When Southampton signed Caspar Jander from 1.FC Nuremberg last summer, it made many Saints fans say Who ! But now it seems that he could be in demand when the summer transfer window opens.

The signing of Caspar Jander did not exactly inspire Southampton supporters in August last year, after all only a year earlier he had joined Nuremberg from German 3rd tier club Duisburg where he had made just 60 League appearances in his 3 seasons there.

His transfer took him up a division and at Nuremberg he started to flourish, prompting Saints to splash out around £10 million for his services.

But that was not encouraging the St Mary's faithful, that he might become a valuable player in the side, indeed it raised many eyebrows about Saints transfer strategy in Johannes Spors first window as Director of Football.

In fairness he made some shrewd signings, not only has Jander become a vital member of the squad, but so have the likes of Finn Azaz, Tom Fellows, Leo Scienza.

His first six months at the club have been a success and now footballleagueworld.co.uk are claiming that there will be a lot of interest in him during the summer and that Southampton have named a price of between £21-25 million if they are to be tempted to sell him.

But as he is not yet even 1 year through the 4 year contract he signed last summer it is fair to say that they will not be pressurised to sell.

The article goes on to suggest that Hoffenheim, Stuttgart and RB Leipzig in Germany, as well as Dutch giants Ajax are all monitoring the situation.

Some cynics in the Southampton supporter base have suggested that there may have been interest in the German midfielder in January and that this may have unsettled him,

There is some evidence to back this claim, Jander was awful at Leicester City shortly after the transfer window closed and suffered the ignominy of being subbed off at half time, although in fairness, most of his team mates in that first half were just as bad.

But since then his contributions have dropped off, it was no surprise to see him miss the FA Cup tie with Leicester with Tonda Eckert choosing to play a virtual second XI, or for that matter that he was on the bench for the Charlton game, coming on in the 65th minute and he returned to play in the win over Queens Park Rangers.

But over the past few months Jander has been playing with an injury, with Shea Charles out injured, he had to grit his teeth and play through it with his game time managed, now Charles is back, it is not surprising that he is now being rested to get back to 100%.

But his absence from the trip to Sheffield Wednesday prompted the gossips to whisper who pointed not only to his poor form (only in the Leicester game to be fair) and his now "Illness" that meant he wasn't in the squad at Hillsborough as proof that he had been unsettled.

Now the German media has got in on the act as footballleagueworld.co.uk have reported, but with 4 months left before the next transfer window opens, this smells more of agents trying to create interest, rather than any concrete proof.

Whether Jander stays or goes will depend a lot on where Saints are going to be playing football next season, if we were to get promotion then I would expect him to stay put, indeed the club might be more prepared to sell in that situation, than he would want to leave.

If we are going to be in the Championship, then perhaps the Bundesliga might be a more attractive proposition.

Either way is impossible to predict at this very moment, so I would put this rumour down as very much speculation and muck raking from agents, perhaps not even Jander's own representative, but others who are looking to create a chain that might result in one of their own clients securing a move in that movement.

So for the moment it should be business as usual for Caspar Jander, he has stiff competition in that central midfield with Shea Charles, Flynn Downes and the fast emerging Cameron Bragg all vying for a place in the centre of the midfield.

Hopefully that competition will not only stir Caspar Jander into the best form of his life, but those around him and indeed Saints themselves into a successful end to the season.

All Photos Via Reuters