Daily Echo:

Saints are unlikely to accept any loan approach for Sam Gallagher, with Harry Redknapp reportedly plotting a swoop for the striker.

The 21-year-old has just committed his long term future to Saints after signing a four-year deal that ties him to St Mary’s until 2021.

However, that hasn’t stopped Birmingham’s former Saints manager Redknapp supposedly eyeing a potential loan move for Gallagher.

The rangy striker impressed during his stint at Blackburn last season, re-establishing his credentials after a time in the wilderness following his eruption on the Saints first team scene under Mauricio Pochettino in 2013/14.

It was that form while at Rovers that convinced Les Reed to offer Gallagher a big new deal, to both protect his value and hand him the confidence that Saints will try to get him involved at first team level again.

The Daily Echo understands that before signing his contract Gallagher wanted assurances he would be given the chance to fight for a first team place and some Premier League game time, something Saints agreed to.

The sale of Jay Rodriguez was another nod towards Gallagher’s status, as the £14m man’s switch to West Brom opened up another striking spot.

Mauricio Pellegrino, who is running the rule over Gallagher in pre-season training, has Manolo Gabbiadini, Charlie Austin and Shane Long as his other main front man options.

Gallagher’s great advantage is that at 6ft 4in tall, he is the only one naturally suited to playing as a target man.

Saints yesterday confirmed that Harrison Reed has joined Championship promotion hopefuls Norwich on a season-long loan, which may have given Birmingham extra hope that Saints would consider loaning out Gallagher.

However, that would have to involve Saints signing another striker and Pellegrino coming to the conclusion that Gallagher has little chance of playing under his leadership, with both those things currently thought unlikely.

Saints are keen to get some of their youngsters into the first team, and Gallagher is seen as a player with the potential to do that.

The situation with Reed was a little different.

He is well down the pecking order at Saints, despite having been given a four-and-a-half-year contract in December.

At 22, he desperately needs game time but the chances of him getting past Oriol Romeu, Jordy Clasie, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and potentially Steven Davis and James Ward-Prowse to get a place in front of the back four are currently remote.

Saints have turned down a raft of loan offers for Reed in the past, believing he was best to keep developing at the club, playing for the under-23s and hopefully taking a first team chance.

However, successive managers have overlooked him, and after playing just 62 minutes of Premier League football last season, Saints decided the time was right for him to get some valuable experience in the hope that he returns a better player as Gallagher has done.