According to reports Ronald Koeman wants to sit down with the board to discuss strengthening the squad in the January transfer window.

That the Dutchman is looking to improve the squad is no surprise, the only real surprise is the timing, Koeman had to come in and rebuild urgently in the summer after the departure of five key players and he has trimmed the squad further by loaning out the likes of Hooiveld, Osvaldo and Ramirez.

Although he and indeed the board would have known we are still a work in progress, perhaps they like many other have been surprised at the success we have enjoyed this season and there lies the dilemma, the aspirations for this season have changed dramatically since we kicked off at Anfield back in August on the opening day.

Back then our ambition for the season would have been more about consolidation, about trying to get a top ten place again and after the departures of the summer as well as the fact that most of our signings were unproven in the Premier League, even that was seen in some quarters as a tad optimisitc.

Now though we have had to revise our target for the season, a top four finish will be hard but is possible, top six definitely so, but a Wembley Cup final appearance and possible qualification for Europe via that route is most certainly possible.

Saints transfer strategy is now well know thanks to Spurs, however it might have changed since Paul Mitchell was placed on gardening leave, a couple of months ago it might have been focused on the summer of 2015, now we have to look at January, especially if we are to keep moving forward.

The dilemma for the board is not do they have the money, but can it be spent wisely ?

From an affordability level there is no problem, we have perhaps more spending power than any other Premier Club, even taking account money earmarked for purchasing Bertrand or Alderweireld I would say we have £20 million of our received transfer fee's from the summer still in the bank, that could be augmented if we offloaded say Osvaldo or even Ramirez, but more to the point we haven't touched any money that would normally be used from the £80 million Premier League money.

Then there is the issue of timing, I would have said that previous to the last month or so we would perhaps have been gearing towards major signings in the summer rather than January, but things have changed, however it is still not simple, Paul Mitchell will be advising Spurs on who are targets are likely to be and they could be competition.

But that obstacle aside we still have had to change tact and look at who might be available in January and at what price, certainly we need to have cover with Mane away in Africa as well as to a lesser extent Mayuka, perhaps the returning Rodriguez will provide a replacement, but the squad does need strengthening.

So Saints now have a lot of rethinking to do on their strategy, do they keep on doing what we have planned and hope that we don't have too many days like Sunday where we just have an injury or two at the wrong time, or do we look to strengthen in January.

If we do though how do we strengthen, I said a month or so ago I thought that Koeman might look to the likes of Dirk Kuyt etc who whilst not long term grade one signings wwould provide short term options and I still feel this will still very much be the case, leaving the focus on the summer of 2015 where we will undoubtably see at least one big money departure possibly two and need to have a long term strategy firmly in place.

But we have to trust Ronald Koeman to get it right and Im sure he will, what we do have to remember though is that we are building long term and in some respects our good start to the season has clouded over the fact that we were building on a very sparse canvas back in the summer and we dont have the foundations in terms of squad that some have.

Photo: Action Images

Sanguin added 11:36 - Dec 3 I don’t think we can say that the £80m of Premier League money hasn’t been touched. We have no idea whether it has been spent or not and with legacy transfer debts, wages and the training ground, it could well have gone towards that. But you are right that we still have transfer sales money and Krueger said that money from sales would be invested back into the squad. I would expect us to have the clout to make a decent signing or two, but I would hope that we don’t get held to ransom and instead either bring in another loan player or a player in the twilight of his career like Kuyt.

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stmichael added 11:54 - Dec 3 Ronald Koeman is a top manager and will want and deserves to be managing a top club. Lets hope that the board back him , that his aspirations have not changed and that he is in it for the long haul. We seem to be a club that makes strides but then suffers set backs when we seem on the verge of making the next step. Would be nice to buck that trend this time!!
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SonicBoom added 12:57 - Dec 3 I still think we will be prudent. Didn't Ralph say we are aiming at Europe this year with a mid table budget. I don't expect us to flash cash in January as it's well known that value is hard to come by. Maybe we have an eye on a lesser known eastern European and that could still be a shrewd move.
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ChristchurchSaint added 19:44 - Dec 3 I agree with StMichael- RoKo is a man who wants to manage a top club. Currently , that team is Saints, and assuming he has ambitions for us to qualify for Europe,(which I would say is 100%), then he feels that we need to add one or two quality players, even if it is players heading to the twilight of their careers. I just hope the board agrees!
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