According to media reports Saints have put a firm bid on the table for Burnley striker Jay Rodriguez, the 6ft 1 foward was of course a target in the January transfer window.
Burnley are now in the position of seeing Rodriguez enter the last year of his contract having failed to tie him down to a long term deal and after a flourishing end of the season know that he will be in high demand and as such are rumoured to be willing to listen to offers in the region of £8 million.
Rodriguez who hit 15 League goals last term would of course be attracted to Saints due to the fact that not only are they now in the Premier, but he might be far more likely to get a decent run of games for Saints than he would be in a more established top flight team.
Saints initial bid is believed to be a little short of Burnley's valuation, but of course this is normal in the grand scheme of transfer haggling and in truth is probably a fair price for a player yet to play in the Premier and at 22 just starting to bloom rather than being well established his league career so far consisting of 86 starts all mostly in the last two seasons plus 36 as sub with a goals tally of 35.
In certain respects if Saints can land Rodriguez then that would surely be the attacking options sorted, Lambert, Lee, Sharp & Rodriguez would be a decent looking attack on paper, the only concern being that none are proven at Premiership level.
My only worry should we sign J Rod is that although decent in the air and fairly tall at 6ft 1, he isnt the bustling striker Lambert is and for a team that channels eveything through that player we would have no direct replacement should he be injured or suspended and as we saw at times last season, this somewhat thwarted our attacking options, but perhaps Nigel Adkins is planning on a little variation.
Its unlikely that Burnley will accept Saints initial offer, at least not now, they are likely to prefer to wait a while and see what other clubs come in and start off the auction hoping to push up the price a little, from Rodriguez point of view he will of course want to go to a club that could offer him opportunitys, that could be Saints, but equally if Everton came calling as rumoured, they too might be able to offer him a decent chance to prove himself and they have a record of taking players from the lower divisions and giving them their chance.
So a sign of life in the transfer market, but dont be fooled, the real cut and thrust is still a while away.