football club with their current financial situation.<\/p>\n
OUT: Shane Long<\/h3>\n
It is very likely that Shane Long will be leaving the football club in 2022, whether that be in this window or upon the expiration of his contract in the summer.<\/p>\n
The Irishman was awarded a two-year contract in the summer of 2020 after contributing a couple of goals midway through the 2019\/20 season. However, the suggestion that the 34-year-old would continue to be a regular player for Hasenhuttl’s side was naive.<\/p>\n
Long has not scored for the Saints in almost two years and only managed two goals during his loan spell at Bournemouth for the second half of last season.<\/p>\n
If the club can find the striker a new club as early as this month then it would be sensible, otherwise, the Irishman will have to wait until the summer.<\/p>\n
Long has been a fantastic servant for the club but it feels like the farewell is long overdue.<\/p>\n
Other notable mentions<\/h3>\n
There is a chance that the odd youngster is sent out on loan for experience but it is unclear who that would be should an offer come in. Will Smallbone could be a good shout.<\/p>\n
The club also has a decision to make on the futures of players whose contracts expire in the summer.<\/p>\n
Forster, McCarthy, Jack Stephens, Long and Harry Lewis all have six months left on their respective contracts and are yet to sign extensions. Who stays and who goes will be something the board and manager need to discuss over the coming months<\/p>\n
If the club could strengthen one position this window, a new goalkeeper or wide attacking midfielder would be sensible to look at.<\/p>\n
The goalkeeping situation has been an issue for a while and it appears that Sam Johnstone will be the man the Saints will huff and puff to sign.<\/p>\n
Hasenhuttl has a variety of wide men to choose from, however, none of them have particularly set the world alight this campaign.<\/p>\n
Overall, it appears to be a window of little action but do not be surprised if the odd deal slips through the cracks and the Saints involve themselves in some business.<\/p>\n
Follow us on Twitter\u00a0<\/i><\/b>@ProstInt\u00a0<\/i><\/b><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n[columns]<\/p>\n
[column size=”1\/2″][blog type=”timeline” posts=”10″ cats=”651″ heading=”Southampton” heading_type=”timeline” \/][\/column]<\/p>\n
[column size=”1\/2″][blog type=”timeline” posts=”10″ cats=”59″ heading=”EPL” heading_type=”timeline” \/][\/column]<\/p>\n
[\/columns]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The January transfer window is officially open which will give numerous Premier League clubs the opportunity to bring in fresh faces or say farewell to deadwood.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":210,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[117,59,651],"tags":[5868,2238,679,366,681,3498,2474,1573,673,2071,5867,2333],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prostinternational.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272817"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prostinternational.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prostinternational.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prostinternational.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/210"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prostinternational.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=272817"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/prostinternational.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272817\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":272857,"href":"https:\/\/prostinternational.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272817\/revisions\/272857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prostinternational.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=272817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prostinternational.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=272817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prostinternational.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=272817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}