According to media reports goalkeeper Alex McCarthy is in big demand from several other Premier League clubs, but how true are these reports and will Saints face a summer dilemma ?

Predictably the media is full of reports about impending offers for Alex McCarthy, Liverpool are said to be interested as are Spurs and Wolves, but are these concrete reports or are they just McCarthy's agent stirring things up to get his client a big new contract at St Mary's or indeed elsewhere.

Of these three clubs if you look below the surface McCarthy signing for them doesn't look as realistic as the rumours may suggest, Liverpool after their goalkeeping disaster in the Champions League final need to bring in an experienced name, McCarthy will not be a signing that they could take a risk on, their fans would not be happy, this summer they have already shown a statement of intent with signings announced, they want to win the Premier League they are not going to sign a keeper who has barely played in four seasons and only 18 League games in two years, it's too much of a risk.

Spurs have Hugo Lloris, he is their established number 1, the back up keeper Vorm is leaving because he has barely played a league game in his time at the club, Spurs also have ex Saint Paulo Gazzaniga as third choice, McCarthy would fit the bill as back up, but little else, but would he be willing to throw away his career as Vorm did to be a well paid bench warmer ?

Wolves could be an option, they have the money, but in John Ruddy they have a steady proven keeper who in many respects is no better or worse than McCarthy, but ceetainly more experienced.

McCarthy's stock is high amongst Saints fans at the moment, but is that opinion a little though the rose tinted spectacles of the euphoria of staying up?

McCarthy played 18 Premier League games for Saints, in cannot be denied his last four were great performances, but with the benefit of hindsight the other 14 were in the main solid but unspectacular, certainly in the late March early April period when Saints shipped 3 goals in 4 consecutive games, Newcastle, West Ham and Arsenal away and Chelsea at home, no one was touting McCarthy for Liverpool or Spurs back then, in many respects he was no better or worse than Fraser Forster.

So although Saints fans think highly of McCarthy have they seen enough of him to know whether he is the long term option in the club's goal, perhaps many of those who would say yes do so based on the fact that he isn't Fraser Forster who has been blamed for much of the club's defensive problems last season, it should be noted problems that never really improved until the final four games.

Saints dilemma though is what to do, McCarthy is now entering the final year of his contract, some would ask how has that been allowed to happen ? the answer is that up until five months ago there was no need to offer him a new one, he had not played a League game for the club and indeed prior to his appearance at Manchester United on the penultimate day of December had managed just two League cup appearances 15 months earlier.

Injury had perhaps restricted his opportunities the previous season, but until things got desperate in December he was no nearer a game than he would have been had he not been injured, he was seen as solid back up, perhaps nothing else.

So I'm sure that Saints will be keen to sign him to a long term deal, but their dilemma is not simple, McCarthy is surely going to want first team football now, that would rule Spurs out, he will want guarantees at Saints that he will get it, do Saints consider him better than Forster, our former number 1 keeper gave us several good seasons and although some will be loathe to admit it some decent games early on in this season.

Forster's problem is a lack of confidence at the moment not a lack of quality, he is known and proven to the club at Premier League level, whereas McCarthy had barely played a game in four years since his last stint as a number one choice for Reading in the Championship in 2013/14, indeed that season itself remains his only full season as a first choice keeper apart from a loan spell at Yeovil in 2009/10 when ironically he missed playing against Saints at St Mary's after being sent off the week before although he did play in our 1-0 win at Yeovil at the tail end of the season.

So Saints have to be asking themselves why that was the case, they see him every day in training, was the lat few games of this season a fluke or does he really have it in him to be consistent enough for a whole season, that is the question Wolves will ask if they are serious about signing him, John Ruddy has a proven track record of full seasons.

But if contract talks are stalling and McCarthy's agent is touting him around, could it be in Saints interest to take a big offer for him, with a year left on his contract he could walk for free next year, so if Liverpool or Spurs are stupid enough to pay £20 million plus or even the £30 million touted in some sections of the press, then surely that might be good business for Saints ?

They already have Fraser Forster at the club and even if his confidence issues are not solved then for the money we would get for McCarthy then we could get as good elsewhere, Joe Hart could be an option, so could Jack Butland or Tom Heaton at Burnley as could several other short term options, just these three names though perhaps tell you why the McCarthy rumours may be nothing more than that, all three would probably be choices for Liverpool, Wolves and Spurs before our man.

So if Saints do sell McCarthy it will not indicate that we are a selling club or we have no ambition, it will show we have our heads switched on and make decisions based on what is good business practice, we have to trust the club to know what they are doing and although some will disagree, the fact that McCarthy is even being discussed at present shows that in the main we make the right decisions when it comes to buying and selling players.

We get it right more than we get it wrong, this is the only way forward for Saints in the modern game, we have to buy and sell, the three relegated clubs found out this season that your squad is intact for only one reason and that is no one else wants your players and you stagnate, Saints keep building new teams because they have to they have no choice, it does not make them a selling club but a successful one, when the top teams stop wanting to buy our players then we will be following the same path as Stoke, West Brom and Swansea, I fear that more than I fear selling Alex McCarthy or for that matter any other player in our squad.

Photo: Action Images

legod7 added 10:06 - Jun 1 All media hype. None of it really believable. I don’t think he will go to Liverpool because of his lack of Premier League experience. He won’t go to Spurs to sit on the bench. And I think the Wolves rumour was started by the media when they thought Saints were going to be relegated.
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A_Saint_in_Stoke added 11:49 - Jun 1 The VV dick worked out well, in the end, £75 Mill good business. Unless a club is owned by a person with more money than sense ( and I don't think that our Mr Geo has the money ) then Saints HAVE to be a selling club. With McCarthy, if an offer £20 Mill or more then sell and as I have mentioned before - see if we could get Buckland from Stoke who I do rate - and to be honest, a much better long-term prospect than McCarthy in my opinion.

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underweststand added 12:01 - Jun 1 Always a difficult one this - with someone in the last year of their contract. IF there are other clubs interested in him, then the transfer fee now would be much better than a panic sell in January to a club who are struggling to meet their targets, (a) A top 6 club trying for a CL place, or... (b) one near drop zone staving off relegation. It's more difficult making a decision based on form. As of late AM has looked really good, but only for half-a-season, hard for us or an opposition club to make a good judgement. Forster has a cast-iron deal for 5 years, but money isn't always better than playing and many reserve keepers spend their life on the bench waiting for the No.1 to get the flu'. A Catch 22 situation for the Board this one - the fans will expect the Board to make the right call, AND if it works - nothing more will be said....IF we let one of them go , and then everything goes wrong- it'll be "a hanging offence" for someone. Thermuch e are lots of outfield players around to choose from, but reliable keepers are harder to find. Of course Plan C maybe ..the Black Box. If there is a good prospect elsewhere, then a low cost buy might make it easier to move "one of them" out and still have some leeway in the future.

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bstokesaint added 12:45 - Jun 1 I feel bad after defending him so rigorously previously but I think Forster needs to move on. He is a shade of the keeper he was two seasons ago and part of me now thinks that in hindsight some of ‘his’ better performances may have been the result of better central defenders and midfielders. I don’t like individually singling players out, but hey he’s probably on £50k+ a week and I’m trying to be constructive. He simply doesn’t match McCarthy for getting off his line and coming to claim high balls. He also doesn’t make shots within touching distance hit the back of the net like worldies! It’s got nothing to do with the ‘glory’ of staving off relegation. I feel confident when he’s in goal and with Fraser I’m just nervous. If I was Saints I’d test the water with a 4 or 5 year deal. Contracts aren’t what they used to be but at least we’ll get something decent for him. I don’t see why we’d want to look elsewhere other than to replace Forster and provide proper competition.

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Sanguin added 13:27 - Jun 1 As you suggest, his stock is artificially high at the moment. If we do have the opportunity to sell for silly money then we should. However, I think a lot of this is his agent ensuring he gets a significant pay rise with a new contract offer. With only 1 year left on his contract, we're not going to get good offers for him.
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highfield49 added 14:35 - Jun 1 I guess the other factor to take into account is a decision as to whether Harry Lewis should go out on loan again. He seems to have had a decent season in Scottish football but is still only 20 years of age. I doubt that he is ready yet to be a regular back up at the top level and perhaps extending McCarthy's contract is the best option at present. I'm also hoping that Forster will get his confidence back sooner rather than later because he was a pretty decent keeper when he was signed.

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1970 added 18:58 - Jun 1 Am I missing something here, the keepers that are available at the moment are as good or better than Mc-carthy and proven with more game time they are of course butland from relegated stoke and vorm from spuds there are a whole load of others kicking around with a similar record as mc-carthy's so is this some sort of vendetta to keep undermining saints as a club by those bin dippers from the north-west, surely it can only be as mentioned by others his agent drumming up business for a new deal.

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saintmark1976 added 12:12 - Jun 2 From an objective point of view Forster is simply too big to be a consistent keeper. He is massively hampered by his size and weight which unfortunately he won't even use to command his box.His size precludes from saving low shots from distance and his confidence appears non existent.On the basis of current evidence it's not McCarthy who needs a change of club,its Fraser.

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simmo400 added 21:17 - Jun 3 Why can’t he leave ? Treble his wages no brainier for him who wouldnt ?
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SaintBrock added 11:55 - Jun 4 Smoke and mirrors, the guy won't be going anywhere. What's he done so far to justify such hyped rumours. The question is will he start for us in August or be consigned again to the bench whilst Forster gets the nod?
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