Saints turn down £5m bid for Jones

The newly-promoted Rams had made a lesser bid for last season's 16-goal second top scorer towards the end of last week.

Last night's decision underlines the fact that Saints no longer have to sell any players in a bid to balance the books.

Following the sales of Gareth Bale and Chris Baird to Spurs and Fulham respectively this summer, George Burley is under no pressure to sell from the club's PLC board directors.

However, he is likely have to do that before he can bring in any new faces and has already said he is looking to "wheel and deal".

It could be that he offloads Pele to West Brom and uses that money to help fund Youssef Safri's arrival and to bring in another defender.

The Echo also understands that Rams boss Billy Davies is keen on midfielder Viafara, who scored twice in the second leg of last season's play-off final at Pride Park to force a penalty shoot-out Saints lost.

Viafara was a regular in Burley's team last season, his first since a £750,000 move from Portsmouth after playing only 14 Premiership games for the Fratton Park club in the top flight in 2005/06.

Saints, meanwhile, are contemplating reporting Derby to the FA as a result of their interest in Jones.

They are unhappy that the player's agent became aware of Derby's interest in the player despite their bid being rejected.

Chief executive Jim Hone is believed to be writing to the FA and Derby's chief executive officer Trevor Birch to try and get some answers.

Instead of worrying about sales, though, Burley is focussing on bringing in two new players before the big Championship kick-off against Crystal Palace on Saturday.

He said: "I'm optimistic we can get a couple of new faces in for Saturday.

"I was watching the (Brentford) game last Saturday and I was encouraged by a lot of aspects.

"But I felt after that we need two new players in and that's what I'm expecting to do.

"It might be the case (that somebody is sold) but, no matter what, we need to bring a couple of new faces in."