With no game now before the end of the January transfer window, were Southampton fans waving goodbye to Kyle Walker-Peters when he left the St Mary's pitch after the defeat to Newcastle United.
Saints reopened contract talks with Kyle Walker-Peters a few weeks ago and the fact that both sides are talking is a ray of hope for Southampton supporters, but the truth is it is only a small bit of light at the end of the tunnel and the light at the end of it is probably an onrushing club wanting to buy him.
With virtually no hope of staying up, if he is not to sign a new deal and commit to next season, then it would be better for Southampton to take what they can get now.
One club who are being linked is Tottenham Hotspur, but we all know how they have operated under Daniel Levy for the past 30 years or so and they are not going to pay good money now when they can get him for free in the summer.
That is perhaps the worst situation for Saints who have a history of Spurs putting in derisory offers for players dating back to the departure of Neil Ruddock in 1992 and nothing has changed in the intervening 33 years as the Spurs pursuits of Dean Richards, Gareth Bale, Victor Wanyama, Pierre Emile Hojbjerg & also then manager Glenn Hoodle all showed, each and every one of them seeing offers made that were derisory, but with the players already wanting to join Spurs putting Saints in a difficult position.
That is probably the case with Kyle Walker-Peters now, Spurs might want him back, but if they can get away without paying for him they will do.
The risk for KWP is that by the summer the chances of Age Postecoglou still being manager are currently slim, would a new manager want KWP.
Fabrizio Romano that well know n purveyor of transfer rumour, is usually nearer to hitting the mark than most and he had this to say on his X account:
"Fabrizio Romano
@FabrizioRomano
·
Follow
"🟡🔴 Galatasary approached Southampton to sign Kyle Walker Peters.
"Southampton would prefer not to sell but will consider for the right price as player is in the last 6 months of his contract.
"Many PL clubs are already interested in signing KWP as free agent in the summer."
That is not good news and probably why Southampton should look to sell him now, but we know how Turkish clubs operate and how difficult it is to get them to pay a decent transfer fee, let alone match the players wage demands, so I see Galatasaray's chances of signing Kyle Walker-Peters now as zero, I hope to be proved wrong as it would be better to get something for him than nothing.
Nothing is what I think we will get though, I think the player will now play out his contract and then he knows he will have a reasonable choice of Premier League clubs interested in him as a free agent and he will be in a much better bargaining position for his salary in the summer.
I don't begrudge him this, even though we will lose him for free, in his 5 years here he has given us good service, 167 League appearances plus plus another 22 in other competitions including the play offs last season.
He has been great value for money, his £12 million transfer fee back in 2000, split over his 5 full seasons working out at £2.4 million a season, yes it would be good to get something back, but that is still a cheap price to pay for a player who has been a consistent performer for so long.
We will know by the end of the week whether he has played his last game or whether he will leave having played over 200 games for the club, that in itself is something few players manage for Southampton or many clubs these days.