Saints are preparing for life without Ronald Koeman as the Dutchman edges ever closer to a move to Everton.

Though as of last night the clubs had yet to agree a compensation deal, the Daily Echo understands that Everton are expected to stump up a cool £5m – which is around double the value of the remaining year on Koeman’s St Mary’s deal – to land their man.

Once that figure has been finalised, which could be as soon as today, then Koeman will be reluctantly granted permission to open talks with the Toffees.

There had been suggestions that these had already been completed, but Koeman’s new agent, appointed just before the dramatic change of heart which is likely to see him ditch Saints for Everton, has claimed he has been misquoted about any such arrangement.

If talks were to have taken place before Saints had given permission then it could have been reported to authorities and investigated as a possible illegal approach.

Koeman is understood to have made it clear to Saints that he wishes to be allowed to speak with Everton, despite as recently as last Thursday all parties expecting he would sign a two-year contract extension.

The remarkable turn of events since means that executive director Les Reed has been trying to juggle the Koeman issue with planning for the future.

Saints will be thorough in their bid to get the right man in to replace Koeman, assuming his move to Goodison Park goes ahead as expected, but will not want to wait too long.

They do have some grace with the European Championships taking place.

That inevitably means next to no significant transfer activity will take place during June, and with no players due back until the start of July there is time to plan and for a new manager to have a full pre-season.

Saints constantly monitor potential managerial replacements, and will be ready to move.

They are sure to get a flood of applications, with speculation suggesting departing Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini could be amongst them.

Saints will be desperate to appoint somebody who fits into their way of doing things and their vision for the future.

Eddie Howe at Bournemouth would be an obvious choice, as an outstanding young British manager who has achieved great success without outrageous levels of spending.

Howe’s sides also play the brand of football Saints want their teams to play, and would be seen as somebody who would hopefully stay at the club for an extended period of time, able to develop and nurture young talent as well as strive for greater things in the short term.

Howe is settled on the south coast, but whether he would fancy the move to Saints remains to be seen.

He is known to be very happy with his life at Bournemouth, where he has all but a job for life given what he has done for the club.

Thanks to their rich backers, he is also understood to be well paid by the Cherries.

The overwhelming question for Howe would be whether he feels he can achieve bigger things at Saints, and also whether the structure of the club that is presented to him is suitable.

Saints wanted to appoint Howe in 2010 under former chairman Nicola Coretse, but he turned down the advances, reportedly because he didn’t want to a move from a club where he has total control over all football issues to one where he did not.

Though the style at Saints is different since Cortese left, Howe would no doubt want assurances he could be left to his own devices.

Other names linked with the job include Frank De Boer, Andre Villas-Boas and Unai Emery.