Saints are being quoted as one of a 10 club group who are chasing a 6ft 3 centre forward currently playing for Serie A club Bologna, but is he the answer to Southampton FC's striking problems since the departure of Danny Ings.

I have always said that Saints problems are easily solved by signing a spine of experienced players, from Centre back, through the centre of midfield to centre forward, players who are experienced at the level we need them to play.

Over the past few seasons that has been hard as not many Leagues are of the standard of the Premier League, however now we are looking for Championship standard players who can take us back up.

Now comes news of a potential striker, but according to the72.co.uk we are going to have plenty of competition, with another 9 clubs interested.

The man in question is Bologna Striker Sydney van Hooijdonk, the name might sound familiar, he is the son of former Dutch International Pierre Van Hooijdonk.

However young Sydney who will turn 24 in February is yet to have the illustrious career of his Father, after making his name in Holland with Breda, he earned a move to Bologna in 2021, however in his first season he made only 4 appearances.

In January 2022 he returned to Holland to join Heerenveen on loan and scored 6 times in 13 appearances, he returned again the following season and he netted 16 goals in 35 appearances.

He has now returned to Bologna, but it seems that they are happy to let him go, Millwall, Stoke City, and Swansea City were linked with him in January and now it is said that Southampton and Sunderland are in the hunt along with 5 other Premier League & Championship clubs who are un named.

The asking price is said to be around 10 million euros, but he could go for less as Bologna are keen to bring in revenue for transfers elsewhere, but all of this sounds like agent spin rather than concrete rumour.

To be honest although comparisons could be drawn to Graziano Pelle formerly of this parish, the truth is he sounds no better an option than Sekou Mara, who although did not force his way into the first team as was hoped, showed glimpses in the Premier League that he could cut it at that level and indeed the Championship.

So for me this deal does not excite me, I want to see someone with the physical presence to get down and dirty in the Championship.

Photo: Action Images

derbydog added 22:48 - Jul 11 Proven championship goalscorers with a wealth of experience at that level? Che and Adam then…
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Block8 added 12:11 - Jul 12 Some of our own youngsters will excel at Championship level if given a chance! Why spend £10 million give Ballard a chance?
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WestSussexSaint added 12:38 - Jul 12 If this lad has struggled at a mid table serie A side then he won’t get a look in at the PL sides quoted as interested. His Dutch and Italian football background may make him more suited to our new possession based style. At 10mil though I think we could spend that money in better areas such as centre midfield or defence.
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SaintPaulVW added 13:48 - Jul 12 Seria A to Championship. Not sure that's a runner.
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