SAINTS owner Gao Jisheng has knocked £50million off his asking price, according to a report in the Daily Star.

Chinese businessman Gao, who owns a controlling stake in the St Mary’s side, is said to have dropped his asking price due to the coronavirus crisis.

However, the Daily Echo is led to believe these reports are wide of the mark.

The suggestion in the Daily Star comes a month after the Sunday Times claimed the majority shareholder invited a broker to source a buyer for the club with an asking price of £250million.

Gao bought his 80 per cent stake in Saints three years ago when he paid Katharina Liebherr £210million, although she retained a 20 per cent share.

As previously reported in the Daily Echo, the south coast outfit aren’t actively marketing themselves as up for sale but, as with every football club, are always open to investment.

Gao’s approach to ownership is that he wants Saints to be a self-sustaining club which, as things stand, means he won’t be investing any more money into the club.

It’s worth noting, though, that the Chinese businessman helped find a solution to being able to come up with their three-month wage deferral scheme.

Gao rarely speaks about Saints in public but once shared his intentions with the Financial Times.

He said: “I am not treating Southampton as a pig to be fattened and sold.

“I am treating it as a child. But my children must believe they cannot depend on the boss.

“I have said to Southampton: ‘I am now your father. But I am putting you on the right track: you need to feed yourself.’”

It’s not the first time that there have been reports suggesting Saints are up for sale and it’s not unusual for third parties to claim they have a mandate to sell players or clubs when that isn’t always the case.

It was previously claimed that Gao was looking to sell the St Mary’s side after he sold his 30 per cent stake in Lander Sports Development for approximately £148.5million.

However, in terms of a sale, nothing is yet to materialise which would see a new owner take control of Saints and the majority shareholder is said to remain fully committed to the club.

His daughter, Nelly, lives in the UK and effectively acts as his eyes and ears, although she is based in London rather than Staplewood or St Mary’s.

The day-to-day running of Saints is left to chief executive Marin Semmens and Toby Steele, the club’s managing director.