Southampton make fresh transfer admission amid Liverpool interest in Romeo Lavia

Russell Martin has revealed that it will be 'natural' that some of Southampton's players will start to leave in the coming weeks.

The Saints are preparing for life back in the Championship after suffering Premier League relegation last season. That means that several of their players are expected to depart and return to the top flight.

One member of the Southampton squad who is expected to be on the move is Romeo Lavia. The midfielder only joined the south-coast side from Manchester City last summer and was one of the beacons of light in a dismal campaign, making a total of 33 appearances.

Liverpool have been tracking Lavia and could step up their interest following the likely departures of Fabinho and Jordan Henderson. A £50 million price tag is said to have been slapped on the 19-year-old, who featured for just 18 minutes in the Saints’ 4-2 friendly win against Reading yesterday.

And Martin, who was appointed St Mary's boss earlier this summer, believes that players will soon start departing.

Speaking ahead of the Reading clash to the Southern Daily Echo, Martin said: “It’s about timing. So much of football is about timing and opportunity. We have players that we are interested in and that know we are interested in them.

“We are having to be patient in a way because we do have to lighten the load, not purely just for training but financially as well for the club. There will also be opportunities like with [Ryan] Manning and [Shea] Charles where we had to move when we did.

“The club and the owners have been willing to do that which is fantastic for us. It’s natural that people will have to start leaving otherwise we will end up with a huge squad and I don’t think that is beneficial to anybody.

“There have been some other clubs where that has happened, and it’s been quite detrimental to the club. We will have to see where we end up in terms of numbers. Things will start happening soon I am sure. The market has been really slow.”