Southampton among clubs interested in 22-year-old Hungarian midfielder

The list of transfer needs for Russell Martin and Southampton this January transfer window is relatively short. In fact, the club have so little needs this window that if the club did not sign another player, must supporters would understand that. With that said, though, the gaffer has made it known that, ideally, the club would like to finally replace Nathan Tella this window, who departed for Bayer Leverkusen in the summer.

The Saints made a surprise addition in the midfield this month, adding Joe Rothwell on loan from AFC Bournemouth for the remainder of the Championship season. It was an unexpected move because the midfield already had plenty of depth. Nonetheless, this time of year can always be unpredictable and exciting names will always surface.

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Southampton are not going to be signing another midfielder this window, but that does not mean links for midfielders will disappear. Via The Boot Room, Hungarian football journalist Bence Bocsák is reporting that Southampton is among multiple clubs interested in signing midfielder Mihaly Kata from MTK Budapest.

The 22-year-old midfielder is now a capped International at the senior level for their native Hungary. Born in the nation's capital, Kata is a youth product of MTK and has played his entire senior football with the club to date. Per transfermarkt, Kata is typically deployed as either a 6 or 8 but, more often than not, is playing a deep, defensive role. He is also the captain of MTK Budapest, who sits sixth in NB I.

Bocsák writes that for the time being, Southampton is not pushing for a January deal, which aligns perfectly with the popular opinion that the club is done in that sector of the pitch for this window. The report also suggests that Kata will command a fee of around £1.5m, although this could obviously change with a strong or weaker end of the season for Kata in Hungary.