With Saints relegation all but confirmed, the vultures are starting to hover over St Mary's to pick the bones of the 2024/25 season squad, that is not a bad thing for Southampton in the long run, it will enable us to rebuild, as long as we keep the foundations of the squad.
According to givemesport.com Taylor Harwood-Bellis is on the wish list of Crystal Palace.
They say that the defender has recently signed with the Unique Sports Group agency, who have a close working relationship with Palace and that could be one of the reasons as to why the South London club are linked.
Harwood-Bellis signed a 4 year contract with Saints last summer so is contracted to the club until July 2028, so that means Saints are under no pressure to sell.
From a Palace perspective it will be whether they can meet Saints valuation of the player and also match his current salary at St Mary's.
You would imagine that THB is one of the highest earners at the club, so therefore it will not be nailed on that he can find a club that is able or rather willing to fork out a sizable figure, who has been solid, but not standout for Southampton this season.
If Harwood-Bellis does go then Saints are not short of replacements to step into the breach, although the futures of Jan Bednarek & Jack Stephens are unclear, Bednarek will have two years left on his deal and Stephens contract will end, the club still have Nathan Wood & Ronnie Edwards who are both proven at Championship level, as well as potentially Armel Bella-Kotchap, who again might find it difficult to find a a club who will meet his own wage demands.
The reality of relegation is that most of our key players will leave this summer, but we will still have the foundations of the squad that won promotion in 2023/24 and with the money brought in from those transferred, that should provide the foundation for another promotion campaign.