Southampton Closing In On Central Defender signing But Could Be One Of Three Targets
Monday, 31st Aug 2026 15:11

Keven Schlotterbeck made a big impression on Saints fans in the victory over Millwall at the weekend, but it seems that with Taylor Harwood-Bellis heading to Aston Villa, Southampton want another experienced central defender in.

Top of that list seems to be Norwegian Henrik Falchener, as revealed last week and according to footballnorge.com Saints have put in a bid to his club Viking for 100 million Norwegian Kroner.

That is in the region of around £8 million an increase on the offer recently made by Wrexham which was turned down.

The report goes on to say Southampton are confident that their offer will be good enough as the defender would reportedly like to make the move to England, but the clubs still need to reach an agreement before the transfer can be completed. His preference could help Southampton if Viking are prepared to negotiate over the offer.

However there are other irons in the fire for Saints givemesport.com claim that Southampton are stepping up their interest in Austrian international David Affengruber currently at La Liga club Elche.

They report that Saints are in talks with the LaLiga outfit over a deal for the 25-year-old to replace Harwood-Bellis.

Elche want €12m for the centre-back, but the report claims that an agreement could be reached for around €10m, given the player has less than 12 months remaining on his contract.

The Spanish club are still trying to tie Affengruber down to a new contract, with the player attracting interest from Bournemouth and AS Roma this summer.

Some outlets are saying that Affengruber has turned down Southampton with Crystal Palace entering the fray , whilst others maintain that the deal is still not dead yet.

The third man said to be on Saints radar is Borussia Dortmund's Luca Reggiani.

bulinews.com say Southampton have submitted an offer of an unknown amount for the young centre-back, with several Serie A clubs also said to be monitoring his situation.

The 18 year old broke into Dortmund's first team last season and also won a cap for the full international side and signed a new long-term contract with the club as recently as March.

However he has slipped down the pecking order at the German club this season and might prefer First team football at St Mary's to a bit part in Dortmund, however I think this one may not get off the ground and he could go to Italy & Serie A

All Photos Via Reuters

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Bowlercow added 15:55 - Aug 31 Buy all 3 and ship out JS and Woody But seriously any one of these alongside KeSc would give us a CB pairing as good as anything in the lower half of the EPL It is looking as if Spors has excelled again
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Herts_Saint added 16:02 - Aug 31

Obviously going to rumours galore until 11pm tomorrow, so we shall see. I think the Italian must be very 3rd choice as he's still very young and may be a little inexperienced despite having made his debut for Italy. Wood be happy with either the Norwegian or the Austrian. I see the latter was allegedly on Man Utd's radar a few months back. Perhaps he still is. Often such clubs are happy to let such players go to the likes of Saints and see how they progress..... Anyway, also need another midfielder. Saw one report that Josh Brownhill is now available on a free after leaving Saudi. Someone like that would be ideal, I would say.

Herts_Saint added 16:07 - Aug 31 I should proof read my posts. I'm aware of the spelling mistakes! Anyway, a bit fanciful to think we might sign all 3, Bowlercow, yet I wouldn't be upset! Wood's okay.... certainly as back up. I'm just hoping JWP isn't the last piece of business in midfield. We'd be screwed if we had any more injuries.
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andywelsh added 16:52 - Aug 31

The addition of a centre back so late in the window is obviously proving problematic as there is no chance to sound out your target’s preferences in advance. Hopefully Spors will surprise us once again. Can’t see us adding a central midfielder as Downes, Jander, Bragg and Ward Prowse with Matsuki also able to play there would seem adequate. However if Larin were to get injured it would be a different matter !

Herts_Saint added 17:29 - Aug 31 andywelsh good point re. Larin, but we do have Mubama and Dobbin. Early days but the former looks good and the latter maybe needs to step up as we don't need another Archer (he's presumably going out on loan).
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andywelsh added 21:21 - Aug 31 I think Dobin will come good and just needs time to settle in like Azaz last year. I don’t see him as a central striker though and Archer is clearly not really rated by Eckert even if he stays. Mubama looks promising but it would be a lot to ask him to perform consistently well in every game should Larin be unavailable.
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