Saints are in negotiations with a left sided Dutch player if the rumour mill and the players own comments in the media are anything to go by.

Vitesse Arnhem player Alexander Buttner is close to signing for Saints, on Sunday night he was alledged to be staying in an hotel in Botley prior to talks with the club today, Buttner has also been acreditted with comenting favourably in the Dutch press about a move to Southampton and how le likes the area and the club.

Buttner is in many respects the type of player that the Saints scouting system targets, after originally being part of the jax youth set up he joined Vitesse Arnhem at 16 and now at 23 years old he has the right combination of youth and experience and has been a regular in the Vitesse side for the last four seasons, playing 32 out of 34 games last term and scoring 5 goals in the process as Vitesse finished seventh in the league qualifying for the Europa League in the process. In total he has made 107 Eridivisie appearances for Vitesse scoring 10 goals along the way.

Buttner has played mainly on the left side of midfield for the club, although at times he has played at left back and as a wing back, his form saw him named in the provisional 36 man Dutch squad for Euro 2012, one of nine uncapped players, although he did not make the final cut, with the Netherlands poor showing at the tournament and the need for change, he is seen as very much part of those changes and is expected to be named in the next squad and to win his first cap in the near future.

With only a year of his contract left at Vitesse, he would be available at a reasonable fee and both club and player could well see this as the right time to move on, certainly there has been other Premier interest with both QPR & Fulham linked with him, however his comments in the press about Saints show that his knowledge of the club and area seems to be fairly comprehensive with it seemingly being his destination of choice, as we know in football however what a player says and what eventually happens are sometimes quite different and there is a long road between the two, hopefully though this wont be the case with Alexander Buttner as he does seem the type of player we need.       

Photo: Action Images

patred added 09:31 - Jul 2 can only expect to be cover for Lallana and/or Fox
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SaintNick added 09:42 - Jul 2 Im not so sure, perhaps we will rejig our playing style a little
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ExiledSupporter added 10:15 - Jul 2 Perhaps this presages Lallana's move into central midfield, perhaps in the hole behind the striker(s)?
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Zambucco added 10:49 - Jul 2 From everything I've read and seen about him, he looks like he could be a brilliant signing. The right age, with experience, the right money. Again he would be creating competition in midfield and we would have quality cover there. The same as the cover we have with the forward line. I expect that before the season starts we will have similar cover in goal and in defence. I'm starting to become very confident in a great return to the premiership. Especially as we play like Spain! well nearly.

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darkangelv2 added 13:07 - Jul 2 Given that we play Lallana on the left and he's right footed, this guy could be our new right winger. Leaves them both interchangeable as ever.
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Toussaint added 13:21 - Jul 2 @ ExiledSupporter Agreed we wil probably go....4-5-1 away from home
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Toussaint added 13:23 - Jul 2 @ Zambucco Or the 4-6 lol
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felly1 added 13:24 - Jul 2 Wikipedia page for Vitesse Arnhem's squad list him as a defender. A left back.
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JimmySteal added 16:43 - Jul 2 Yeah right.....being cover for the Saints will make him a shoe-in for the Dutch team.....you think? If he comes it won't be without some guarantee of 1st team football.
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SaintNick added 16:55 - Jul 2 just shows how reliable wiki is, his own wiki page lists him as a midfielder
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slynch added 18:34 - Jul 2 As others have spotted here most of our conceded goals came via the LB position. This man sounds great, He can compete with Harding and Foxy can push into MF. Futhermore he's a Chav and proud of it - Barca has a Xavi and we'll have a Chavi - read http://netherlands.worldcupblog.org/world-cup-2010/alexander-buttner-vitesses-co for more info
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SaintNick added 21:24 - Jul 2 most of our goals ctually came down the middle as per the three conceded at Blackpool or the two against Pompey, or the two against Boro to name but seven in the final run in, if Buttner arrives i think we have seen the last of harding in a saints shirt only 12 starts last season perhaps tells us that
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darkangelv2 added 22:57 - Jul 2 Ummm, several of those goals came from the left Nick? They were the result of crosses that we allowed into the box. Our central defenders shouldn't have had to deal with that many balls in the box.
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SaintNick added 23:41 - Jul 2 i think you will find that none of those seven came from the left, Blackpool, first goal penalty given away on right hand side, second long punt down middle, missed by hooiveld, Fonte didnt get blook in, third header from corner. Pompey first goal was hit fro distance on our righ side of penalty area, second poor header was fired in from our right side of box. Middlebrough poor defensive header from hooiveld volleyed in from edge of box, second long through ball saw Forte pull back jutkiewicz and free kick fired home. A bit pedantic i know, but some people just can bear to give Fox credit, in our final ten games we let in 13 goals, of the other four, the two at millwall were both the result of Millwall running at the centre of our defence, Peterborough was a far post corner, Reading the first goal was down to Fox but the other two were central defensive mistakes, so the plain truth is that most of our conceded goals dont come from our left side but centrally, one goal down to Fox perhaps shows that in the main we dont give too much away down there, the descriptions of how these goals were conceded are all avaialble on the official club website and i checked there first before stating this as fact.

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slynch added 23:51 - Jul 2 "the descriptions of how these goals were conceded are all avaialble on the official club website and i checked there first before stating this as fact." Hi, How do you do that?? Cheers
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JimmySteal added 08:58 - Jul 3 So.....we're buying a left back and we read that Chelsea are to bid £4M for Luke Shaw. Is it me? Forget Buttner and play Shaw. Anyone?
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SaintNick added 10:32 - Jul 3 slynch, firstly I was present at all the games, so i know what i saw and secondly I checked the descriptions of the goals conceded on the official website to make sure my memory was correct, so perhaps you would care to read the match reports and correct your statement "most of our conceded goals came from the lb position" the truth is they didnt
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bstokesaint added 12:43 - Jul 3 All I can say is I look forward to the day we no longer have the Harding v Fox debate. I still personally feel there is not much between them. And I know that Fox is built up to be some great crosser of the ball, but the one full back that delivers consistent quality crosses into the box plays at right back, and I'm not talking Butterfield.
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ItchenNorth added 14:19 - Jul 3 We need a starting left back. Fox is not up to much, he's cover at best at this level. Luke Shaw should be in the mix too, but but again as cover for now. Being in and around the Dutch squad has some weight in my eyes, so he could well be just what we need. Our scouts must have done their homework and given the current left backs in Fox & Harding we need to up the quality in this position for sure.

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slynch added 00:35 - Jul 4 My statement was "As others have spotted here most of our conceded goals came via the LB position" so I can't really correct it as it was other people's observations; perhaps it was games like the one against Bristol City in Nov that convinced them. We'll have to wait and see what NA's thoughts are in the coming weeks.
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