Rumours rife

The player transfer speculation has escalated to a frustrating level for fans, as we get to the middle of the January transfer window.

Mostly the speculation surrounding Southampton is around players leaving the club, and it's difficult to tell true stories from utter nonsense.

Most annoying for Saints fans is the column inches being devoted to Theo Walcott's apparent departure, especially unsettling as he's only 16 years old, and has given absolutely no indication he's unhappy at St Mary's. I doubt even Everton had to deal with so much media hype when Wayne Rooney was 16 - He stayed at the club a further 3 years.

Rupert Lowe is supposed to be meeting with Walcott's representatives this week, lets hope he puts a huge contract on the table, as he's a player who we surely have to keep. It'd be pointless financially for Saints to sell him now, when his value can only increase dramatically over the next few years. Not only that but even if we received a huge fee for him, we could never attract players of his quality to the club with the money.

There's also been speculation surrounding Nigel Quashie and David Prutton. The midfield pair have been linked with a swap deal for Robert Earnshaw. As a fan you start to worry about another regressive move for Saints - The midfield pair would be very hard to replace at this level. It was also rumoured though that Saints withdrew their interest in Earnshaw when Robson proposed the swap deal.

The only positive transfer rumour for the nervous Saints fans has been the also totally unsubstantiated talk of Derby midfielder Inigo Idiakez coming to St Mary's - I'm sure Derby fans feel the same about this, and probably most fans will be getting annoyed at the apparent imminent departure of their clubs best players.

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Go on, get vitalled!