Southampton’s star in the making already has Barcelona interested

Southampton defender Mohammed Salisu is reportedly on a transfer shortlist put together by Barcelona as they prepare to replace Gerard Pique.

This is according to a report from Spanish news outlet Fichajes, who have Salisu amongst five targets that Barca are looking at for the future.

Saints pulled off a real coup in signing the young Ghanaian from Real Valladolid just over a year ago and will surely make a huge profit on their £11m investment when offers start to arrive.

22-year-old Salisu broke through into senior football in Spain with Valladolid and seemingly caught the eye of Barcelona when putting in dominant displays against them and other teams in La Liga.

Southampton have the cards in their favour but must prepare for offers

Saints have made many high-profile sales in the past and will continue to do so to enable profits to be made and reinvestment in their own affairs.

It is still very early in his time at St Mary’s but Salisu’s performances could start to make him one of the most sought after centre-backs in world football eventually. As Saints fans have seen, he has the potential to be that good if he keeps his current rate of progress.

Salisu took a while to become a regular for Saints after arriving in England with a troublesome injury but he has filled the void left by Jannik Vestergaard spectacularly so far and hardly put a foot wrong in recent Premier League fixtures against Manchester United and West Ham.

You only need to look back to his display last Saturday when facing Michail Antonio – currently one of the most in-form strikers in the English top-flight with four goals and three assists already this season.

Salisu combined with fellow centre-back Jack Stephens to give a much more experienced opponent nothing throughout the game and ensure a good point for his team.