Jack Rudoni influenced a summer joke in June but Southampton can carve out a reality from that with a good transfer boost.
Though Aaron Ramsdale was kidding about Tyler Dibling's market valuation, the teenager's transfer window kind of runs the same. One good game, and there are exorbitant price tags being brought up and some bad ones go finishing the transfer gossips.
So, it's quite gettable why in-form targets and the bargain word doesn't go hand in hand. Southampton fans want every other club to abide by this rule of thumb with their starlets but the Saints could be in for some leniency on their end with Jack Rudoni.
It was the beginning of June and football fans had no better leisure than tearing into the transfer sales topic. There, the EFL Analysis documented Coventry City fans joining in unison about arguing a £55m amount for Rudoni.
Rudoni will come under one-third of what his fans rate him
Nice try, and it's not sarcasm. Southampton fans know they will be misunderstood for double standards if they laughed at other fanbases coughing up £50m figures out of imagination.
So, how much weight does that claim carry? A few millions in discount or a halved valuation, well Saints, both of these guesses will surprise you.
According to a report from the Football League World, Rudoni stands at only the one-third mark with a £15m acquisition price.
A handful of top-notch Championship stalwarts can be swooped in for this difference between expectation versus reality. This in itself must compel Southampton to fly over to Coventry's chiefs and bring Rudoni on the return flight to St. Mary's.
That too, without ushering out more first-team members in the market. Hope is that Southampton will not remain passive onlookers this time, rest said, let's see.