Puel to renew interest in Liverpool defender Sakho this summer

The 27-year-old Frenchman is well known to the Saints boss after starting his career with Paris St Germain in 2008.

Puel enquired about signing the centre half back in the January transfer window following Jose Fonte’s departure to West Ham and Virgil van Dijk’s ankle injury.

But Saints were believed to be scared off by Liverpool slapping a £20m price tag on a player who has totally out of favour at Anfield.

Sakho subsequently joined relegation threatened Crystal Palace on loan for the rest of the season.

He has made a stunning start at Selhurst Park, helping Palace to three wins in his three Premier League outings so far.

And the Eagles have yet to concede a goal in any of those wins, against Middlesbrough, West Bromwich Albion and Watford.

Puel will be able to see Sakho again next week, as Palace rack up at St Mary’s on Wednesday April 5 for a league game.

Palace don’t have first option to buy Sakho once his loan expires at the end of the season, however.

That could alert Puel once more - depending on what happens to his talismanic central defender van Dijk.

There has to be a big doubt as to whether the Dutchman has played his last game for Saints.

He has been out injured since the 3-0 win against Leicester City on January 22.

It is stating the obvious to say Saints have missed him.

After that win against the Foxes, the club had conceded 26 goals in 22 league matches.

They have since conceded 10 more in just five top flight games - including three at home to West Ham and three at Watford.

Saints are not going to rush van Dijk back from injury, with the club appearing unlikely to be sucked into a relegation battle with 11 games remaining - seven of which are at St Mary’s.

If he does not play again this season, van Dijk could well be sold in the summer with the Premier League elite all no doubt keen to sign him.

Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City have all been repeatedly linked with the player who cost Saints what now appears a bargain £13m from Celtic in August 2015.

If he is sold this summer, van Dijk could command a world record transfer fee for a defender - beating the £50m Paris St Germain paid for Chelsea’s David Luiz three years ago.

With that in mind, Puel would certainly have money available to bid for Sakho if he was identified as the one he wanted to replace van Dijk.

Though Saints have always publicly said the right things about wanting to keep van Dijk - who is on a long term contract - privately it might be a different matter.

After all, Saints are not going to be able to offer Europa League football for a third successive season.

Seventh place could be sufficient to reach Europe, but that would involve Manchester United finishing in the top four as well as whichever club wins the FA Cup.

As of today, though, Saints are 17 points adrift of seventh placed Everton, and even if they win their two games in hand will still be a long way behind Ronald Koeman’s men.

That means Saints face a tough battle to keep a player who will be offered Champions League football at Stamford Bridge, and possibly by other clubs as well.

And could Saints really turn down a bid of over £50m for one of their players?

Living in the realistic world, you would have to say it’s unlikely.

Sakho was a regular in the Liverpool team until April of last year.

Then, after being found guilty of breaking an anti-doping rule, he was punished by UEFA with a 30-day ban from all competitions - ending his season early.

In the summer, he was sent home from a club tour of the USA by Jurgen Klopp.

Not only had Sakho been late for the team’s flight to America, he was also late for a subsequent medical treatment session and a team meal.

He has not played for Liverpool in 2016/17, with his first competitive appearance of the season coming when he made his Palace debut on February 25.

Chelsea’s Nathan Ake has been linked with a possible move to St Mary’s, offered by Chelsea as part of a deal to take van Dijk to the Premier League champions elect.

After impressing at left back on loan to Watford last season, Ake’s star continued to rise when he played eight games at centre half on loan to Bournemouth earlier this season.

Since being recalled by Chelsea, Ake has only played in two FA Cup ties against lower division opponents.

Ake has only made one top flight start for the Blues, and that was on the final day of the 2012/13 season. Since then, he has made another four sub appearances in the league and been loaned out three times.

At 22 years old, though, Ake fits the Saints template of a player with great promise ahead of him but not yet the finished article.

The club have made a habit of signing those sort of players - witness last year’s recruitment of Nathan Redmond, Pierre Hojbjerg and Sofiane Boufal.

Martin Caceres could obviously enter the equation as well if van Dijk leaves.

After all, the Uruguyan has the advantage of already being at St Mary’s.

He could well make his long overdue Saints debut against Cherries this weekend, almost two months after signing for the club.

If he does, it will be his first competitive appearance for anyone since the first week of February 2016.

As a result, we have to wait and see how his fitness and match sharpness levels are.

At 29, he is two years older than Sakho and seven older than Ake.

With his recent injury record, and his age, he could be perceived as being a far bigger gamble than either of the other two centre halves.