Saints might be able to get shot of Mario Lemina with the news that Everton may stump up not only a transfer fee of £20 million plus but also match his wages.
Saints fans had high hopes for Mario Lemina when he joined the club a little under two years ago, but the reality has been that he has struggled to get any sort of consistency in that period and although he had some superb games, too often he was below the standard expected.
His good games came when we were playing opposition we could dominate, when we played the big games when it needed a bit more fight and battling rather than bullying he wasn't there for one reason or another.
Rumours have done the rounds that this could have something to do with his lifestyle choices more than his actual ability and certainly Ralph Hasenhuttl seems to have seen enough to be happy to see him leave and isolate him from the rest of the first team squad so as to not upset the unity and sense of purpose that he has built up around the club in the last 8 months.
Certainly the player and his agent rate him a lot higher than his actual career stats suggest and at most clubs he has been with he has been a fringe player including at Juventus from whom Saints signed him.
Everton of late since their poaching of Ronald Koeman have seemed to be a club with a Chairman determined to make big statements by flashing the cash to lure big name managers and players, but that has not brought them the success they crave or brought them any nearer closing the gap between them and the big six which is widening every year.
Saints fans will worry that Lemina might actually see the light and start to realise his undoubted potential, this is something though that he has yet to do and turning 26 in September he has still only started 87 League matches in his career, just under half of those coming in his two years at Saints where he started 38 plus 11 as sub.
That illustrates his inability to be consistent and since joining Marseille in 2013 he has only started a grand total of 78 league matches, an average of 13 season.
The worry for Evertonians is that if a player like Morgan Schneiderlin, ironically another ex Saint who has seen his career nosedive since leaving St Mary's cannot succeed at Goodison, how will one with far less pedigree do any better.
The only issue for Saints fans is that we know that he is a player who could and should be playing to a high standard, but we know that he didn't achieve it at St Mary's.
So it seems all the talk of Manchester United and Arsenal battling for his services are merely his agent talking things up, he burned his bridges at St Mary's and if Everton do not turn out to interested then his career options are limited, but he will not mind, he will be happy to take the money whether it be rotting at Staplewood and training with the academy, signing for Everton or going out on loan at some continental mid table side.
We would be delighted to get our money back on Lemina and get his wages off the books and be able to utilise them in bringing in a player who wants to play football not count his bank balance.