Russell Martin is not yet officially Southampton manager, but such is the pace of things expected in the next 24 hours he could be, by the time I have finished writing this article, here we take a look at who the Swansea fans think will be making the journey with him.

Although some Saints supporters will point to Swansea's 10th place finish in the Championship as evidence that he is not the man for the St Mary's job, the truth is in the final months of the season the fruits of his labour were starting to bear fruit and the Swans only missed a play off spot by 3 points.

So there will be players in the squad who he may want to bring with him to his new home on the South Coast.

I'm no expert on Swansea's City's playing squad, so I have been taking a quick look at what the Swansea fans have been saying.

Fellow Fans Network site SwanseaIndependent has had this to say as the transfer window opens today.

"Of course if you believe the mainstream media Russell Martin will be announced ( for the fourth time ) as new Southampton manager today, and what is the chance that ?"

"Unlikely ? Possibly, or just another day of guess work from those who propose to know what is going on. Let’s have a look at what is going on then. Joel Latibeaudiere and Ryan Manning are still waiting on Russell Martin to give them the nod for a free agent move to the Saints, that is if you believe our inbox at Swansea Independent."

So lets take a look at who our friends at Swansea are saying could join us, Joel Latibeaudiere was at Manchester City until 2020, so he will be well know to our new Director of Football Jason Wilcox.

He joined the Swans at the start of 2020/21 season after spending the previous season at FC Twente in Holland, in his first season at Swansea he struggled to get into the side, but in the last two years he has become first choice, if he was fit he usually played.

Positionally he is a right back although he can also play as a right midfielder and at one point did a stint in the centre of defence. He appears to be two footed and also slotted in on the left at times.

As Swansea Independent point out he is out of contract, so he would be a cheap gamble for Saints and at 23 has a balance of youth and experience at Championship level.

The second name mentioned is Ryan Manning, he is a left back and like Joel can also play in midfield, in the season just gone he played 43 games in the Championship and has the impressive record of scoring 5 times and providing 10 assists,.

At 26 he has a solid record of 169 games in the Championship to his name with QPR, Rotherham and since 2020 Swansea.

He has also won 3 caps for the Republic Of Ireland.

However whether he remains on good terms with Russel Martin is unclear, back in February Martin announced that Manning would be leaving the club at the end of the season as he had told the club he had no intentions of signing a new deal.

On the face of it he would be a good signing, but is he any better than Romain Perraud, I think this may depend on whether Saints keep Perraud or not.

Certainly Manning on a an out of contract free signing would make sense from a financial point of view, but we already have a bloated squad.

Bloated squad is perhaps the key here, these two would potentially be good signings, but would they improve the squad, on the right Latibeaudiere has potential, but assuming Tino Livramento stays is he any better than him or for that matter James Bree or for that matter Lewis Payne who could flourish at this level.

On the left we are also potentially well served already with Perraud.

So these two are hard to call, they are both in positions where we are potentially strong already, if they were going to cost us money I would suggest that we would not be interested, but for free we might be.

One that we might have to buy who Swansea Independent feel would be a Russell Martin signing is Matt Grimes, the central midfielder who will turn 28 next month only missed two games in the Championship last season and has a solid track record both with Swansea City with whom he has played 226 games in the Championship plus 4 in the Premier League before their relegation in 2018.

He has also spent time on loan at Exeter and Blackburn as a youngster racking up another 70 odd games in the process.

In the five seasons since he has missed just 4 Championship games and has built up a solid reputation that has seen his value rise to around £7 million.

He has two years left on his contract and the Swansea fans are right, he doe look like a player that Russell Martin would sign and it is from or perspective in a position we need to fill next season with both James Ward Prowse & Romeo Lavia likely to leave.

Photo: Action Images

dirk_doone added 10:18 - Jun 14 We've lowered our sights a bit since the heady days when we aspired to be the new Luton. Now, we aspire to being the new Swansea.
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Bowlercow added 11:48 - Jun 14 Getting the RuMa deal over the line has been a bit protected so I wouldn't be surprised if there is a clause preventing Saints from signing and contracted Swansea player for at least a year
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