SAINTS have returned to Nottingham to sign a second teenage striker that could end up costing them half a million.

In May 2003 Saints raided Meadow Lane to snap up promising forward Leon Best, a product of the Magpies' academy system.

Now they have landed Best's one-time Notts youth team strike partner David McGoldrick in a deal which could be worth up to £500,000 - the price tag Notts slapped on the 16-year-old's head only last month.

Saints have fought off competition from Premiership rivals Fulham, Blackburn, Everton and Tottenham to sign McGoldrick, who made his senior Notts debut as a sub last season.

Notts rated McGoldrick, pictured right, as their hottest prospect since Jermaine Pennant, who also left Meadow Lane aged just 16 and who sprang to prominence with a first-team hat-trick for Arsenal against Saints at the end of the 2002/03 season.

Best cost Saints an initial downpayment of around £50,000 - but if he plays a certain number of first team games that figure will rise to around £500,000. Saints academy director Huw Jennings is hoping the League Two outfit will agree to a similar deal for McGoldrick, despite the large price tag they attached to him just weeks ago.

"If we sign a player and he progresses to play 50 or 100 games in the first team then we have no problem paying £500,000," said Jennings. "That's nothing when you consider the millions it costs to sign first-team players these days.

"But we also hope Notts County will be realistic about their valuation of a player.

"£50,000 as a downpayment as a resonable fee to compensate a club for work done on a player. David's been at Notts six years so I do feel £50,000 is a good price.

"You also have to remember that the Premier League subsidises each Football League club's centre of excellence.

"Around £5m of the tv money goes into a fund - the government and the FA put money in as well - and each club can receive £138,000 each year providing they reach certain criteria.

"So the Premier League do helpFootball League clubs to bring on their own players.

"It's got to be a two-way street - yes, Premiership clubs will be keen at times to sign academy players from the Football League but we hope the Football League clubs appreciate the help they get from the Premier League."

McGoldrick will strengthen Saints' Under-16 strike options - they currently have exciting prospects Nathan Dyer and Theo Walcott, the 15-year-old who came on as a sub against Eastleigh for a Saints XI in pre-season.

But both those players can also operate out wide while McGoldrick, according to Saints academy director Huw Jennings, "is more of a traditional striker - he can hold the ball up and link others into the game.

"I don't want people to make comparisons between him and Leon.

"Leon's a very powerful player, his strength is his strength and he's not short of pace either. David is very clever, he's got two good feet - there's a clich, show me a footballer who has two bad feet! - and an eye for goal."

McGoldrick turned down an academy contract at Notts last May, alerting Saints in the process.

But Jennings is eager to get the message across that he doesn't want local people thinking the academy is not interested in south coast based teenagers.

"We have always said we want to maximise the local potential if we can," he remarked. "This is an academy for local people. But there comes a time when you have to look away from your own region. The Southampton conurbation is only so big, a lot of our Premiership rivals have far bigger areas close at hand - like London, the Midlands, the North East and North West. Sometimes we have to look at other regions, and a big city like Nottingham can throw up more talented youngsters than Southampton can because it's a bigger area."