Southampton: Dragan Solak 'will be desperate' to keep £34m star at St Mary's

Southampton’s new owners will not ‘want to lose’ their top players this summer as it ‘sends out the wrong signals’, according to journalist Pete O’Rourke.

Serbian-born cable television tycoon Dragan Solak completed a £100 million takeover of the club in January, with investment firm Sport Republic ending the majority ownership of Gao Jisheng.

According to Sky Sports, Solak is understood to be behind a new holding company which will examine offers for clubs around the world, replicating a business strategy employed by the owners of Manchester City.

However, Southampton failed to make any signings during the January transfer window, and Tom Barclay has previously informed GiveMeSport that the south coast club’s transfer policy will not change.

In recent years, the Saints have moved away from producing their own stars and have instead started to buy promising youngsters before developing them and selling on for sizeable profits.

The likes of Virgil van Dijk, Dejan Lovren and Sadio Mane have perhaps been the most successful examples of Southampton’s new approach, bringing in a combined £129m in transfer fees.

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And midfielder James Ward-Prowse is the latest star to be linked with a move to one of the Premier League’s top teams.

Southampton turned down a £25m bid from Aston Villa last summer before the England international signed a new five-year contract, yet Spanish sources claimed in January that Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur are all monitoring his progress.

O’Rourke believes that Ward-Prowse ‘would be a great signing’ for some of the Premier League’s elite sides, but that his exit could be damaging for Southampton’s new owners.

He told