SAINTS today insisted they are NOT preparing to make a bid for England star Trevor Sinclair.

The club also denied any interest in ex-Arsenal striker Kaba Diawara or Chinese midfielder Li Tie, who was at Everton last season.

Tabloid reports had linked Saints with a possible £1.5m bid for Sinclair, who has won 11 England caps.

Liverpool, Birmingham and Blackburn have also been rumoured to be interested in prising Sinclair away from relegated West Ham.

The 30-year-old winger cost the Hammers £2.3m when he signed from Queens Park Rangers in January 1998. Since then, he has made 175 Premiership starts for West Ham and scored 37 goals, including nine last season.

Diawara, meanwhile, cost Arsenal £2.5 when Arsene Wenger bought his countryman from Bordeaux in January 1999.

But after only two starts - the first in a 0-0 draw with Saints at The Dell in April of that year - and 10 substitute appearances, he was sold to Marseille five months after Arsenal signed him.

After moving on again to Paris St Germain, he spent an unsuccessful trial spell with Blackburn at the beginning of the 2000/01 campaign before joining West Ham on loan.

Last season he was top scorer for Nice with 12 goals as they finished 10th in the French First Division, though they had led the table in January.

Tabloid reports also claim Saints have made another inquiry about 25-year-old Li Tie, who spent a successful season on loan from Chinese club Liaoning Fushen.

Newcastle, Manchester City and Tottenham are also rumoured to be keen on the player.

Li Tie, who spent a trial period with Saints over a year ago, played 33 times for Everton in 2002/03 including both Premiership matches against Saints, but failed to score a single goal.

Saints have also denied reports in Saturday's Daily Echo that Anders Svensson claims the club are interested in bringing fellow Swedish international midfielder Kim Kallstrom to St Mary's.

The Djurgarden man was linked with a move to Liverpool in January of this year and Djurgarden president Bo Lundquist admitted: "If a reasonable offer came in for Kim, we would not stand in his way."

Former Aston Villa boss Graham Taylor was also known to be keen on signing Kallstrom last October.

And Torino and Bayer Leverkusen have also monitored his situation in recent months.

Saints chairman Rupert Lowe last Friday denied Saints were interested in signing a host of players including Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Nottingham Forest striker Marlon Harewood.

Solksjaer told a Norwegian newspaper at the weekend that he is definitely staying at Manchester United. "No other clubs interest me," he said.

Saints chairman Rupert Lowe said: "People think we are the only club with money to spend and they are trying to stitch two ends to meet up in the middle," said Lowe.

"There is no point signing someone for the sake of it."

Today he added: "There are no signings imminent."