Saints Chasing Toulouse Central Defender
Saints are being linked with yet another central defender, which in turn leads the media to froth at the mouth that Virgil Van Dijk is leaving.
The latest target is Christopher Julien of Toulouse who on the face of it does have the attributes that Saints usually look for so it would be natural that we would be linked with him.
But that does not signal that we are about to sell Virgil Van Dijk, the media conveniently forget that before we replace VVW, we have to replace his former central defensive partner at St Mary's Jose Fonte.
That is the first priority rather than replacing a man who we might not actually decide to sell.
Indeed ideally Saints would make two central defensive signings this summer, one to replace Fonte and one to cover both VVW and our new man and eventually enable us to cash in on the Dutchman, sadly we have to accept that it is inevitable that Van Dijk will leave it is only a matter of when, that is football that is reality, however the difference between now and the summer of 2014 is that we have all our players on long term deals and are now in charge of the timescales.
Going back to Julien the Frenchman seems to tick the right boxes for a Saints target, he is described as very much in the Van Dijk mould, 6ft 5 inches tall and able to not only win the ball but use it well.
He has been something of a late starter, he turned 24 in March and this season with Toulouse has been his first in the French top flight, however he has been a revelation and has been a regular in the Toulouse defence.
His relative anonymity means that he would be relatively cheap and could be signed for around £10 million bringing comparisons with the signing of Dejan Lovren in 2013.
What to read next:
Saints V Stoke City A Look Back In Pictures 2In the second part of our pictorial look back at some of our games against Stoke City from the past, here we look back at more recent games, so most of you would have been at them.
Southampton V Stoke City The PreviewSaints go into the last two games of the season with their hopes of automatic promotion ended, even the hope of finishing 3rd is only a point away from being ended, but they do have something to play for and that is getting back the togetherness, character & fight Russell Martin has recently be moaned.
No Togetherness No Character No FightNot my words, but those of Southampton manager Russell Martin, who should ask himself the question why two months ago we had all those attributes and now we don't !
Southampton At Leicester The DebacleThe big question is how can a side that was so tight at the back, so clinical up front and who could pass the ball around almost with their eyes closed, become the disorganised rabble that they were at the Leicester City this evening.
Southampton At Leicester City The PreviewSaints travel up to Leicester knowing that it is almost certain that they will just be in the play offs come the end of the season, however there is still the feint hope of 3rd place to play for, however the Foxes are playing for a bigger prize.
A Rough Guide To Leicester City FCSaints head up to Leicester City this evening with their automatic promotion hopes just about over, so for the 3,000 fans who bought their tickets when there was hope here are the details.
Southampton At Cardiff City The VerdictThere can be no excuses for this defeat, a loss that effectively means that it will be a play off spot and not an automatic promotion place for Southampton, so where did it all go wrong.