The Brazilian football media have been full of claims that Brazilian midfielder Wellington is interesting Premier League clubs and that Saints are in pole position, but when you delve further it seems unlikely that he would be a signing that Saints would make.

Wellington whose surname is Martins should not be confused with Wellington Silva, another Brazilian who spent six years at Arsenal between 2010 & 2016.

Wellington Martins is a 29 defensive midfielder who will turn 30 at the end of the month and those first two stats should start to suggest that he is not a player Saints will be looking at, we tend not to look at players of that age and we have two defensive midfielders in Romeo & Diallo so do not need a third.

That is not stopping his agent telling the media in Brazil that his player is about to go to the Premier League on a free transfer after his contract with Athletico Paranaense expired on January 1st.

“We are receiving several approaches for Wellington, we’ll decide soon,” agent Marcelo Robalinho told media outlet O Dia.

“But every day new possibilities arise and this ends up being great for the athlete, not only from the market point of view, but for self-esteem, to see how much clubs like him around the world, including from the Premier League.”

Last week, it was UOL in the Brazilian media who said the Saints are one of the many clubs who have been in touch with the player’s entourage lately.

Now O Dia after speaking to the agent say the same. According to the media Saints continue to be the only side named in the race, despite the chase from several Brazilian clubs last year.

But a look at his playing career does not fill a potential buyer with enthusiasm, there is not a lot of accurate data about, the player seems to have been in the Brazilian top division during his career, but has been nowhere near a cap for the Full International team and this would be a potential issue for a Premier League club in being able to get him a work permit.

It seems that here we have a player who is out of contract at age 30 and an agent trying to get him one last move for money, but all things being taken into account I would be highly surprised if Saints were interested in the player or indeed any other Premier League club, Saints name is being touted around to stimulate interest elsewhere.

Photo: Action Images

underweststand added 11:37 - Jan 12 This is typical of the type of "Fake News" that agent's use in order to generate interest in a player who is already OOC, and has little chance of getting a new club. Describing anyone as a potential Prem. player is a serious assumption - as many Prem. sides have discovered to their cost. ( Wham's recent episode with Haller is a typical example). This Brazilian's profile is totally opposite to Ralph's philosophy of seeking smart young, developing players who can add something extra to the squad. I think we all accept that someone like Theo Walcott is someone with masses of Prem. experience and 100+ goals to his credit and has a totally different background - despite being in a similar generation. I've read items like this for decades past and sometimes an outspoken manager comes out with a typical comment ..." Who ? ..never heard of him". There maybe a little money in the kitty for Ralph to utilise on transfers, but this one sounds highly unlikely.

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TimSaint added 11:47 - Jan 12 Nick - you have already done a piece about altering the formation to accommodate Diallo in the starting XI, so perhaps another is needed to squeeze this guy in as well !! :-)
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felly1 added 12:01 - Jan 12 C'mon Nick, you can do better than this rubbish. How about a piece on our improved defence?
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SonicBoom added 13:13 - Jan 12 Utter garbage. Unless he can say he related to some sort of global superstar then there is no way we will sign him...
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davepid added 13:32 - Jan 12 Nic, how about a piece of investigative journalism into the true story of Salisu. The fans would be ever grateful for your work.
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bornonthemiltonroad added 16:01 - Jan 12 No we’re not interested in this type of player, it’s got waste of money written all over it .... now if he was 21 maybe! Nick could you do a piece on how Brexit has changed the transfer market? I’ve always noticed that our 1st team seems to have more English/British players than other teams and I wonder if this is now a benefit?
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