There has been speculation amongst Saints fans that the club were not willing to match Birmingham City's valuation for Che Adams but the truth is that no one could because the Blues would not sell and for good reason.
After Saints first defeat in six games against Cardiff City the knives were once again out for the club with much ire aimed at the fact that we failed to sign a player in the January transfer window.
One player who came in for particular attention was Birmingham City striker Che Adams, he was reportably being chased by both Saints and Burnley and when the window closed shut without his name being on the back of a Saints shirt there have been accusations on social media that the club had refused to up their offer and in any case it was derisory.
But the real truth is not one of Saints refusing to pay big money, they certainly had the cash after getting in a significant amount for Manolo Gabbiadini as well as a loan fee for Cedric Soares and significant amounts off the wage bill with several going out on loan as well.
No the hard facts of the case is that Birmingham had no intention of selling to anyone in this transfer window, unless it was for really stupid money, after all if Saints were refusing to match Burnley why didn't the Lancashire club land him ?
The one fact mainly overlooked is the fact that Birmingham are under financial sanctions after overspending and falling foul of the financial fair play rule, this saw initially a transfer embargo and then although that was lifted they are restricted in not only how many players they can sign but as to how much.
Back in August that was limited to only five players who had to be either free transfer's loan signings or players for a minimal fee, for the January window this was restricted to just one player and they had made that signing by 18th January when Kerim Mrabti was signed on a free transfer.
This meant that if they sold Che Adams then they would not be able to replace him, that being the case then there was no real reason to sell, indeed there was far more reason to keep him given that the cub are hovering around the fringes of the play off spots, without Adams goals they would have surely dropped out of the reckoning, but with them then perhaps they could get into the play offs and if they gained promotion then their financial problems would be solved in a swoop.
So although keeping Adams was a gamble, the odds are all stacked in Birmingham's favour in that if they get promotion then they might perhaps keep the player and if they don't then they can sell him in the summer when with a little bit more time they can try and get a few more clubs interested and put up the price.
It should not be forgotten that going into January Adams record for Birmingham was good but not outstanding, prior to the start of this season he had only scored 12 League goals for the club in 70 appearances, he was not in demand back in the summer to any great degree, indeed his 5 goals last season was one less than Sam Gallagher who played only fractionally more league games for the Blues
At the start of the January window he had scored 11 and was reaching the promising stage, since the window opened he had hit another 8 which is now making some think that as one comment on social media said "we have missed the boat"
But the truth is that Birmingham were never going to sell to us or anyone, unless truly stupid money far far above his valuation was offered and the only clubs who had the clout to do that were not interested and that should tell you something.
His sudden burst of scoring has led to a sudden burst of angst and accusations that the club are not willing to spend big, the problem the club had with Adams apart from the fact that Birmingham was not selling was that he didn't have the track record, the fans would be up in arms even more if he turned out to be another Guido Carrillo or Mo Elyounoussi or even another Sam Gallagher who on the face of it at the start of the season at least had the better goal scoring record.
These days there are far too many stories that get spread around without any real substance, you barely needed to scratch the surface to find out the truth on this story, there are far too many rumours in football these days that are compounded by being repeated, indeed look at Brexit and the untruth's quoted as fact over the last few years, we would all do well to take heed of this axiom.
"A Lie Repeated Often Enough Becomes Accepted Truth"