He might not be wanted by Southampton but he seems to be well thought of on the continent with at least two clubs interested in signing him in Belgium.

Wesley Hoedt seemed to be one of those players that a section of the Saints fanbase took a dislike of and he has spent the best part of the last 18 months out on loan after Ralph Hasenhuttl decided last summer that he would not be part of his plans.

But he has been a favourite at Royal Antwerp who are keen to sign him permanently in the summer when the transfer window reopens.

Hoedt is valued at around £10 million at present, a little less than the £13.5 million Saints paid for him in the summer of 2017, but that is understandable given the circumstances.

With two years left on his contract at the end of this season Royal Antwerp are keen to do a deal and they will look to cut his price further given this timescale perhaps as low as £7 million and to use the fact that Saints will be keen to get his salary off the wage bill as leverage in their negotiations.

However it has emerged that they may have competition for his signature, Club Brugge are said to be interested in signing Hoedt and in Belgium there is perhaps only Anderlecht who can compete with Club Brugge.

This could be good for Saints in that Club Brugge being the best supported club in Belgium they average around a third more in attendances than Anderlecht and almost three times the number that Royal Antwerp play in front of so have a lot more financial clout than either club, meaning that they can afford to pay bigger wages and higher transfer fees.

That could mean that Saints could perhaps push the transfer fee back up over the £10 million mark again, although in this current situation with clubs across Europe in lockdown, transfer fees could reduce drastically as clubs have to cut their overheads.

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