James Ward-Prowse has called on Saints to avoid being distracted ahead of today’s match against Hull at St Mary’s, with talk of a Chinese takeover of the club intensifying.

Katharina Liebherr and potential new owner Gao Jisheng have been involved in meetings with the Premier League over a potential £210m purchase of Saints by the Lander Holdings Group businessman.

With high level discussions ongoing, Ward-Prowse, the club’s longest-serving player, has reassured fans that Claude Puel’s men are not letting the uncertainty off-field occupy their thoughts ahead of the Tigers visit, although admits he isn’t surprised about the interest in Saints.

“I think the way the club has handled itself on and off the pitch over the past few years means there’s always going to be interest from other parties,” he said.

“That’s credit to the way the club’s run first and foremost and the way that we’ve been playing on the pitch; it’s going attract a lot of attention.

“But that decision [to sell] will be made by the relevant people at the club and get sorted one way or another.

“Our main focus though is finishing the season strongly and finishing as high as possible.”

The 22-year-old added that the prospective multi-million pound takeover is not something the players have spoken about.

“It’s not something that has been discussed,” he said. “I’m not sure everyone’s aware of it, but we’re just focused on the job in hand.

“As I say we want to finish high up and the only way of doing that is staying fully focused on the job in hand.”

The Daily Echo understands that Liebherr and Jisheng attended a meeting with the Premier League to plead their case that a deal to sell 80 per cent of the club to Lander Holdings should be allowed to go through.

They must now await a final verdict which will decide whether Jisheng will pass the so-called fit and proper persons test to be given clearance to complete the purchase.

The Premier League have reportedly expressed concerns about Jisheng, with a number of allegations having been made about his previous conduct by Chinese media.

It is believed that Jisheng has strenuously denied the claims, and was open to discussing funding of the deal, after that was questioned in some quarters.