As the silly season begins also know as the summer transfer window, Saints emm to be linked with two strikers that are leaving their clubs at the end of their contracts, one is well known to the St Mary's faithful and one not so much.

Lawrence Shankland has been linked with Saints before, the Hearts striker has been prolific in the Scottish Premier League for his 3 seasons at Tynecastle and has hit 56 goals in just 106 appearances, he has also scored 3 times for Scotland in 9 appearances.

Hearts are keen to keep him, they have offered him a new deal, but it seems that he may be ready to move on, footballleagueworld claim that Celtic are very interested in his services, but they are being rivalled by Saints.

I am not to sure that Shankland who will turn 30 in the summer is the answer, for me his record isn't that great his strike rate dropped in 2024/25 season with just 8 gaols in the League.

But they also claim that another out of contract striker is on the St Mary's radar and that is former Saint turned sinner Danny Ings.

As it stands assuming that Tall Paul finally leaves in the summer, then there Adam Armstrong and Cameron Archer both have the credentials to score goals in the Championship, as does Ross Stewart who looked good when he came on at Goodison Park on Sunday.

In truth that would be a good attacking line up at that level, but it seems that Saints could do with another striker and if they can get him for free then all the better.

Personally I would welcome Danny Ings back, even as he turns 33 in July, his lack of game time since his departure from St Mary's would mean he is not as battered and bruised as some his age.

Since leaving Southampton 4 years ago, he has started just 41 Premier League games plus another 59 off the bench, scoring 17 goals, but most of those games and goals were in his time at Aston Villa and not West Ham.

I would say that the addition of Ings to the previous trio of strikers, could be a potent strike force in the Championship next season, 4 strikers all different in their own way and complimentary to each other.

All Photos Via Reuters

Bowlercow added 15:49 - May 21 Would any of the possible signings accept a short term,1/2 year contract,because none of the would cut the mustard in the PL if we should go back up
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HythePeer added 15:55 - May 21 "just 8 gaols in the League". Is that a criminal record?
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IanRC added 16:20 - May 21 No thanks to either of these two has been.
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Colburn added 16:44 - May 21 Ditto IanRC.. Last time I saw Ings it looked like his legs had gone, the Championship has moved on as well as the Prem. I don’t think even the likes of Diaz or Armstrong are any better than mid table strikers now, certainly not possessing the potential to play in the Prem. I really can’t comment on Shankland as I haven’t seen him. But he obviously has experience and may be ideal for the Championship. That said, I only want us to buy fast, strong, hungry players who have good stamina, not 30-33 year olds on the way out. Why can teams beneath us sign better strikers than us year after year?

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YosemiteSaint added 19:20 - May 21 Sport Republic have just demonstrated (quite amply!) that they do not have the resources to compete in the Premier League. Until they sell us on, we should be prepared to compete solely in the Championship and in cup competitions. We do have proven Championship scorers. But we could do with the experience of someone like Ings, provided he still has the appetite for football.

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kenis added 21:18 - May 21 Neither did the model. Keeping Armstrong is important and hopefully Archer and Stewart can come good. That trio plus maybe Ballard or some other young talent should be all we go for, better to spend the wages elsewhere - probably paying off / trimming down the squad to a smaller hungrier group.
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kenis added 21:19 - May 21 Neither fit the model….
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underweststand added 08:31 - May 22 It should be remembered that we are not looking for players of Prem. quality but some established men with a record of goalscoring. We want to get out of the Championship ASAP but we don't know who will be good enough to be a Prem. quality striker in 2027-28. We haven't really seen anything of Ross Stewart yet, but he does seem to have pace and has been unlucky to not score in his recent apps. If he can pair up with the likes of " a Shankland and Ings " who would cost no £ fee, and must surely manage a few goals between them and be enough to get us back to the Prem. by which time they are too old. New young talents playing alongside them for a year or so could benefit them greatly, and make the basis of a decent Prem. strike force.

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Chasser added 13:39 - May 22 We don't want Ingsy back at Southampton. I wouldn't even take JWP back. Once you have decided to leave the club, that should be it. We need to fill the squad with young players, who are ambitious, not millionaires, who are there for a free ride.
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underweststand added 16:12 - May 24 to Chasser.....whilst you make a point about NOT re-signing Ings, such a deal looks attractive because there won't be a line of clubs willing to pay him a Prem. level wages, and likewise Saints wouldn't either. If nothing else is attractive to him, a return to SMS might be a win-win situation, even if he doesn't play 90+ min. games, he will get goals. Buying Shankland on a free is surely a " no-brainer ". A man with his goal-scoring record has to be a good deal, and playing him alongside Ross Stewart could take us back to the days when he we had big strikers up front who could score goals. Sadly I cannot go along with your comment about ..."refusing to bring back past players". We've lost our best players to "bigger clubs" for over half-a-century and that's not likely to change any time soon. Players at Prem. level often have short careers, and need to get money to live on for the rest of their days. Imagine having your working career finish at 30 with no prospect of breaking into the job market with no other qualifications, and where the next injury could mean the end of everything ..tomorrow. You sound like one of the anti-JWP club...who never rated him from Day 1..or...? Given captaincy in over 40 England U23 games by a man who later went onto become the captain of the National side, and then blatantly ignored him and he was passed over by " lesser talents from big clubs ". Aside from his free-kick abilities, he was a good pro. who gave over 15 years of his career to our club and deserved a better deal than he got. I'd welcome him back when his contract at WHam runs out, if only to see him get past Beckham's record whilst wearing Saints colours.

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