According to media reports in Scotland Saints have taken an out of contract winger from Aberdeen on trial, how close he is to signing is open to speculation. Read on for all the details.
According to various media sources Ethan Ross has turned down a contract at Aberdeen and is on trial at Southampton, the reports differ slightly in that some say that he has agreed terms and will sign whilst others claim he is merely on trial at the moment.
Sunderland and Blackburn Rovers are also said to be interested in the player who will turn 20 in August.
So who and how good is Ethan Ross ?
Probably even Aberdeen fans would be hard pressed to answer that question, so far he has played only 5 times in the Scottish Premier League for the Dons totalling only 80 minutes.
Although a member of the first team squad at Pittodrie, he rarely made the bench, although that is understandable given his age.
He firstly spent time on loan at Dunfermline in 19/20 season and subsequently spent the first half of last season on loan at Raith Rovers in the Scottish Championship, he was a regular in their team and out of 11 matches he could have played he started 9 and was subbed in twice scoring 2 goals and 2 assists leading Aberdeen to recall him at the end of January.
But he found himself again on the bench in the SPL and came on just the once and that for only 5 minutes.
This perhaps led him to believe that he had no future at Aberdeen and so turned down a new deal and elected to leave under freedom of contract.
But that will not mean that it will be a free transfer, due to his age Aberdeen will be entitled to compensation, either agreed between the two clubs or settled by a tribunal.
From a Saints perspective that should not be an issue, given that the player has only played a handful of games for the Dons and less than a dozen for Raith in the Championship, it can hardly be claimed that he was a star player.
So this being the case Saints can take a chance on the player with little outlay or risk.
Primarily he is a left winger although he has also appeared on the right and on one occasion in the centre of midfield.
He has been capped for Scotland up to U19 level but has not made the jump up to the next level.
This will be interesting to see, it is obviously not a signing for the first team, at least not initially, but one where we can see if we can develop the player and make him a Premier League footballer.