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Football Insider have claimed that Ralph Hasenhuttl and Southampton are ready to sell striker Charlie Austin this summer transfer window.

What's the word, then?

The 29-year-old forward is one of eight stars that the Saints are planning to offload over the course of the window and the only other name that was revealed is Matt Targett, per the original report.

Football Insider didn't mention any interest from other clubs in Austin but did suggest that he's just not seen as part of Hasenhuttl's long-term plans, having featured sporadically since his arrival.

The former Swindon Town star joined from Queens Park Rangers in January 2016 and has under one year left on his current contract at St Mary's.

Club mustn't price Austin out of exit

The south coast club are undoubtedly right to be moving the centre-forward on but they mustn't price him out of an exit as they really need to get rid of him in the next few months.

Austin is far from the type of attacker that would even do remotely well under the Hasenhuttl regime moving forward, and that's perhaps why he only played 16 times under him in 2018/2019, scoring one goal.

And if we look at the bigger picture, Austin has hardly lived up to his billing with the Saints with a mere 81 appearances in over three years, and just 20 goals. All that said, his time has been hampered by various injuries.

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As keen as Southampton will be to make a profit on the player having captured him for just £4m in the first place, they must be realistic when it comes to incoming bids.

If they have an unrealistic figure in mind for the Englishman and spend the whole summer holding out for it, they may just end up having to stick with him until January at the very least and that would be counterproductive.

As low as the transfer fee gets, within reason, the Saints must be willing to accept any advance made for Austin this window and bid him a gracious farewell.