Saints are being linked with a winger from Portugese club Benfica, but the asking price is somewhat high.

The upshot of Saints success and ability to prise money away from Brendon Rodgers under false pretences is that every Tom Dick and Jose ups the price when we come calling and this seems to be the case for Benfica winger Ola John.

The price being quoted is 20 million Euros, around the £15 million mark in good old British money.

That is way off Saints valuation of the player who is only a fringe player at Benfica whom he joined from Twente in his adopted country of Holland, indeed he spent the second half of last season on loan at Hamburg.

Saints alleged valuation is around about the initial fee Benfica paid back in 2012 and given that the player has yet to live up to his potential is probably a lot nearer his true valuation than the price being used by Benfica to warn off potential suitors when the summer transfer window opens.

On the face of it John looks the archetypal Ronald Koeman signing, the Dutch manager looks for players that have potential and have not yet quite realised it, and that is a good way forward for Saints and indeed the way to keep moving forward to stay in the top echelons of the Premier League, we will alsways struggle to compete with the likes of United, Arsenal, Chelsea etc for the real big stars, but if we can keep spotting and developing potential then the future is bright.

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