Mateus Fernandes bid | Pressure mounts on West Ham as Euro giants circle

Southampton manager Will Still will need to sell some further players although the club did post a pre tax profit of £17.3m in 2023-24, they have one of the highest wage bills in the Championship. Goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale has been loaned to Newcastle who was easily the Saints highest paid player on a reported £120k a week – to ease the wage pressures. Southampton’s financial strain is intensified by high amortisation costs from previous transfer spending. Limited parachute payments will also increase pressure to sell players to stay within Profit and Sustainability Rules.

As a consequence the Saints have already released eleven players and raised in excess of £30.4m from player sales. If Southampton do manage to engineer a bidding war, they will be the only winners and it is unlikely that the Hammers will come out with their target heading to London stadium.

This will be a tough deal to negotiate and with a top club source confirming to C&H that the club have limited funds and are battling for every penny, the club many need to move onto other targets as the transfer window deadline approaches.