Saints have recalled striker Dan N'Lundulu from his loan spell with Lincoln City, although whether he will be in the pecking order for the Saints first team or sent out on loan again is unclear.
Dan N'Lundulu has left Lincoln City with the Imps claiming he has been recalled by Saints cutting short his season long loan at the club.
This will lead to speculation that with injuries to their strikers of late, that Saints will be looking to get more back up for the current trio of Che Adams, Adam Armstrong & Armando Broja.
But judging by reports from the Lincoln media, this is a case of a player who has not succeeded at Sincil Bank returning to his parent club by mutual consent with playing time looking limited in the second half of the season.
Having made 13 substitute appearances in the Premier League for Southampton, plus 1 start in the FA Cup plus 2 sub appearances yielding a goal against Shrewsbury. it was hoped that being loaned out to the League One club might give the 22 year old striker the experience and confidence needed to succeed in the Premier League.
Biut it hasn't turned out that way, N'Lundulu has started just 6 games for the Imps in League One plus another 10 off the bench and the last of those appearances was a month ago and he has now dropped behind in the pecking order behind homegrown youngster Freddie Draper.
The departure of N'Lundulu and another loanee brought in from Norwich frees up space in the Lincoln squad to bring in more loanee's in the 2nd half of the season and it seems that Lincoln were the instigator for talks between the two clubs which came to the conclusion that his spell at Lincold was not a success and he was unlikely to get much game time in the 2nd half of the season.
That has seemingly lead Saints to agree to recall N'Lundulu although his next steps are unclear.
If he returns to the first team reckoning at St Mary's he would be behind the aforementioned trio who make up our current strike force and he would also likely be also behind Shane Long in the pecking order after the Irishman's positive contributions both before and after Xmas.
So with the chance of first team action slim at St Mary's at present it would make more sense that he would be loaned out again for the 2nd half of the season to another lower league club.
N'Lundulu will turn 23 in February and his career is at a little bit of a crossroads, having joined Saints from the Chelsea Academy in 2013 and rose through the youth ranks, after his appearances last season he signed a 3 year deal with Saints, but his failure to cut the mustard in League One will be a disappointment and he is now at an age where he should really be making his mark.