It is not often that a football player has the same surname as the team he plays for, but that could soon be happening at St Mary's, but what does that mean for our current central defenders.
Saints are being linked with a move for Barcelona's Brazillian central defender Marlon Santos and as anyone with basic Spanish or for that matter Portugese will tell you, in those languages Santos translates to Saints.
So it could well be Saints to Saints if the rumoured £10 million bid lodged by Saints ia accepted.
After starting off with Fluminese in his native Brazil Santos moved to Barcelona on a season long loan in the summer of 2016 although he was in the main part of the B squad and played only a handful of games for the main team.
In 2017 he was loaned to Nice on a two season deal, but that now looks set to be cut short if Saints bid is accepted.
He is a ball playing central defender rather than a big stopper type of player and given the number of central defenders Saints are being linked with, the question is who will be surplus to requirements.
It seems that we are looking at two signings in this department, one an established and experienced player and another like Santos, one with potential, if we make those two signings though that will leave us very top heavy in options for the centre of defence.
At present we have four in Hoedt, Bednarek, Yoshida and Stephens, if we add two more that will be far too many and someone would surely have to go.
Even if Mark Hughes decides to play a back three, that still leaves three surplus to requirements so who will go ?
I would suggest that the two who will stay would be Hoedt and Bednarek, Hoedt suffered last season in that although he had experience he was still the youngest member of the central defence for much of the season, he should have been learning his trade in the Premier League alongside an experienced leader, yet too often he was left to lead the line, but as the season went on he showed that he has what it takes.
Likewise Bednarek, he came in at the tail end of the season and put in some good performances, I would suspect that those two along with two new signings would vie for the two/three positions available.
So this leaves question marks over the future of both Yoshida and Jack Stephens at St Mary's, neither have really shown that they have what it takes to be a truly top knotch defender at Premier League level, Yoshida a couple os years ago was pretty much fourth choice under Ronald Koeman and although his levels of commitment cannot be questioned, during most of his six seasons as a Saints player he has not really established himself as a first choice player, a good man to have in the squad yes ! week in week out starting line up no !
Jack Stephens is not a bad player, but I just don't think he is a central defender, his ability to carry the ball sometimes means he flatter to deceive, but he is not here to create, if he is the centre of defence he is there to defend and unfortunately he seem to lack ability to read the game and stay tight on his man.
He will turn 25 in January, he is no longer a promising youngster, however he might have a future as a holding midfield player, he has that ability to get the ball and carry it forward,the question is though is he good enough to do that week in week out in the top flight.
So I thnk the blueprint for Saints next season will be to have four player covering the central defensive positions, Hoedt and Bednarek from those at the club and they will be joined by an experienced player and a promising youngster.
This being the case if we get the signings we want, I would feel that one of either Stephens or Yoshida would go if not in August but in January, if it works out possibly both.
Yoshida has already said he wants to stay, that in some respects is good, however he is not one for the future, he seems content in the position as back up, he is probably on better money than he can get elsewhere and regular football does not seem to be his priority, if it had been he would have gone in the past five years when the various first choice partnerships of Lovren/Fonte/Alderweireld/VanDijk etc where never put under any pressure from him for their place.
One thing seems to be clear, Saints seem aware that they have to clear the decks a little and revamp the squad, they have remained loyal to those who have been at the club for a long time without truly being either first choice long term or the quality we need, there may need to be some harsh decisions in the coming weeks.