Over the weekend it was reported that Southampton had joined the likes of Everton, Leicester, Watford and Arsenal in keeping tabs on former Rangers centre-half David Bates.
The 22-year-old left Rangers over the summer having made 28 appearances for them as he couldn’t or wouldn’t agree a new contract at the club. Having made the switch to German Bundesliga side Hamburg as a free agent, with seven appearances to his name so far for them, it’s suggested by the Sunday Mirror (print October 21 P67) that his performances are garnering quite a bit of Premier League interest – and naturally given our defensive troubles this season, we are namechecked.
The lad is reportedly very highly-rated indeed but with plenty of Southampton fans wanted to see far more of homegrown Jack Stephens and we can’t forget about Jan Bednarek, the only truth to this report will be in he’s on a scouting list as would be natural or, manager Mark Hughes has made some decisions about the centre-halves we have at the club and there’s more to at least one or two not playing as fans would like, than meets the eye.
