Southampton should have loaned out Austin to put him in shop window

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Southampton rejected loan bids for striker Charlie Austin during the January transfer window, according to Sky Sports.

They report that Ralph Hasenhuttl was willing to offload the English striker this month but the Saints only wanted a permanent deal to take him away.

Sky Sports also claim that Southampton wanted more than the £7m they were offered from an unnamed Championship club last week, despite Hasenhuttl offering no first-team guarantees to Austin.

But Austin apparently wants to remain on the south coast and fight for his place in Hasenhuttl’s plans, as the Saints look to avoid relegation from the top flight.

But Austin looks at odds with Hasenhuttl’s high-tempo style and if he has genuine designs on getting rid of the striker then he needs to put him in the shop window.

It is tough to demand more than £7m for a striker who has had his injury problems in the past without putting him in the shop window.

All it takes for a striker’s value to go up is to be a reliable source of goals, in either the top flight or the Championship, to push up his transfer value but it is hard to do that if someone is sitting on the bench while his team improves without him.