Saints are likely to have to wait until the end of the season to discover whether they have a chance of signing Toby Alderweireld on a permanent basis.

The Belgian international has been a star attraction for Saints during his season long loan from Spanish side Atletico Madrid.

Saints would like to sign Alderweireld on a full-time basis, and have a fixed price fee of £6.8m agreed.

However, the situation is complicated as Atletico have the right to buy out that clause for around £1.8m, allowing them to sell him for more money, or to do as they have hinted and recall them for themselves next season.

“No, Les Reed is trying to have the contact to Atletico Madrid,” said Koeman.

“We know that about Toby that he likes to stay, we like that he stay in the club, but he has the contract with Atletico Madrid and that’s sometimes the difficulty in that relation, but I think we need one or two weeks more to know exactly what will happen to Atletico Madrid about Toby Alderweireld.”