Liverpool are said to be ready to offload right back Neco Williams for £10 million and Saints along with Leeds United & Wolverhampton Wanderers are said to be interested, but it has to be said the transfer to St Mary's looks unlikely due to the price.
Ralph Hasenhuttl has stated more than once that he wants to have two players in every position and although there is nothing wrong with that as a plan, the stark reality for a club the size of Saints is that he is going to find it tough to do that and in some positions he will have to make do a little and have either a promising youngster or someone playing out of position to deputise if the occasion warrants.
So the news that the Austrian is said to be interested in signing Neco Williams from Liverpool on one hand looks a potential good signing, but on the other one that just doesn't fit in with the transfer strategy in terms of transfer fee.
Williams is primarily a right back, he can play in an advanced role as a wing back or even as a n orthodox right midfielder, but in essence he is a right back end of.
Now Saints are well served in that area, Kyle Walker Peters has been a solid performer since his arrival from Spurs permanently last summer , so signing Williams doesn't work for Saints on two fronts, firstly Williams is looking for first team football on a regular basis, would he be willing to leave Anfield and go to a club that will just be offering him the same situation he has at Liverpool, that of reliable back up and secondly with a limited transfer budget aligned with a precarious time in football financially for all clubs, would Saints able to afford the £10 million quoted for a player who will spend a lot of time on the bench.
The 20 year old Welshman is clearly a talent,, at 20 he has broken into first team contention at Anfield and he has already earnt 13 caps for Wales and is currently in their squad for the Euros where so far he has been a last minute sub in their win over Turkey and then played 86 minutes in the 1-0 defeat to Italy.
So far he has played only 12 Premier League games for Liverpool, 6 in the starting line up and 6 off the bench, split evenly over the season just gone and the previous term.
For 2020/21 season he managed a little run of games back in November and then in the remaining 6 months just two appearances, 1 in the starting line up and another a cameo off the bench in the 89th minute, he was an unused sub on 25 occasions.
This is why Liverpool are perhaps looking to offload him now, he is in and around the squad, but even in a season where Liverpool where beset by big injury problems, especially at the back, it has to be noted he couldn't force himself in and was considered to be only a deputy for Trent Alexander Arnold who left him little opportunity starting 34 of the 38 Premier League games.
So I think that linking Saints with Neco Williams doesn't look like a good fit to our transfer plans at present, we cannot afford to pay out £10 million just to have the luxury of two right backs in the current financial climate and I would surmise that the player himself would rather stay at Anfield and play 6 games in the Premier League plus various appearances in the cups, than just replicate his current situation at Liverpool at Southampton.
The other question is just what Yan Valery's future is at St Mary's, two years ago he was looked upon as a great talent, surely he still has that ability and we haven't given up completely on him just yet, if Ralph wants two men in every position, then he still could utilise Valery who has more experience than Williams.
So all the evidence on this one points to it being nothing more than his agent trying to stir up a little bit of business, if Williams was a left back it would be entirely plausible, but he hasn't played there for Liverpool and is right sided, even in a good period we would not pay £10 million for a player to be back up in a specialist position, so I would be surprised if we did so now.