According to the print version of The Sun on Sunday (August 19, page 60), Southampton will face competition from Premier League rivals Burnley in the race to sign Lille winger Nicolas Pepe during the January transfer window.
What's the word, then?
Well, France Football reportedly earlier this month that Saints had a €14m (£12.5m) offer rejected for the highly-rated attacker before the transfer window slammed shut, and their interest in the Ivory Coast international is backed up in The Sun on Sunday.
The Sun on Sunday report that Clarets boss Sean Dyche also wants him after he was priced out of a summer move for West Bromwich Albion's Matt Phillips, and he will launch a £15m bid to bring Pepe to Turf Moor in the New Year.
The report adds that Lille are ready to sell the wide man for the right price, and he certainly began the new season well with a goal and an assist in the 3-1 win at home to Rennes on the opening day of the French top flight campaign.
Should Southampton be worried by Burnley’s interest?
Possibly.
While Saints will know that they can probably offer higher wages to the player, if the Lancashire club proceed through to the group stages of the Europa League and beyond then the offer of European football could swing things in their favour.
That is a long way away though, and there is no doubt that Mark Hughes would likely be able to guarantee that Pepe would be a regular fixture in the starting XI given his side's continued struggles in the final third.
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James Ward-Prowse started on the right in the 2-1 defeat to Everton on Saturday, but he certainly isn't a player that can cause a threat with his pace and trickery like Pepe can.
Southampton should be confident of sealing a deal for the 23-year-old if it's solely between them and Burnley, and his arrival at St Mary's would surely push Ward-Prowse through the exit door given it would push him further down the pecking order.