Southampton are rumoured to be eyeing Manchester City’s James McAtee, but they’re facing plenty of competition for his signature.
Southampton’s links to Manchester City through Jason Wilcox could aid them in their rumoured pursuit of McAtee but interest from a whole host of top-tier clubs could make a deal tricky. Wolves, Brighton, Sheffield United, Celtic, Real Sociedad and AZ Alkmaar are all said to be keen.
It means it could be worth the Saints considering some alternatives so here, we put forward three…
Aaron Ramsey – Aston Villa
Ramsey made a good impression on loan in the Championship last season and the offer of more game time could appeal to the 20-year-old midfielder. He notched eight goals and four assists in 29 second-tier games while with Middlesbrough and Norwich City.
The Aston Villa man is a goalscoring threat from attacking midfield but, like McAtee, he can play deeper as a no.8 or out wide too.
Carney Chukwuemeka – Chelsea
Chukwuemeka would almost certainly only be a loan signing but given the wealth of talent ahead of him in the Chelsea pecking order, a Championship loan could be just what he needs to kick his senior career into action.
The 19-year-old is among this country’s brightest midfield talents and looks set for a big future in the game. He doesn’t quite have the attacking output of McAtee or previous option Ramsey but Austrian-born Chukwuemeka could be a fantastic loan signing for a top championship club this summer.
Cesare Casadei – Chelsea
Given the increasingly strong links with a move to Leicester City, this would have to be a bit of a hijack job.
Casadei’s performances in this summer’s U20s World Cup has seen his stock sky rocket and he looks set for a big season. It looks more than likely that he’ll be heading out on loan and if Southampton want a midfielder with attacking threat, he could be ideal.
