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Southampton linked with transfer for Toulouse’s Christopher Jullien

By Chris Hughes

Toulouse's French defender Christopher Jullien reacts after scoring a goal during the French L1 football match Toulouse against Lille on March 05, 2017 at the Municipal Stadium in Toulouse, southern France. / AFP PHOTO / PASCAL PAVANI (Photo credit should read PASCAL PAVANI/AFP/Getty Images)
Toulouse's French defender Christopher Jullien reacts after scoring a goal during the French L1 football match Toulouse against Lille on March 05, 2017 at the Municipal Stadium in Toulouse, southern France. / AFP PHOTO / PASCAL PAVANI (Photo credit should read PASCAL PAVANI/AFP/Getty Images) /
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French centre-back Christopher Jullien, who currently plies his trade in his native country with Toulouse, is rumored to be one of many potential Virgil van Dijk replacements the Saints are looking at.

It seems like fresh centre-half transfer rumors come just about every week nowadays for the Saints, as the media speculate as to who the club may replace the £50 million-rated Virgil van Dijk.

The latest player is Christopher Jullien.

The 24-year-old is valued at around £10 million pounds according to reports, and is currently enjoying a stellar first season for Toulouse.

He joined the French side last summer for £2 million, and has been heavily involved in the team’s mid-table finish. They boast one of the best goal differences of any team around them in the standings –  in fact you have to go as high as Saint-Ettiene in seventh to find a better one.

Jullien, an Auxerre academy graduate, previously played in Germany for Freiburg, but spent the majority of his first two seasons with their reserve team. In the 2015-16 campaign he returned to France on loan with Dijon in Ligue 2, scoring an impressive nine league goals.

Toulouse’s forward Christopher Jullien (C) celebrates after scoring a goal during the French L1 football match, Toulouse against Nancy, on December 17, 2016 at the Municipal Stadium in Toulouse, southern France. / AFP / REMY GABALDA (Photo credit should read REMY GABALDA/AFP/Getty Images)
Toulouse’s forward Christopher Jullien (C) celebrates after scoring a goal during the French L1 football match, Toulouse against Nancy, on December 17, 2016 at the Municipal Stadium in Toulouse, southern France. / AFP / REMY GABALDA (Photo credit should read REMY GABALDA/AFP/Getty Images) /

Jullien towers tall at six-foot-five, making him incredibly useful when it comes to set-pieces at both ends of the pitch. He’s contributed four league goals this season and has been yellow carded just twice from 30 league appearances.

What’s more, he has played each and every minute of all of the league games he has appeared in this season, only showing his fitness and athleticism.

Much like Virgil van Dijk the Frenchman has the tendency to play long balls, with an average of four per game not too dissimilar to VVD’s 4.6.

His passing accuracy is much lower with around 75 percent however, but he’s still averaging the third-most passes per game of any Toulouse player.

One stumbling block could be that Jullien is still under contract with Pascal Dupraz’s side for another three years, but that shouldn’t be a put-off for Claude Puel and those above him.

Toulouse have a solid track record when it comes to the success of former players, with defenders Serge Aurier and Aymen Abdennour making the step up in recent years.

Next: Saints should learn from the success of Romeu and Bertrand

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