Southampton have been enjoying an impressive season on the pitch.
The Saints currently sit 3rd in the Championship table. As a result, they are targeting an immediate promotion back to the Premier League.
That success is seemingly attracting attention in certain figures behind the scenes at St Mary’s, for the work they are doing at the club.
According to The Athletic, Manchester United are targeting Southampton Director of Football Jason Wilcox for a behind the scenes role at Old Trafford.
However, it appears that is not something that is concerning Saints boss Russell Martin too much just yet.
Jason Wilcox links ‘no surprise’ to Russell Martin
Wilcox has certainly made an impression behind the scenes since he arrived as Southampton from Manchester City just over a year ago.
It would therefore, seemingly be a big loss for the Saints if they were to lose the 52-year-old to Manchester United.
However, it seems as though Martin, while not shocked by those claims is relaxed about that speculation surrounding the future of Wilcox at this moment in time.
When asked about those claims of an interest in his side’s Director of Football, the Southampton boss told The Daily Echo:
“I hope it’s people putting two and two together and coming up with five.
“I’ve got a lot of time and respect for Jason and a good relationship. It’s no surprise to me that someone would look at the job he’s done over a short space of time here and a long period of time at City and be interested in working with him. I’d like to think he would have a chat with us if anything was in it.
“He’s so honest, he’s so open, he’s been a such big driver of the culture here, he’s enabled us to do the work that we want to do. He’s supported me incredibly well and the staff so I’ve got nothing but praise on the impact he’s had on us and what he’s allowed us to do.”
On the pitch, Southampton are next in action on Friday night, when they travel to The Hawthorns to face West Brom.
Southampton will surely want to keep Jason Wilcox
It would be understandable if anyone of a Saints persuasion was to be concerned by these links with Wilcox and Manchester United.
The 52-year-old has done an impressive job since he took on the role at the start of last year.
He has contributed to making Southampton a well-run club, and layed some promising foundations for the future.
It would therefore be a blow to lose him now, considering how well he did over a more extended period working with the academy at Manchester City.
That would suggest that if he was to remain at Southampton for a longer period of time, he could have a similarly positive impact at St Mary’s.
However, that would obviously be limited if he was to move on in the not too distant future, to move to somewhere such as Manchester United.
As a result, the fact that someone such as Martin who has a close working relationship with Wilcox seems reasonably relaxed about these links, may be a relief for Southampton followers.
Even so, the work done by Wilcox and reputation he has developed means you would expect rumours such as this to persist one way or another, throughout his time at St Mary’s.