Saints fans will have mixed view on the news that Fulham are about to make a double swoop on the club, but the reality is both players have contributed little over the past few season, so from this perspective won't be missed.

The news that Fulham are said to have agreed an £8 million fee for Harrison Reed won't come as a shock to many, but when it seems that he will be joined by Mario Lemina, that will be a shock.

Reed has barely played for Saints in the last 5 years, not at all in the last 3 and in truth if he stayed at the club it would be hard to see who he would get in the side in front of, he is a tidy player but is he truly Premier League quality, some would say that he is, but he has barely played at that level and the last 5 Saints Managers have not seen anything that suggests he is better than what they had.

He needs a change of scenery and he is proven in the Championship, we will get a decent fee and get his wages off the books and we like him have to move on.

It is ironic that Lemina might be joining him, he is a player who is the opposite to Harrison Reed, whereas Reed is a hard worker and model pro and deserves all the success he gets whether it is at Saints or elsewhere, Lemina has undoubted talent, but has a poor attitude and would rather be a squad player and take the money, than push himself to his limits and become a solid professional.

Like most clubs he goes to the fans will see some good performances and initially he will look a bargain, but he cannot apply himself for long and it will soon become apparent just why he has had so many clubs and that turning 27 next week he has only started 106 league games plus 44 as sub spanning 5 clubs and 7 years, ironically Saints being his most productive period and we all know that wasn't exactly a raging success.

A good weeks work for Saints that even if they have to sell Lemina at half the fee they paid for him will be a case of freeing up a lot of wages, if Saints pull in £16 million for the pair they will also free up around £85 k a week, that will finance another good signing.

Of course we might see them both great successes next season, that is a chance we have to take, but Lemina in particular failed to turn his talent into consistency and given that neither have played for us recently this deal represents good business.

Photo: Action Images

IanRC added 17:58 - Aug 26 As you say bit of a shame to see Reed go but good riddance to Lemina, hope we do get £8m for him. Hopefully we can progress the McKennie move.
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the_saint added 18:07 - Aug 26 Good riddance to Mario but reed I wish all the best and hope he succeeds. Nice article nick spot on.
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redandwhitedee added 19:57 - Aug 26 The club treated Reed very badly over the past years. All sorts of rubbish have played in midfield (and at right back) whilst he was performing well on loan at Norwich and Fulham and pre-season he always looked good. The Academy will point to creating an 8m player but they wasted an opportunity.
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SaintPaulVW added 20:19 - Aug 26 Steady with the Champagne for now, isn't Lemina just going to Fulham on loan?
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SaintNick added 23:09 - Aug 26 I dont think the club treated Reed badly, various managers just didn't see him as being better than others in the squad, as you say he had pre seasons to impress them but didn't. We will now find out whether we wasted an opportunity or not
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Peterx added 07:37 - Aug 27 Or maybe we are going to sell Lemina and keep Reed to fight it out with Romeu. I would be happy with that. Then we don't need McKennie.
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SaintBrock added 11:20 - Aug 27 Why do these transactions take so much time. The longer these rumours go on it seems to me less likely that anything concrete will come of them.
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underweststand added 19:16 - Aug 27 Harrison Reed is not the first Ex Academy player who deserved better luck in selection. I hope for his sake he gets a good deal with Fulham, and even if he were to stay you'd have to ask yourself - who would he replace in the current team - if he did stay on with Saints? As for Lemina....he is the typical "square peg " and if he did show occasional flashes of brilliance ;.... I can't see him ever getting a regular place in one of Ralph's squads.

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