The agent acting on behalf of promising Ipswich pair Darren Bent and Matthew Richards has finally killed off speculation they are set to complete a £3m move to Saints by insisting: "These lads are not going anywhere."

Jonathan Barnett, who also represents stars such as John Hartson and Kieron Dyer, this morning confirmed he had told the teenagers they were best off staying at Portman Road.

Gordon Strachan has maintained that Saints were not in the hunt for the pair but after quotes from Joe Royle came out suggesting St Mary's interest, the club yesterday were unable to either confirm nor deny the reports on their website.

But Barnett has cleared up the confusion by saying: "These lads are not going anywhere - I'm telling them to stay where they are.

"They couldn't be in better hands than with Joe Royle at Ipswich."

19-year-old striker Bent is considered a great prospect and cemented his reputation with another goal for the England Under-21s in this week's friendly with Serbia and Montenegro.

But it is believed that Strachan would like to bring in a more ex- perienced campaigner from the Premiership or abroad to bolster his strike force.

There would also not be massive logic in bringing in 18-year-old left back Richards when they already have England international Wayne Bridge and recently added Danny Higginbotham to cover that position.

The £3m quoted for the pair would eat up a reasonable chunk of Strachan's possible transfer budget and as such he will try and use his resources elsewhere.