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Southampton are set to lose Manolo Gabbiadini to Sampdoria with an official announcement pending, and now the club should look to bring Chelsea striker Michy Batshuayi to St Mary’s on loan if reports are true that his temporary spell with Valencia is to be brought to an end early.

What’s the word, then?

Well, it seems clear that Saints need to offload some players before Ralph Hasenhuttl can bring any in this month, and they have already lost Gabbiadini and Steven Davis – two big earners – off of the wage bill with more likely to follow.

The loss of the Italian leaves the 51-year-old with Danny Ings, Michael Obafemi, Charlie Austin and Shane Long as his striker options, and he will surely want to add another new face to his squad before the January transfer window slams shut at the end of the month.

Meanwhile, The Daily Mail reported on Wednesday that Batshuayi is likely to have his loan with La Liga outfit Valencia cut short after he was substituted off at half-time during the team’s Copa del Rey defeat against Sporting Gijon on Tuesday, meaning he could soon be available.

Why should Southampton sign him?

Hasenhuttl has previously made no secret of the fact that he wants to add some pace to his attack, and while Batshuayi doesn’t have the speed that Obafemi or Long do he still is relatively quick, and would bring the added bonus of knowing where the goal is in the second-half of the 2018/19 campaign.

While he may have found form and goals hard to come by in Spain, he proved during a similar spell with Borussia Dortmund last term when he netted nine times in 14 appearances in total that he can be more than useful in the final third.

Having managed in Germany last year Hasenhuttl should be well aware of the 25-year-old and the impact he made, and he may feel that the Belgian can make the same one for his current team at St Mary’s if he can seal a loan move.

Check out Neymar’s controversial new haircut for 2019 and Xherdan Shaqiri as you’ve never seen him before in the video below…