SAINTS have been linked with a £3.5m move for West Ham midfielder Michael Carrick.

Though the England Under-21 midfielder would be a welcome addition to the St Mary's squad, midfield is one area where Saints are over-burdened with players.

They have over a full team of midfielders in the squad as it is and the need is surely to either sell or loan out some of the existing players before bringing anyone new in.

Should American winger DaMarcus Beasley sign from Chicago Fire, the competition for midfield places in 2004/05 would be even more fierce.

Saints midfielder David Prutton has been linked with Pompey - presumably because they now need a central midfielder following Alexei Smertin's return to Chelsea.

Prutton, signed by Saints from Forest for £2.5m in January 2003, is viewed as one of the most promising players at St Mary's.

Pompey would need to more than double their existing transfer record - £1.9m for Dejan Stefanovic - to even afford Prutton. And the club simply don't have that sort of cash - especially if they sign Ricardo Fuller, Lomana Lua Lua and David Unsworth this week.

Further reports claim ex-Saints defender Dean Richards will be offered to Pompey by Spurs in part exchange for left-back Matty Taylor.

Also, Saints centre half Fitz Hall was again linked with a switch to newly-promoted Crystal Palace.

Palace are managed by Iain Dowie, the boss who signed Hall from non-league Chesham for Oldham in March 2002 and who sold him against his wishes to Saints for £250,000 last summer.

Hall was signed for Chesham by Dowie's brother, Bob, who told the Daily Echo last season that Hall could be better than Rio Ferdinand - whom he coach he was at the West Ham academy.

Bob Dowie was recently appointed Palace's director of football.

Raymond Domenech has been named as the new France coach in succession to Jacques Santini, ending former England and Saints boss Glenn Hoddle's hopes of landing the job.

Domenech has spent 11 years as coach of France's Under-21 side and his standing within the French Football Federation has led to him to being given a crack at the top job.

Ex-Fulham chief Jean Tigana and former French defender Laurent Blanc had been considered the favourites when Hoddle was interviewed last week.