Sigh.
A consequence of our third year in the Championship is the seemingly inevitable dilution of the team, as Premiership quality players are shipped out and replaced with Championship equivalents. You see it throughout the Championship, at Charlton with Bent, at West Brom with Koumas and Kamara and of course at Saints yet again.
The problem is not only that you don't get all the cash to reinvest in the team, it's that you can't replace like with like and it gets all the harder to get back to the Premiership.
Something of a surprise then to see Saints taking a Premiership quality player on trial, albeit one that has inevitably had an up and down career. Vignal broke into Liverpool's team in the treble winning season of 2000/2001, earning three winners medals.
A broken foot then hampered his progress, as did the arrival of the hugely talented Riise and Vignal was unable to break back into the side, suffering the indiginity of falling behind the legendary Zidane-spinning-own-goal-scoring Djimi 'just can't control his feet' Traore.
A successful loan spell at Rangers brought two more winners medals, although he was unable to agree personal terms and suffered the inevitable fall from grace of a move to Portsmouth...
Further spells at Lens and Kaiserslautern failed to yield the stability that his early promise showed and perhaps deserved and he is now looking to rebuild his career at Saints.
Great news for the club if Burley can repeat his magic of rebuilding the careers of the likes of Rasiak, Saganowski and Skacel (albeit at Hearts). An on-form Vigal would give us options at left back and left midfield providing valuable cover and plenty of options alongside Skacel.
Not quite as good as keeping Bale, but certainly potentially a cut above another Championship journeyman with no room for improvement. Let's hope the trial works out for all concerned.
After all, as a trial we have little to lose and much potentially to gain.