According to media sources in the Potteries, Stoke City are close to taking Gavin Bazunu on loan till the end of the season, with an option to buy, this will raise cheers in a section of our support, but before this move happens Saints need to have a better replacement lined up.

There will be those Saints supporters who will be celebrating the news that Gavin Bazunu could well have played his last game for the club, at least for this season.

Local Stoke media outlet stokesentinel.co.uk who you would assume would be well briefed by Stoke City FC are claiming that Bazunu was in Stoke yesterday to discuss terms on a loan move with an option to buy at £8 million.

The usual "Ill drive him there myself" comments will be rife on social media, but before we start celebrating we should consider the gamble that we might well be making.

Bazunu is worth £8 million, although I feel there is little chance of Stoke activating that option. Viktor Johansson is out with a shoulder injury, it will keep him on the sidelines for most of the season, Bazunu will play games for Stoke, but next season would be a different matter.

In contrast back at St Mary's unless we have another keeper lined up, then we will be relying on Daniel Peretz & Alex McCarthy to replace him.

This is a gamble, Peretz did not excel in his debut against League One opposition in the FA Cup on Saturday, in truth he was worse than Bazunu, he made a couple of bog standard saves, but also let in a soft goal he didn't make an attempt at, if Bazunu had played and had the same performance, the "Bazunu Out Brigade" would be having a field day.

So on the surface, we are going to get rid of Bazunu & hope that Peretz is good enough, the truth of this is that no one knows he just doesn't have a track record at the level we are at the moment.

On the face of it swapping an £8 million pound keeper for one worth about 1/8th of that is just sheer folly.

I think Bazunu himself realises that whatever he does for this club, it won't be enough for some and had had enough himself, his confidence has been destroyed, not just by those on his back, but also the ramshackle defence that is in front of him.

I have no problem with Bazunu or for that matter any other Southampton player in any other position, is sold and replaced, my only criteria is that the person replacing him is at least as good as or hopefully better.

If anyone feels that Peretz's track record so far suggests that he is better, then I would like to hear it.

So are we really going to take this gamble, forget Bazunu, this seems to be a done deal, but are we really going to throw in a keeper completely untried at this level in front of our defence and hope he works out!

If we are then it is ludicrous.

If it is the case then I truly hope that Peretz has something that I didn't see at Doncaster, that the reason he has barely played in 2 1/2 years at Bayern Munich & Hamburg, is due to circumstance and not his ability.

When Peretz arrived I assumed that he was here to gibe competition to Bazunu, I had no problem with that, I hoped that is would spur him on and that Peretz in games such as the FA cup on Saturday would put pressure on him to perform and keep his place.

I want this club to challenge for promotion this season, to do that it needs to have a spine in the team that is strong, we do not have that in defence and that is not going to help any goalkeeper, let alone one with so little experience as Peretz, again nothing against him, I only have his appearance at Doncaster & his career stats to go on and from that I would rather have Mateuz Lis than Peretz.

Perhaps Saints will surprise us, perhaps they are about to recall Aaron Ramsdale from Newcastle, who has found that he is there purely as back up to Nick Pope and will come back here and play football rather than watch it from the bench.

Perhaps we have somebody experienced lined up who will not only be a great keeper but a great organiser as well, but I sincerely doubt that either one of these options will happen.

The next two weeks will be interesting and it seems that all eyes will be on Daniel Peretz on Saturday, if he has a bad game then this will fan the flames of fan discontent.

All Photos Via Reuters