The talk in the past week or so is that Saints should try to sign Armando Broja on a permanent deal from Chelsea, however it looks like they will face competition from other clubs, notably West Ham United according to the London media.
West Ham United are said to be lining up talks with Chelsea to sign Armando Broja on a permanent basis in this transfer window.
That would involve Chelsea recalling Broja from his loan at St Mary's and then selling him to the Hammers.
The first question though is whether they have the recall option, earlier in the season it was suggested that is not in the contract, if that is the case then although it would enable Saints to buy Broja by agreeing a deal with Chelsea by mutual consent, if West Ham were to sign him then it would need Saints to actually agree to cancel the loan agreement.
But would Chelsea actually want to sell Broja to West Ham and would the player himself want to go.
From Chelsea's perspective would they want to sell him to a club who is a potential rival, with the Blues winning yesterday and the Hammers losing at the weekend, the gap between the two clubs widened to 10 points although West Ham have a game in hand, should the games have gone the other way then the gap would have been only 4 points.
That could mean that Chelsea don't see West Ham as a threat anymore and might feel that selling him to West Ham might actually help them in that he might help them win against the other teams in the top six.
There is also the question of money, West Ham are in a position to pay far more than us for the player.
But would Broja himself want to join West Ham, Southampton may suit him far better, he is first choice here now and a move to East London might not see him as first choice with Michail Antonio in a similar vein first choice at West Ham and Jarrod Bowen also forging a great partnership with him up front.
So would Broja want to swap starts in the first XI at Saints for the Hammers bench? that is the first question.
Also i would suspect that he still harbours high hopes of breaking through at Stamford Bridge, so another year's loan might suit him better rather than a permanent deal.
If he was to go on a permanent deal it is likely that Saints might be willing for one in the same vein as the one that brought Tino Livramento to the club ie with a buy back clause, would the Hammers be willing to do that should they buy him.
Also there is the travelling aspect, Southampton might be some 60 miles from his home in Slough, but West Ham's training ground is 42 miles as the crow flies across London and a 60 mile hike around M25, it would take longer to get to than it would Southampton and at 20 his home life will be important to him.
But the truth is that no one really knows what is going on behind the scenes, in these days of social media page hits are king and a headline predicting West Ham interest will create page hits.
I would love to see Armando Broja sign full time at St Mary's, but I can't see it happening this transfer window