Confirmed: 3 Southampton players to miss Wrexham AFC match all for the same reason | OneFootball

The Saints trio could all have played their final games for the club.

Tyler Dibling, Joe Aribo and Samuel Edozie will not be involved in Southampton's opening game of the season v Wrexham due to uncertainty around their futures with the club.

Saturday lunchtime will officially be the time when the Saints are welcomed back to the Championship.

With a different manager and a near-record tally of points gained last season, and not in a good way, Will Still is looking to make his first season as a first-team boss in England a successful one.

He will face Championship newcomers Wrexham in the club's curtain-raiser at St Mary's for the new campaign, pitting teams of respective Premier League and League One status from a season ago against one another.

Logically, then, Southampton should have the clear advantage. They're at home, against a newly promoted side from the third tier, and should be able to overpower them with their strength and depth. But this isn't any normal League One side.

Wrexham have plenty of money behind them, and have used it to full effect this summer, so this is no easy game for the Saints that'll allow them to dust off the cobwebs.

Southampton set to be without wanted trio for opening match against Wrexham

Worse still, some of Southampton's top players are set to miss the fixture, including talented teenager Tyler Dibling, whose future with the Hampshire club remains up in the air.

He was recently the subject of a £40 million bid from Everton - their second for the midfielder - but that was knocked back by Southampton, who, according to The Athletic, want a £45 million fee plus £5 million in add-ons for their academy product, and a 25 per cent sell-on clause.

As a result, Everton are looking elsewhere for similar players, but Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur are supposedly keen on Dibling too.

Because of the speculation surrounding him, and the risk of injury that playing matches presents, especially this early in the season, he will not be involved against Wrexham, as Radio Solent's sports editor Adam Blackmore has stated.

The same goes for Joe Aribo and Sam Edozie, who could also be leaving Southampton in short order.

TEAMtalk previously reported that the former will be available for a reduced fee this summer, while the latter, an ex-Manchester City youngster, is said to be heading for French club RC Strasbourg, as per journalist Sacha Tavolieri.

Other absentees from the Saints squad this weekend will include Taylor Harwood-Bellis, James Bree, Will Smallbone and Charlie Taylor - all due to injury/fitness issues - as per Blackmore.

There's no shock about the Dibling, Aribo and Edozie transfer movement

Dibling's departure, if it comes, will of course be a big blow to Southampton and their promotion hopes.

As a teenager getting his first taste of top-flight action, he more than held his own in the Premier League in a very poor Saints side last term.

He could be a huge player in helping the club he has graduated from as a youngster get back to the top-flight in the near future, whether that be through the players Southampton are able to sign due to the funds he raises, or for the impact he can have in the Championship should he stay put.

Aribo and Edozie, on the other hand, found life tougher at St Mary's in the previous campaign, and weren't mainstays of Still's pre-season first XIs, so it'll be no surprise to see them move on this summer.