An under the radar signing if it's true. 20 does sound young, so probably not a given starter, but for £12m he must be somewhat special. Let's hope it's another shrewd signing and not a dud like we've experienced in the last few years.

This would be an Excellent signing. As you say this is VM's replacement but a likely upgrade too. Hojbjerg has a strong physical presence but is very technically adept. Can play as a deep lying midfielder as well as playmaker. Lots of admirers internationally, who believe he can become world class, but he's struggled to get a foothold in what is a very competitive Bayern midfield. He's looking for game time, so I suspect he will get that at Saints as he's already an experienced player.

Really is a classic shrewd Saints signing here.

Yeah agree. He's more versatile than VW and Bayern fans seem sorry to see him go.

Here's hoping. See those cheeky Liverpool fans reckon they will buy in 2 years time from us if all goes well.

Trouble is IanRC it isn't cheeky, more a reasonable bet if he proves any good!

I will certainly be quite pleased if we get 3 or 4 in like this rather than blowing money on a "marquee". We do need a goalscorer as we have sold/are about to sell most of our goals. Talk of Jayrod and Austin is all very well but one goal between them last season and both very injury prone...

I understand those Liverpool comments. I think we need to take that in our stride whilst being realistic. At present, Saints are a very well run club who are competing for Europa positions and have ambitions for Champions League. We are therefore ideal for this type of player at the moment: somebody who has serious talent and is very close to making it for a massive club (Bayern in this case) but is frustrated at the lack of opportunity to push on. Somebody who wants to prove his worth that he can live up to the promise that his ability/talent clearly offers.

He could go to Liverpool, or Spurs, or Arsenal now – but they won’t take him as they (as more established top clubs) are focusing more on looking for proven experience so to effect a seamless transition into the first team looking for CL positions (and winning the EPL) each year. Nurturing players who might live up to their potential is not their priority.

3 years ago, Hojbjerg wouldn’t have even looked at Saints. Now he’s having a medical. That’s amazing progress. With our infrastructure we have the maximum opportunity to get the best out of him. Yet, if he does well for 1-2 seasons, he will start to meet the criteria of Liverpool, or Spurs, or Arsenal as I say above.

At present, it may well be that we sell on for a hugely inflated fee 2 years down the line. We then look again: maybe getting somebody similar to Hojbjerg or use our (soon to be re-integrated) academy as an opportunity. That’s fine – we get high performances that push us on and lots of cash to re-invest. I know its frustrating, but it is a realistic and sensible realisation that we, as a club, are not quite there yet in terms of stature.

But this should not be seen as ‘doom and gloom’! This is the real part of the strategy kicking in. If we continue to get stronger, and we get into the final stages of Europa, or win a trophy, or even get into the top 4, then players like Hojbjerg may well start to see their future here. I think our Chief Executive said it, that we are progressing towards not being seen as a ‘stepping stone’ club for the truly talented players, but a working towards a time when they see us as a final destination.

So – by all means – we can smile at those Liverpool fans etc. who make jokes about us being a ‘feeder club’ (what feeder club would demand the other club pays massively over the odds for players?!). We can also be relaxed about Saints players being linked to massive money moves. Secretly these plastic twitter fans are worried, because Saints don’t seem to be getting any weaker – both in terms of ambition and in terms of squad. More and more teams look at the Saints model and catch on to it: it’s not just about big budgets and higher wages. We have a strategy that is working.

Just on the point of this transfer being Wanyama’s replacement. I actually think that might not be the case. I read somewhere that Romeu is likely to be preferred in that ‘enforcer/disrupter’ role and Hojbjerg would be tasked with box-to-box/playmaker duties (i.e. Schneiderlin’s replacement).

All I can say is WOW!

This looks like a brilliant piece of business. I still think we need to get in at least 4-5 more quality players for the rest of next season and then I'll be pretty confident we have decent chance to mount a Europa League challenge and stay in the top 8.

I get the vibe that Højbjerg is going to be a regular in the midfield alongside Romeu (who will be our midfield enforcer). I suspect Clasie will be used as a squad player.

Other areas that need strengthening are the following:

1. Centre-Half to compete with Jose and provide cover (Jose can't last forever). Yoshida can't cut it in my opinion and the juries out on Gardos because of his injury.

2. A defensive midfielder. This should come from the academy or someone with more experience in the transfer market to compete with Romeu.

3. We need a striker to replace Pelle. It's a shame we missed out on Musa. I still think Saido Berahino's a good shout.

4. We need a number 10 type player to compete with Davis and give us a different option when we're playing against teams looking for a draw.

5. Lastly, we need a backup goalkeeper who is happy being on the bench. We also need to decide if we want Gazzaniga to be our long-term successor? We should stick with him or let me him go and bring someone else in from the academy--or possibly from the transfer market.