Well it didn't take long! No sooner had the buzz from the FA Cup final began to subside than the summer rumour mill went into overdrive.

First, Liverpool are reported to be the latest in a line of big-name clubs to be "lining up" a mega-million pound bid for James Beattie.

Last week, it was Newcastle and Inter Milan... before that it was Manchester United.

Beattie himself has made no secret of his desire to play Champions' League football "at some stage" in his career but only last week said: "I'm very happy at St Mary's. I've settled here and got a good life for myself.

"As far as I'm concerned, I'll be back at Saints next year and playing in a team that are in Europe."

The 25-year-old Saints hitman was desperately unlucky to see his injury-time header cleared off the line in front of a worldwide audience at Cardiff on Saturday - and is in the England squad for the Euro 2004 qualifiers against Slovakia and Serbia & Montenegro.

Having signed a new contract four months ago and scored 23 times in the Premiership to finish just two goals behind Golden Boot winner Ruud van Nistelrooy of Manchester United, it would indeed take a huge fee for Saints to even consider letting Beattie go.

Saints boss Gordon Strachan insisted: "No player will leave this club unless they want to - and I'm not aware of any that do."

That goes especially for Anders Svensson, who has phoned Strachan to apologise for stories linking him with a move from St Mary's.

The Swedish international told the Daily Echo after the FA Cup final that he was happy at Southampton and looking forward to playing for the club in their first European campaign for almost 20 years next season.

But quotes attributed to Svensson in yesterday's tabloids insisted he was unhappy with Strachan's tactics. The player immediately contacted Strachan, who said the World Cup star was "angry and embarrassed" by the stories.

Strachan confirmed: "Anders phoned me first thing this morning, as soon as he saw the story on television. He was angry and embarrassed by it.

"He said it is nothing to do with him and he's more than happy here.

"He gets picked here, he has been to the World Cup, the FA Cup final and now into Europe.

"The first story appeared on the morning of the final but he knew nothing about them until last night. I wish people wouldn't start rum-ours like this without checking."

Saints chairman Rupert Lowe said the reports were "nonsense and people would do well to check with the player and his agent."

One player Saints are reported to have agreed a £1.5m fee for is 22-year-old Moroccan inter-national striker Hicham Aboucherouane.

The African Player-of-the-Year plays his club football with Raja Casablanca and will now fly to St Mary's later this week to discuss personal terms, having already impressed Strachan during a one-week trial at Saints.