Southampton backed to make Shea Charles transfer decision - "I'd be surprised" | OneFootball

Interest in Shea Charles has cooled as we enter the final days of the transfer window

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Southampton's squad has undergone a transformation in the first transfer window of Will Still's tenure, with a handful of high-profile names from their Premier League days departing the club.

The likes of Kamaldeen Sulemana, Aaron Ramsdale, Kyle Walker-Peters and Jan Bednarek had all moved on earlier in the window, with the recent departure of Tyler Dibling also bringing yet another long-standing transfer saga to an end as the 19-year-old moved to Everton for £42m.

Despite there being very little in the way of incomings, the Saints have begun their latest era in mixed fashion, winning, drawing and losing one of their three Championship encounters thus far, as well as progressing into the third round of the EFL Cup with a comfortable success at Norwich City.

Still continues to have a solid core of vastly-experienced second-tier players at his disposal, with many names featuring regularly during the club's play-off success or on loan elsewhere.

Shea Charles falls into both of said categories, and it looks as though the Solent club are to retain the 21-year-old's services for the time being, despite prior Premier League interest.

Shea Charles dubbed "too important" to Southampton's promotion aims following previous Leeds United exit talk

After excelling on loan with Sheffield Wednesday last term amid Saints' dismal relegation campaign, Charles became the subject of transfer interest from newly-promoted Leeds United in early June, with it being claimed that the Whites were "seriously considering" a move for the ex-Manchester City man.

Since then, though, Daniel Farke has recruited the likes of Sean Longstaff and Anton Stach, meaning speculation over Charles' immediate future has cooled ahead of next week's transfer deadline - a scenario which FLW's Southampton fan pundit, Martin Sanders, is rather pleased with.

"I'd be surprised if anyone comes and bids for Shea Charles at this moment in time - he's not really setting the world alight," Sanders told FLW.

"He's been good, but he hasn't hit the dizzy heights he did at Sheffield Wednesday last season, but he's too important and Saints won't sell him. They won't let him go.

"He's too big a player, I would think at this moment in time," Sanders added. "Downes isn't playing well enough next to him.

"You'd need an adequate replacement as he's like a lynchpin in midfield. He's such an important player.

"I'm not sure it'd be the greatest move for him in the world at this moment in time. He needs a year with us, and hopefully, he'll progress from there," he claimed.

"I'm sure if we didn't get promoted, clubs would come knocking at that stage. But, I don't expect him to go anywhere (right now), to be honest."

Shea Charles can continue his upward trajectory as a mainstay in Southampton's midfield

As Sanders alluded to, Charles has been solid, if not spectacular, so far this season. But, there are still 42 games left for the Northern International to return to the best version of himself, which those at Hillsborough saw so often last term, following on from Saints' play-off success.

Unsurprisingly, Southampton are one of the favourites for promotion, and having a player of his calibre and attributes that is capable of breaking up and quickly progressing play into forward areas is essential to those aims.

Those at St Mary's will be glad that interest from Leeds has gone quiet as the window progresses, and one fails to see if he would sample regular minutes at Elland Road if the West Yorkshire side were to rekindle their interest anytime soon, with last season's second-tier champions rather stacked in the central midfield department.

At present, Charles has two years remaining on his deal in Hampshire, and Southampton would also be looking to make a profit on the £15m they parted with to prize him away from Manchester City.