Sources have stated that Danny Ings main consideration going forward is game time and not sitting on the bench whether he is at St Mary's or anywhere else, as speculation rages about where he will be playing next season.
With Sergio Aquero revealing that he will be leaving Manchester City at the end of his contract next summer, speculation has been rife about Danny Ings being lined up as his replacement and every ex player keen to up his profile in the world of punditry is keen to give his opinion.
These opinions soon become passed along social media as fact and the rumours escalate, but one comment today struck a chord when a so called source close to Saints said that Danny Ings main concern for next season going forward is that he will be in a system where if he is playing well then he is first choice.
That means that a move to Manchester City may well be attractive to him both financially and from a chance to win some medals point of view, but he knows that most of his time would be spent on the bench and that would be damaging to his hopes of playing for England in next years World Cup.
City being willing to pay big money for Ings who will turn 29 this summer seems a strange move to me, Aquero has started just 4 Premier League games this season and scored just the once plus just one start in the Champions League and 4 sub appearances no longer make him an integral part of the City squad.
They also have another 7 players who play in attacking positions including Raheem Sterling, Gabriel Jesus & Rihad Mahrez, all of whom have scored as many goals as Ings has in the Premier League this season.
This leads me to think that Ings being linked with Manchester City is a stalking horse, City are letting the press speculate whilst they silently pursue their actual targets, Ings would be at best a stop gap signing that they don't really need and will not have a long shelf life, but the likes of Erling Haaland for instance would be a signing that would have longevity with the Norwegian who will only turn 21 in July already having established himself in the Austrian Bundesliga with Red Bull Salzburg and the German Bundesliga with Borrusia Dortmund as well as the Norwegian national side.
Also linked is Lionel Messi who will leave Barcelona in the summer at the end of his contract, Manchester City are perhaps the only club in England he would care to join.
We will come to Harry Kane a little further down.
If City aren't interested, then that doesn't leave many option in the Premier League at least in the Big Six, the rest will want a player who has a resale value and Ings will not have that.
Chelsea would have the money, but again age will be a problem for them and they are not desperate for a striker and when they get one it will be one that will see them through at least 3-4 years and will have a resale value.
Liverpool have no need to buy back Ings, unless they lose Mo Salah.
Arsenal & Manchester United would probably be interested if Ings was two years younger, but neither are interested.
This leaves Tottenham Hotspur and they are of course mentioned, they always are, they slink around the transfer market looking for a cut price bargain, but their problem is money, the Covid 19 situation has hit them harder than every other club and they are £1 billion in debt, they need to sell before they can buy and that means Harry Kane, he would be an attraction to Manchester City and it is strange that his name is not mentioned as often as Danny Ings in terms of moving to the Etihad.
That is probably because City keep silent about who they are really after, but are happy to see those they are not linked and thus put the media off the scent.
If Kane goes to Manchester City then Spurs will have some spends, but they will try to get Ings on the cheap.
On the cheap though leaves Saints in a strong position, if they kept Ings to his contract then that would be far better than letting him go for £10-15 million, his goals are worth that much to the club, we are under no pressure to sell, if we let him go we have to do so on our terms, with Pierre Emille Hojbjerg it was different, getting £16 million for him was good business, we had already lined up not one but two replacements, Oriol Romeu from within the club and Ibrahima Diallo, take the money and run, Hojbjerg might have been worth another £5 million at best if he had two years left on his contract, but it was a good piece of business wit a year left.
But with Danny Ings it will be a case of make us an offer we can't refuse or we will keep him and take our chances when his contract expires.
From all accounts Ings himself is in no hurry to leave, he would have signed a new deal months ago, the only stumbling block being a get out clause and the size of it, Saints knew that if their was a low get out clause, the phone would have been ringing with Spurs on the line before Ings had put the pen back on the table.
So far Saints have played it right, but what happens in the summer will depend on a lot of things, on the field if by some miracle we did win the cup then that would be attractive for Ings staying, he would have the game time he craves and also a European campaign.
But most important will be the work that Saints will be doing behind the scenes, they will be quietly lining up potential replacements, it is always about what you do next, not what you have just done.
Back in 2014 the fans raged when Rickie Lambert was sold to Liverpool , but we already had the replacement lined up and that will be crucial in what happens with Danny Ings, the trick is to sell a player just as they have peaked and therefore have the highest transfer value and then spend that money and repeat the process.
Some may not like that, but other than Manchester City's oil sheiks transferring their allegiance to St Mary's, this is our only option, an owner such as Moshiryi at Everton spending £100 million every season on transfers sounds great, but as he has found that is small change when compared to the money the big six have, money can only buy success if you have much more than your competitors.
The Danny Ings saga has a few more twists to go yet, don't believe all you read in the media, 10 ex players telling you that Manchester City will sign Danny Ings does not equal a truth, Darren Bent (google him he last played in the Premier League 7 years ago and was most recently at Burton Albion) is probably not being consulted by either Manchester City or Tottenham Hotspur, but he is being paid by Talk sport to say something that drags in viewers and page hits knows that the words "Ings is happy at Saints" does not get him the gig !