Makes sense with Yoshi really not what we require, despite his best efforts, and Gardos having ongoing fitness struggles. Fonte hasn't got too many seasons left in his legs and we all know that VVD is, with some certainty, going to be moving on next year. If there is any substance in this rumour does it also mean that the likes of Stephens are not considered able to step up next season?

No, its just that promoting someone from the academy does not sell newspapers (or in this case website hits!).

Saints very rarely do their business this way, so it is a rumour with no fact at this stage, much like VVD to Everton. The champions league clubs will not let that happen if we can't keep him.

Promoting someone from the youth academy is a far bigger risk when we are tlaking about t CB or even goal keeper, than it is at full back or an attacking player.

Also take into consideration how few goals we are scoring at the moment an you get an clear picture of why Stephens isn't getting a shot.

Would you risk him tonight? Against Beer Sheva or in a Prem Match?

Sounds like he's in our price range, a bit like Clasie, and of a similar standard. If it's because Fonte is being sold to Man United, it would be part of the general downgrading of the squad which has taken place over the last year.

highfield49 – is it really the case that we all know that VVD is, with some certainty, moving on next year (beit January or summer)?

Look, don’t get me wrong, as I know that SFC have perhaps not helped themselves to dispel this ‘selling club’ tag. But with a bit of recap and common sense, we should probably see this as tabloid conjecture fuelled by SFC being a bit of an easy target for such rumours.

I mean, what does a ‘selling club’ look like? Transfers happen all the time – and players come and go from most clubs. Surely, to be a ‘selling club’ it would have to be when a club sells a high number of its players for no real reason other than to make a profit.

So, with that in mind, I suspect this has all stemmed from the flurry of ‘selling activity’ that happened when Cortese left – with the selling club tag then hanging around like a bad smell – despite the fact we haven’t really acted like a selling club since!

We sold La-la-ana, Lovren and Lambert to Liverpool a few seasons ago. The SFC world was a very different place then. Cortese left, Pottychino left and there was a lot of uncertainty. These players (and manager) thought that SFC was going to go down the pan, the ‘dream’ of Champions League football in next to no time was over etc. etc. They wanted out (and, in Lambert’s case, his boyhood club came calling).

Liverpool came in and made huge offers for these players. Lovren and Lambert were ‘no brainers’ when it came to the fees being offered and the fact these were not players SFC felt were ‘long term’. Things were probably different with Adam La-La – and I always suspect there was some ‘behind the scenes’ with him – with the club eventually deciding they should depart with him (no love lost). Chambers left also – but with hindsight that was no biggie.

We also lost Shaw. That one was a classic ‘selling club’ move, but it was to Man Utd and for a hefty sum.

So, in that turbulent summer, I think we got the tag of selling club. Fair dues given the circumstances, but it was a ‘one off’ summer. And the key thing is that SFC then was miles different to SFC now.

What we also forget is that Morgan wanted to go then too – but we didn’t let him. SFC saw him as a key member and they had purged enough already.

Koeman arrived. Bertrand, Pelle, Tadic, Mane and Alderwireld arrived. Suddenly SFC were no longer seen as a ‘club in crisis’, but were actually improving!

Out of the above, only Alderwireld left end of the season – but then he was never our player and actually wanted to buy him! So it was more a case of ‘one that got away’ than the fact we sold him. Yet some fans have somehow linked this to our ‘selling’ status.

Stability and progress now ensued. Yet Clyne left. Again, fans have cried ‘selling club’! But that’s not the case. It was because he had one year left on his contract. SFC put numerous contracts in front of him but he wouldn’t sign them. That’s not a ‘selling club’ thing – that’s the reality of the world. If a player doesn’t want to sign then you cannot let them go into the last year of their contract as their value will plummet.

Morgan eventually left. Again it is easy to put this down as a ‘selling club’ transfer but it’s more nuanced at that: Morgan had wanted to go and we promised he could if a big club/offer came in. Man Utd did and the rest is history (poor Morgan).

Another season passes, another year of improvement. But Koeman left (nothing to do with being a selling club – but it just gets linked into the psyche) and Wanyama leaves. Again, SFC offered him deals but he wouldn’t sign and was going into last year of contract. A no-brainer. Pelle leaves – but he’s coming to the end of his career and so not a pure ‘selling club’ transfer. He may well have stayed if the Chinese hadn’t come calling with a ridiculous pay offer!

Mane leaves. I would count this one as a selling club transfer. But it’s hardly a prolific activity!

Interestingly, SFC have learnt from Clyne and Wanyama (and probably Alderwireld) and have put a number of key players on long term contract. VVD is one of them.

I don’t think its certain at all that VVD will go. He’s a key player who is now on a long term contract. And I just don’t think SFC are actually a selling club – it’s just that the circumstances unfortunately give that impression. Don’t get me wrong, they have a clear strategy of selling high and bringing in better, cheaper talent, but a few swallows do not make a summer.

I do think that this is tabloid journalism latching on to this impression we are a selling club. Just look at recent example of Jose Fonte. He wins the Euros and is immediately linked to Man Utd. Did it happen? No. Surprising that – given we are a selling club and all…

If VVD does go, it will be for huge sum too - £50 to £60m. There are not many clubs that can resist that (see Everton-Stones).

I have to disagree with you, Pintsized, we are a selling club.

Look at this:

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport

The press calls us a selling club, supporters of other clubs call us a selling club, and every time a player has a good game, the commentary immediately focuses on who he will be sold to in the next window. I actually heard one commentator saying the Southampton business model is to sell their two best players every summer!

To top this off, the club never tries to deny this by word or action. Just once I would like us to tell a big club no, or maybe sign a really good player out from under them.

What strides the team has made in the past few years in raising it's profile, gaining new fans at home or abroad have now been undone and we are now a punchline.

THats my point Boondock. The press etc etc label us as a selling club, but the sales we've made (with the exception of Shaw and Morgan) are not indicative of a club that merely wants to sell purely and wholly for profit.

It does mean that we currently have to put up with that kind of nonsense though : constant speculation that our best players will move etc. I do think it's time for SFC to make a clear signal on that.