Southampton loanee Albert Gronbaek is reported to be attracting interest from Marseille, who are said to be willing to jump ahead of the Saints to sign the forward.
The 2024-25 season could hardly have gone worse for Southampton given the club are currently in last place in the Premier League with just nine points after 29 matchweeks.
There is a risk that boss Ivan Juric could claim the unwanted record for fewest points in a Premier League season considering his team have yet to surpass Derby County's points tally of 11 from 2007-08.
Relegation to the Championship would undoubtedly lead to the exits of several players, and while Tyler Dibling has often been mentioned in the headlines, it would not be surprising if others also left.
Gronbaek is currently on loan at St Mary's from Rennes and though the Saints have a buy option for £12.51m, Coeur Marseillais claim that Marseille could take advantage of Southampton's dire situation and sign the Denmark international.
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A lack of goals in the Championship
Since arriving at St Mary's in the January transfer window, Gronbaek has only featured four times for the club and has started just twice in the Premier League.
The attacker has not scored and has registered no assists, but he can hardly be blamed for the shortcomings of the team considering Southampton as a whole have only found the back of the net 21 times in the league.
Though an exit in the summer to Marseille might not impact the club too much given the 23-year-old's limited playing time so far, it could be risky allowing so many forwards to leave ahead of what could be a gruelling Championship campaign in 2025-26.
Dibling has strongly been linked with a move to a host of Premier League clubs, while Paul Onuachu has reportedly been the subject of interest from teams in the Turkish Super Lig.
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How do Southampton rebuild their attack?
Only once since 2018-19 has a Championship side won automatic promotion to the Premier League and scored fewer than 73 goals.
Southampton finished in fourth place and earned promotion through the playoffs despite scoring 87 goals in 2023-24, and should the likes of Dibling leave St Mary's, the club will almost certainly have to make several purchases in attack to make up for his loss.
However, should the Saints manage to secure a transfer fee anywhere close to his rumoured price tag of £100m, then the club will at least be in a strong financial position from which to strengthen.
Lewis Nolan
