Arron Sanders takes a look at the latest news in the national media that suggests Saints could be on the verge of a major signing.

According to the Sun Southampton have made an offer of 17.5 million for Monaco striker Guido Carrillo and awaiting a response from the french side.

Saints are set to be without top scorer Charlie Austin for the next two months due to injury, while remaining strikers Shane Long and Manolo Gabbiadini have struggled for goals so far this season.

And Carrillo, who played under Southampton boss Mauricio Pellegrino at Estudiantes, appears to have been identified as a possible solution to the club's scoring woes.

The 26-year-old moved to Monaco two-and-half-years ago, but has only made 22 Ligue 1 starts since then.

Impressively, though, Carrillo has still managed 15 goals in 65 league outings overall.

According to the Sun, Southampton are awaiting a decision from Monaco as to whether or not they will be allowed to discuss personal terms with the player.

The report adds that Saints also are instrested with moves for Arsenal and West Ham United strikers Theo Walcott and Andy Carroll and have cooled their interest in Liverpool's Daniel Sturridge.

What do you make of the latest report that Saints hold an interest in both Carrillo and Andy Carroll this winter? Would you welcome any of these to the South coast?

Photo: Action Images

patred added 11:40 - Jan 5 Carrol or Carrillo...surely someone has made a typo Carrol would be worth it if we could get 10 games out him. Carrillo..only 22 games in 2 and half years, and £17.5 m, got to be a joke! Theo we know what we getting
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underweststand added 11:49 - Jan 5 Few people (except MP) seem to know much about him, but then again a lot of people said the same about " that Pellé fellow " that Koeman imported from Holland. I'm sure we will get a few more names flying around before Jan 31st, but personally I'd sign any striker who was at least 6'2".. but we'll see what happens.
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StRipper added 11:56 - Jan 5 If there's any truth in the Carrillo interest, particularly at that fee, that's a major concern. He would absolutely be a Pellegrino signing and surely that ship has sailed. We didn't back him in the summer and it would surely be throwing money at a lost cause to try and rectify that now. Carrillo is hardly prolific either, before joining Monaco, where it hadn't worked out, he appears to score a goal every 4 games and the occasional assist. That sort of return won't dig us out of the hole we're in.

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BaselSaint added 12:10 - Jan 5 6`3`` Argentinian, could be a good target / hold up player
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DPeps added 12:21 - Jan 5 Carroll, Sturridge, Walcott- is our team physio also our head scout?
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StRipper added 12:23 - Jan 5 According to Whoscored, Carrillo is good in the air and likes to try flick ons. He's never played at the pace of an EPL match and doesn't score many goals. Seeing as his assists are so low, I'd also suggest that he isn't a hold up man. We should stay well away from him. After all, who is it going to be lobbing these crosses in for him to head in as a lone striker?!?
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SonicBoom added 12:46 - Jan 5 I'm not sure any of our major signings at this level of money do not manage to hold down a regular place so I won't get too excited.
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SaintBrock added 13:19 - Jan 5 According to the Sun... say's it all really.
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Steve_N added 13:24 - Jan 5 What continually ticks me off about this whole striker situation is the reference to Manolo Gabbiadini's struggle for goals this season. How the hell is he supposed to score from the bench? If he'd been given half as much game time as the likes of Redmond, I'd put money on him scoring a few. How does Shane Long get the shout over him? I watched a game a little earlier in the season - I don't recall which one - in which Gabbiadini started. At some point in the second half, the commentator said he had seen Gabbiadini make seven or eight runs off the ball and not once did a Saints player attempt to pick him out! We've all seen what he is capable of, before he was injured towards the end of last season. Pellegrino needs to give him game time. Not fifteen or twenty minutes at the end of a match when we're chasing the game!

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wibbersda added 14:22 - Jan 5 Absolutely right Steve_N. Why they are not practising through balls to Gabbi is beyond me as he is our only player likely to hit the back of the net. As for the 3 names mooted in the article, I would guess that they were never in the "Black Box" which must need a ctrl - alt -del by now.
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SaintJez added 14:45 - Jan 5 tactics tactics tactics! If you have players who will get behind defences down the flanks and cross early then Gabbi will get you 20 goals a season as his movement is excellent. But he's not big or physical so if your wingers constantly cut inside and put loopy crosses into the box then you need to outmuscle, or out jump, the centre half more often than not. Gabbi will never score those goals. This is why we end up playing Long who can mix it up a bit yet can't hit a barn door. It's just compensating for the inadequacies of messrs Tadic, Redmond and Boufal. Fix those 3 - and by that I think I mean buy replacemeants or perhaps just a bit of "hit the byline and cross" hairdryer action might work - and play Gabbi or Austin and saints will be ok.

9

BoondockSaint added 15:36 - Jan 5 Wish I could click more than once on the comments above! My worry is that we don't get a player(s) who can feed Gabbi, he's going to come to the conclusion that sitting on the Saints bench is damaging his career and he will be off.
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skiptonsaint added 17:25 - Jan 5 Steve N you nail it. Isn't it cheaper to try changing tactics to suit our better players rather than buying so so players in jan for big fees to suit our system ?
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saintpp added 19:21 - Jan 5 Oh my god no dont let Mp chose any players We have a perfectly good striker in Gabbi but Mp is so tactically inept he cant get the best out of him so takes the easy route and picks Long, In fact after Longs goal Mp said something like he expects him to be scoring more now. NO he wont he never has and never will and only an idiot or a blind man would think that.Sack him now before he wastes money.

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sidsaint added 19:45 - Jan 5 If we keep playing the same formation we will get the same results. Change the formation and you change the results we've been watching this all season so far. Just as the defence lets strikers unmarked in the 6 yard box which has lost us a number of points. Therefore I agree stick with the players we have rather than buy unless we have proven goalscorers on our raider or gritty PL defenders, but will they want to come to us. We also need the players to be remotivated, I've seen Brighton, Bournemouth Palace Swansea and West Ham on the box and they seem more organised and motivated than Saints I'm sad to say.

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underweststand added 09:07 - Jan 6 to St.Ripper... IF ...he signs, we can only hope that he turns out to be a better deal than the last time we allowed an Argentinian manager to buy one of his former players. the "other Mauricio " persuaded Saints to buy a certain " Dani Osvaldo" . A nightmare deal that (conservatively-speaking ) cost the club a loss of around £ 25 million. (ouch!)
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