Former Southampton vice-chairman Les Reed has revealed that the club were interested in deals to sign a clutch of Leicester City’s title-winners, as well as some of their more recent stars.

Leicester have a phenomenal track record when it comes to recruitment, bringing in a number of players for small fees and subsequently enjoying exceptional success.

The signings of Jamie Vardy, Riyad Mahrez, and N’Golo Kante helped the club achieve one of the great underdog stories in the sport, when they won the Premier League title.

And this season, Youri Tielemans scored a brilliant goal to win the FA Cup final against Chelsea.

Southampton have not had anywhere near the same level of success, finishing 15^th in 20/21, 11^th in 19/20, 16^th in 18/19 and 17^th in 17/18. They have not won a major trophy since 1976, when they lifted the FA Cup, though they were runners-up in the League Cup in 2016/17.

Reed, though, has now confirmed that it could have been a very different story, with a number of Leicester players on the club’s radar before they made the move to the Foxes, including Vardy, who has scored 118 Premier League goals, and Tielemans.

Speaking exclusively to The Transfer Tavern, Reed said: “Going back to when they won the league, Simpson, Fuchs, Albrighton, Vardy had all been on our radar; Fofana, Tielemans, Maddison, Praet.”