At Southampton we are all to used to the controversy and media attention that surround our players and their contracts and this season is no different. With stories currently flying about the contracts of, Victor Wanyama, Graziano Pellè, Sadio Mane and Ronald Koeman, why not treat yourself and  instead consider the contractual situations of different players at different clubs, who Southampton could/have show(n) interest in.

5. Rolando Aarons

The Kingston born speedster broke through into the first team at Newcastle early last season, following an impressive pre-season. However after he made his intentions not to sign a new deal with the magpies clear, the player was banished to the reserves. Aarons operates on the outside of midfield or as a winger, usually on the left side. He is left-footed and known for his fleet of foot and technical ability. He has been compared to Manchester City winger Raheem Sterling due to his exciting playing style. Although Aarons is far from the finished article, he looks like he has potential and for free you’d be mad to turn your nose up at the prospect.

4. Adam Johnson

With Sunderland’s Premier League status coming into question, again, this season and Johnson one of the top earners on Wearside, you can see why both parties are hesitant to extend Johnson’s deal further, but the bottom line is that this boy can play. He may currently find an enormous grey cloud looming over his personal life, but with twice as many assists as any other player so far in 2016, for free the winger would represent a real bargain.

3. Nick Powell

Powell was signed back in 2012 from Crewe Alexandra and was tipped to be that old cliché ‘the next big thing’. But so far has made little of an impression. He spent a successful loan spell in The Championship with Wigan last season, playing in Europe with the Latics following there famous FA Cup win, but upon his return, he was simply served another loan move, this time to Leicester, However this was cut short after he failed to impress Nigel Pearson.

Although Powell was a shock inclusion in United’s Champions League squad, he’s played just 6 minutes of Football this season and has found himself at a cross roads with it looking unlikely that United will renew his current deal, should Saints take a gamble on the talented teen, who just seems to have fallen into the same category as Scott Sinclair and Jack Rodwell, who seemed to have exciting careers ahead of them before they sold they’re soul for endorsements and more money, at big clubs forcing them to rebuild they’re slowly dying careers with Premier League strugglers. For free it’s definitely worth it.

2. Nicolas Nkoulou

The talented Marseille CB has been on the radar of many PL clubs for a while as Marseille look set to lose another key player for free, as Nkoulou follows in the footsteps of both Andre Ayew and Andre-Pierre Gignac, who ran they’re contracts down and left for free when they’re contracts expired. The Cameroonian came through the same academy that produced arguably Africa’s greatest ever footballer: Samuel Eto’o and with Jose Fonte now 32 is it now time to look to the future and replace him with a young exciting Centre Back, like Nkoulou

1. Zlatan Ibrahimovic

Now we can all dream can’t we? With Zlatan out of contract at the end of the season with PSG and uncertainty surrounding the futures of Pelle and Long, is it time for Zlatan to make up for the biggest missed opportunity of his career to date and join up with the Saints? Some of you will probably be in the dark about this but back in 2002 when Ibra was at Ajax, he was given the opportunity to join the Saints, but in his 2012 book “I AM ZLATAN” when told by his agent of interest from the club, he reacted by saying: ” What the f*ck is Southampton! Southampton! Is that my level!? F*cking Southampton!? Still Le Tissier, Pahars and Ibrahimovic would have been quite a strike force.