Rumour Mill - Keepers, Kanchelskis and Piper.

"We recently had a case where we identified a very good player and agreed terms with the club, but the player himself had an unrealistic view of what he should be paid at the tender age of 23, so there are important criteria to be filled before we bring anyone in and if people don't accept our culture it is better that they play somewhere else."

The rumour mongers moved on to Niemi from Hearts before setting their sights on the unlikely choice of Nigel Martyn. I say unlikely, not because he's a bad 'keeper, but because I'm very surprised that Leeds would be willing to let him go.

As much as I rate Paul Jones, there's no doubt that Martyn is the all round better 'keeper and is currently England's number two in that position.

Rupert Lowe is reamining tight lipped on the whole thing saying: "We do not comment on transfer speculation until any deal is done. That is out of fairness to any players and their clubs." Actually it's done to prevent other clubs nipping in and paying them more than Saints were willing to, which should be easy enough. It's also to prevent the club being involved in any bidding wars.

Rupert continued: "We are not going to confirm or deny these reports which are either an agent trying to put a player in the shop window or someone trying to make us pay over the odds for a 36-year-old.

"It is common knowledge that Gordon Strachan is trying to strengthen the goalkeeping position so this is agent talk."

Saints other problem area is felt to be on the right side of midfield. Last season, Paul Telfer did an admirable job, partnering well with Jason Dodd. The club are looking for a more attacking option, however, and don't feel that either Imants Bleidelis or Fabrice Fernandes can fill in.

There haven't been too many links to players to fill the role, but Leicesters Matthew Piper has emerged as strong favourite. Earlier in the week Leicester agreed a fee with Sunderland but Piper failed to agree terms.

This enabled Saints to table their own bid which was also accepted. Whether or not the club can offer more to Piper remains to be seen.

Rupert Lowe said: "The objective is still to strengthen the team. But if we can't find players who will strengthen the squad within our financial parameters then we won't bring them in.

The 20 year old winger was definitely one of Leicester's bright spots in their relegation season. He gave Wayne Bridge a run for his money when the Foxes met the Saints last season and continued to impress in many other appearances.

Leicester boss, and former Saint, Mickey Adams said: "It is a difficult decision for him. He is a young man with a lot of potential and this is a big decision for him to make for himself and his career."

Strachan is looking to strengthen the squad, despite warnings from Lowe regarding finance limits. He said: "We could do with getting one or two more players in, not for me or for the fans but the players themselves.

"If they're all fit I'm very happy with the squad but when we have three or four injuries it looks very bare.

The secret to our success is keeping everyone fit but there is no point bringing in players for the sake of it. We have not got the money to go out and buy players who are better than what we already have.

"If we wanted to bring in better players than the likes of James Beattie, Wayne Bridge, Rory Delap and Marian Pahars we would have to be looking to spend £10m.

"That money isn't available but what we can do is improve our squad by buying players for prices in the region of £2m.

"Increasing competition is just as important. Fabrice Fernandes came in for £1.5m but that put pressure on Chris Marsden, who did well enough to keep his place on the left side of midfield and became player of the year.

"Similarly, Brett Ormerod was signed for £1m and James Beattie and Marian Pahars responded by finishing the season with more goals than they've ever scored as a pair."