West Ham, Coventry City & Hull ready moves for £20m Southampton ace | OneFootball

Taylor Harwood-Bellis significantly impressed for Saints despite his actions amid spygate

Southampton are one club dominating EFL headlines at this moment in time, albeit not for many good reasons as a result of the well-documented Spygate saga.

Indeed, the fallout from Saints' recent expulsion from the Championship play-offs, after admitting to multiple breaches of EFL regulation 127 due to unauthorised observing of opposition training sessions ahead of encounters with Oxford United, Ipswich Town and then Middlesbrough in the first leg of the semi-finals, is still ongoing.

A league arbitration panel's decision to uphold said punishment, as well as a four-point deduction at the beginning of the 2026/27 is one of the most seismic punishments sanctioned against any club in the history of English football, meaning there is no real surprise that such developments continue to split opinions.

As a result, the South Coast side missed out on the chance of facing off against eventual Wembley winners, Hull City, on May 23rd, with the Tigers subsequently joining Coventry City and Ipswich Town in next season's Premier League.

Meanwhile, from a Saints perspective, the written findings of the investigation into spygate have been published, leading to an initial club statement, as well as further reactions from owner, Dragan Solak and head coach, Tonda Eckert.

With the summer transfer window looming large, question marks have since been raised as to how many star names the German will be able to retain heading into a second successive Championship campaign, with club captain, Taylor Harwood-Bellis, falling firmly into said category.

West Ham United, Coventry City and Hull City ready potential transfer moves for Southampton's Taylor Harwood-Bellis

The 24-year-old has been on Saints' books for just shy of three years, having initially joined on loan from Manchester City during Russell Martin's solitary, and promotion-winning season at St Mary's, having previously won the Championship title with Burnley.

The Reds' success over Leeds United at Wembley in May 2024 triggered a £20m clause in the deal, meaning Harwood-Bellis would become a permanent member of the squad heading into the 2024/25 Premier League campaign on a four-year contract.

Two of those years have now passed, with the one-time England international proving to be a shining light in a period of extremely mixed fortunes both in the top-flight, where Saints were only able to amass 12 points, and this season, with his strong performances helping Eckert's team initially reach the play-offs after a dismal spell under his predecessor, Will Still, prior to the aforementioned debacle.

Back in January, Football League World exclusively revealed that the Stockport native was on the radar of several Premier League sides, with the likes of West Ham, Everton and Crystal Palace, in particular, namedropped as subsequent potential destinations.

Given Saints' need to potentially balance the books, exit talk is now surrounding the defender once more, with talkSPORT revealing that Harwood-Bellis is still admired by chiefs at the London Stadium, as the Irons prepare for their first spell as a Championship side in 14 years.

However, a report also states that Coventry and Hull could make their own moves for his services following their respective promotions, as both Frank Lampard and Sergej Jakirovic look to make the required squad changes in an attempt to keep Premier League football at the CBS Arena and MKM Stadium in the long haul.

West Ham would need to offload star names before pressing forward with Taylor Harwood-Bellis move

Despite the fact Coventry and Hull have swapped places with West Ham in the pyramid, some would argue that a move to the London Stadium could still be more attractive for Harwood-Bellis, although there are some sticking points to any potential deal on that front too.

It has been claimed that the Hammers' financial situation means they are expected to have to generate in excess of £100m to balance the books, with former Saints ace, Mateus Fernandes, likely to generate the majority of those funds, before any marquee additions are to be considered.

Given his aforementioned cost to Southampton, and current worth as captain and a player with an England cap to his name, it seems rather unlikely that the Hampshire outfit would deem any bids lower than £20m acceptable.

Meanwhile, Coventry and Hull at times, received criticism for their defensive showings in their promotion-winning campaigns, and with the Tigers seeing transfer success with former England youth international, Charlie Hughes, over the past two years, a link to a Three Lions senior international, who is still set to reside in the Championship as things stand, appears logical on the surface.