This article is part of Football FanCast's Transfer Focus series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent transfer news...

According to TEAMtalk, Southampton are amongst a number of other Premier League clubs taking an interest in Woking starlet Oliver Creed, who has also caught the eye of Crystal Palace, Bournemouth and West Ham - Millwall and Brentford are also keen.

What's the word, then?

Well, the Saints are believed to be eyeing up the 16-year-old, who is already part of the first-team set-up at Woking.

Forget the fact that Woking play their football at National League level - for a teenager, especially a 16-year-old, to be part of the first-team set-up is an impressive feat and one that should not go unnoticed.

The centre-back presumably has a bright future in the game if he is already achieving such eye-catching feats.

Long-term solution 

As things stand, the Saints defence is a real problem area for Ralph Hasenhuttl.

The south coast side have conceded the third-most goals in the Premier League this season with 15 shipped in eight games, and their backline was hardly a cheap one.

£18m was spent on Jannik Vestergaard, a man who has started seven of those eight games, while £15m was spent on a centre-back who isn't even at the club anymore - Wesley Hoedt.

Hoedt finds himself on loan at Royal Antwerp in Belgium, and the interest in a young, up-and-coming prospect such as Creed could point to the fact that Southampton are keen not to find themselves in the same situation of being lumped with expensive underachievers.

The Saints have previously made a habit of developing rough diamonds into gems, with the likes of Gareth Bale, Theo Walcott, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Luke Shaw coming through their academy.

By targeting Creed with the assumed intention to develop him and bring him into the first-team, this could well suggest that the Saints are keen to avoid past mistakes and also avoid finding themselves in a similar situation.

With changes happening behind the scenes, it appears the club are finally learning their lesson.