Fabrice Fernandes is sweating on whether his 18 months of misery at Saints will end with his joining Bolton on a free transfer.

The 25-year-old French winger has fallen drastically out of favour under Harry Redknapp.

He will be allowed to move back to the Premiership for nothing - despite having another year to run on his contract.

However, Bolton boss Sam Allardyce has moved from being keen on Fernandes to slightly more apprehensive in the last 24 hours.

He will be forced to make a final decision on whether to sign the enigmatic winger or not before the transfer window closes today.

Personal terms have been agreed and a medical passed.

Fernandes would become the 16th player to leave Saints since relegation - following Jamie Redknapp, Olivier Bernard, Henri Camara, Calum Davenport, Jason Dodd, Graeme Le Saux, Allaedine Yahia, Jelle Van Damme, Peter Crouch, Kevin Phillips, Paul Telfer, Anders Svensson, Jo Tessem, Andreas Jakobsson and Mike Williamson.

Only five have been recruited in the same time - Dennis Wise, Tomasz Hajto, Ricardo Fuller, Djamel Belmadi and Darren Powell.

Fernandes, below, joined Saints in December 2001 for £1.1m from French club Rennes after having loan spells at Rangers and Fulham but could become the 16th player to leave the club this summer.

He became a regular under Gordon Strachan, playing on the right of midfield and cutting in onto his favoured left foot. However, after a poor showing against Arsenal the week before the FA Cup final, he found himself dropped for Saints' biggest match in years and never regained his form.

He narrowly avoided jail after a driving conviction in 2004 and he slipped so far down the pecking order under Redknapp that he has been training with the youth team.

Fernandes has made 88 starts for Saints during his time at the club plus 18 sub appearances. He has scored just six goals.

The potential switch was first reported in the Daily Echo several weeks ago when Allardyce lined up Fernandes as a potential replacement for Greek international Stelios.

However, the midfielder signed a new three-year deal last week, seemingly ending the Trotters interest in Fernandes. But Allardyce has had a change of heart.

The player's agent, Willie McKay, talked up his player's chance of moving by saying: "Everything has been agreed between Fabrice and Bolton and he is keen to get back playing in the Premiership."