Saints recently sold Ronnie Edwards, perhaps the one central defender who had pace and could pass the ball, but what they need is a leader in the back four, if this is the case why are they in the market for a teenage defender.

There are some Saints supporters who will claim that Sport Republic are not interested in the success of the club on the field as a team, but only the development of individual players, youngsters who they can develop and then sell at a profit.

I would say that there is little real evidence of this, we have spent and wasted over £200 million on experienced players who have failed miserably and been sold at a loss.

However this season seems to have seen a change in direction and those who have spent the last few years slating Sport Republic, could have a point in this transfer window.

The evidence seems to point at the club abandoning all ambitions of promotion and trimming the squad rather than improving it.

The first weeks of the transfer window has seen four experienced players leave, some of them having already won promotion with the club two years ago and proven at this level.

So far all that has arrived has been Daniel Peretz an inexperienced goalkeeper who has spent the last 2/12 years as a back up keeper and has barely played in that time and to be honest that has shown in his performances so far.

That being the case, the latest transfer news from sportwitness.co.uk will not excite Saints fans.

The man in question is 18 year old central defender Branimir Mlacic who is currently with Hajduk Split in Croatia.

Of course he is a promising player, with a current value of £3.5 million and growing, but having only broken into the Hajduk Split first team this season, he only has 15 League appearances to his name plus another 4 in cup competitions.

That is hardly the experience that we need in our defence at the moment .

Having said this, this should not mean that we should not buy him, he does appear to be a great talent and could well become a top player, just because he isn't what we need at the moment, should not stop us building for the future.

Inter Milan, Udinese, AS Roma, and Club Brugge have also taken a keen interest in the Croatia U21 international.

Inter are said to have tabled an offer of around £4.5 million

But in the last days of the window we also want to see players come in that are experienced and ready for the job that we need.

The morale of the Southampton fanbase has rarely been lower, they need to see something from the club, that something is ambition !

Promotion is still possible, the fans need to see the club having a decent stab at getting into the play offs, but they also need to see more than that, they need to see that the club is building for next season, that this one might be a damp squid, but we are preparing for next season.

Perhaps Branimir Mlacic will be a big part of it.

All Photos Via Reuters