With first team opportunities very limited for Sam Gallagher after his long term injury he might be sent out on loan with two clubs rumoured to be interested.

It is a measure of how much more attacking options Saints have now that Sam Gallagher is so far down the list, that is not a reflection on the ability of the young striker but of how Ronald Koeman has built up a much stronger squad overall these days.

Now Saints are seemingly set to loan Gallagher out to a Championship club to give him more experience.

Middlesbrough and Nottingham Forest are two clubs who are reported to be interested in bringing in Gallagher but the choice isnt as clear cut as some would think.

Boro are of course pushing for automatic promotion whilst Forest have an outside chance of a play off place, so although Boro would offer a side playing better football than Forest, they also have more striking options meaning that Gallagher would get far more game time at the City Ground than the Riverside.

But having spent most of the season injured that might suit Saints better, we might prefer to see Gallagher used sparingly than suddenly playing week in week out after so long out.

The player himself might prefer more game time but the final decision will rest with the club.

Certainly this would appear to be a good option for both Saints and Gallagher, at 19 he needs to be getting some games under his belt and at the moment there is little chance of doing that at Saints, last season saw him only start 3 games in the Premier League but make 15 sub appearances of varied time on the pitch, his only League goal was against Norwich in a 4-2 win ironically a year ago yesterday and the jury is still out whether he has what it takes to truly be a Premier class player.

That isn't to say that he won't be, but some players make immediate impacts and others take a little more time, last season he didn't look to have the experience to make the right runs at the right time being more a reactive striker to the game rather than proactive and making the right runs off the ball.

That might come with experience and a spell in the Championship might be just what he needs at this time.

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