Leicester City raided Southampton in last summer's transfer window, but that didn't turn out well for them, now it seems they may be back for more as Brendon Rodgers continues his fixation with all things Saints.

A year ago Leicester signed Jannik Vestergaard for £16 million, a deal few Saints fans were ranting on social media about, this proved a bad piece of business for Saints with the central defender starting only 6 Premier League games with another 4 off the bench, with his last outing coming back in February.

Apparently Leicester have already told Vestergaard that he can leave this summer despite still having three years left on his contract.

Likewise Ryan Bertrand , he too barely played for the Foxes, he managed just 4 appearances in the premier League plus a handful of cup games, you have to look back before Xmas to find Bertrand even named on the bench in the Premier League let alone play, although in fairness he picked up an injury in a warm up which meant he was unavailable in the New year.

But it seems Brendon Rodgers is a glutton for punishment, he is seemingly in the market for Mohammed Elyounoussi, a man who has not exactly been a success in his four years at the club.

In his first season he was a disaster and he then spent the next tow years on loan at Celtic with mixed results .

He returned to the Saints squad in 2021/22 season and although he has had some decent games in the premier League and has scored 4 goals in the League plus another 4 in the cups, a times he has looked more like his bad old self so the jury is still out.

Elyounoussi has told media outlet TV2 in Norway that he is already in talks with Southampton over a potential new deal to stay at St Mary’s.

“We are in a dialogue, we’ve been talking for a while,” he confirmed.

“It has only been the starting phase, you might say. I’ve always said I thrive in Southampton, it’s a fantastic club. The family thrives well. We’ll see what we land on, I do not have the whole picture yet.”

Elyounoussi’s agent, Ferhat Cifci, also told TV2: “We have a good dialogue with Southampton. They will, of course, extend his contract."

Elyounoussi is currently still on the original terms he agreed with the Saints when joining from FC Basel for £16m in 2018, so it hard to see that we would offer him a better deal than the wages he is currently on, given his track record and the fact that his value has nosedived to around half of the £16 million the club paid four years ago.

In 2021/22 the club opted to try and get value out of a player when they reinstated him into the squad, to a degree they have achieved that, but truth is that his performance level did not match the wages we are paying him and his consistency was also lacking.

That could mean that Saints could be very interested in an offer from Leicester or any other club for that matter for a player who is on big wages and will turn 28 in August.

However it is hard to see that Elyounoussi would accept a new deal at St Mary's on lower wages until this contract is up, likewise Leicester are unlikely to match his current deal here.

So we go back to the stalemate that we have endured with a number of players for the past four years, underperformers who will go nowhere until they have seen their contract out .

Elyounoussi is the last of the transfer & contract follies of 2016-18 when we paid big money in our terms for players and handed them big deals, if he leaves that will draw the line under an era that almost dragged the club under financially and we will finally be able to move on with all of the financial restrictions cleared.

Photo: Action Images

DorsetIan added 09:57 - Jun 10 I am not sure too many are going to very fussed either way. I like him. I think he was an important part of the short spell we had when we were actually playing like a team last season. But, as you say, he's inconsistent. And one of so many of our players who fall into that category at the moment. He's also probably a bit too slow.
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wessexman added 10:31 - Jun 10 We may have the chance to offload our deadwood. I would be quite happy to get rid of 10 t0 12 players and start again. But......all the money gained from transfers and more has to be re-invested in quality not just quantity. The clock is ticking....
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highfield49 added 10:43 - Jun 10 I imagine the Leicester supporters are ecstatic, another top quality signing. I wonder if Rodgers is interested in Long, Walcott, Stephens and Redmond as well. Rodgers could be the first managerial sacking of the summer. As for Elyounoussi, it looks as though he either goes to the likes of Leicester now for a reduced fee or for free next year. Surely the club isn't even thinking of offering him a new deal, even on less money?

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underweststand added 11:28 - Jun 10 When Mo signed, nearly the whole squad was in decline, and he wasn't the only square peg at the time. His loans to Celtic gave him a chance to shine a bit and I don't think he's entirely out of place in our present squad. He can DAJFU in MF and defence. However, a new contract 3 years (?) or more is out of the question. If we are able to find some younger talents who can meet the Prem. standards, then it's a chance to re-coup some of the fee - in what was Les Reed's disasterous spending spree on poor signings. YES he has talent, and is a likeable fella' but in the final analysis - money talks. Leicester aren't spending on the same level as City, United or Liverpool - but if Brendan Rodgers likes him that much - we shouldn't stand in the way of a profitable move.

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derbydog added 12:27 - Jun 10 With a year left on his contract, Mo is in a good place. We let him go for nothing next year, sell him for as much as we can get this year, or give him a new presumably improved contract. It’s the latter his agent is after, but it’s the middle one which best suits Saints. I wonder if Leicester know that they are interested or is that Mo’s agent trying to stir up interest in his client?

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Block8 added 18:22 - Jun 10 Elyounoussi is no better or worse than the players he is in competition with, JWP and Romeu being the exceptions. Apart from those two all of our wingers/no 10's are much of a muchness and therein lies the problem. We have a fair few midfield players but no outstanding talent. We need an attacking central midfielder to play in front of JWP & Romeu and behind a front two, with five at the back allowing the full backs to push on. Armstrong is currently our best bet to play that role but for some strange reason we keep signing wingers and then don't actually use then as such????

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