Southampton target Bamba Dieng ‘won’t be joining’ the Premier League club this month, according to journalist Ryan Taylor.

The Lowdown: Agent contact made

The Senegal international was one of his nation’s standout performers at the World Cup, and having entered the final 18 months of his contract at Marseille, has been attracting plenty of attention.

Nathan Jones’ side reportedly showed an interest in the striker and were soon in talks with his representatives regarding a potential move to the south coast, but after an enormously quick development, it sounds like a switch to St. Mary’s is now off the cards.

The Latest: Dieng set to join Lorient

Taking to Twitter on Tuesday evening, Taylor revealed that Dieng is set to join Ligue 1 outfit Lorient with discussions having rapidly accelerated over the past 24 hours.

“Bamba Dieng won’t be joining Southampton. He is undergoing a medical with Lorient tomorrow ahead of £9m permanent move. Talks have moved very quickly. Negotiations were centred around swap deal but West Ham target Terem Moffi has rejected move to Marseille.”

Dieng was the subject of a similarly fast-moving saga in the summer, as his move to Leeds fell at the last hurdle.

The Verdict: Another blow for Jones

Southampton have already missed out on Villarreal’s former striker Nicolas Jackson, who ended up putting pen to paper at Bournemouth, and Dieng doing the same is a huge blow for Jones.

The Adidas-sponsored star has netted 11 times and provided four assists during his spell at Marseille and currently ranks in the 97th percentile for expected goals per 90 minutes amongst forwards in the big five leagues.

The Saints being at the bottom of the table will be the reason why they are getting turned down, but the hierarchy somehow need to get an attacking reinforcement on board before the end of the window should they want to avoid the drop.