Southampton defender Yan Valery has asked friend and Red Bull Leipzig defender Ibrahima Konate to join him at St Mary’s in his Instagram story on Thursday.

The young Frenchman was conducting a Q&A with people on his Instagram account as he keeps himself occupied during the current halt to Premier League proceedings, with one Saints fan asking the 21-year-old to tell Konate, whom he has played with for France at various youth levels, to join the south coast outfit.

Valery replied, tagging his compatriot: "You need to come bro."

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The fact he used a shrug of the shoulders and a laughing emoji suggests it is a joke, and perhaps that is because he doesn’t feel the Champions League player would be up for the move to link up with Ralph Hasenhuttl for the second time.

Indeed, it was the Austrian who signed the 20-year-old for Leipzig in 2017 and handed him his debut, and he has since gone on to make 71 appearances in all competitions for the Bundesliga club.

Saints would probably love to have Konate, but it would surely be difficult to convince him to move to St Mary’s, as well as the fact he is rated at £40.5m by Transfermarkt.

In other Southampton news, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg's recent tweet has got loads of Saints fans talking...