SAINTS are today set to sell one of the crown jewels in their young squad - and another could soon follow.

Defender Andrew Davies, 23, is expected to join Premier League new boys Stoke for a fee of around £1.2m plus Anthony Pulis, the midfielder son of Potters boss Tony.

And Andrew Surman is attracting growing interest from Reading, whose director of football Nicky Hammond was sat in the front row of the Saints side of the directors' box for the 2-1 loss to Birmingham.

The Royals, in search of a left back after the sale of Nicky Shorey to Aston Villa, are set to stump up around £2.5m to try and tempt cashstrapped Saints into selling.

Saints are believed to need to bring in around £4m in transfer fees for players before the window closes at the end of the montn.

But they have so far struggled to shift what they consider to be the dead wood of their squad.

Davies, last season's Daily Echo player of the year, was sat in the stands at the Reebok on Saturday watching Stoke's defeat to Bolton.

Afterwards, Pulis senior confirmed he expected the move to go through.

That appeared to be a little more than Jan Poortvliet knew about the deal.

When asked after Saturday's defeat what was happening, the Saints head coach said: "I don't know exactly. I have heard some rumours and maybe he will go.

"It will be a miss but I haven't seen him much. People talk about him from last season saying he was a great player but I haven't seen him so I don't know what I'm missing."

After some Sunday newspapers had reported that, though, the Dutchman was quick to issue a clarification yesterday.

"Some of the reports today have given a slightly misleading impression of this situation," he said. "His agent has been keen for him to complete a deal away from the club and if players and agents feel that way then it doesn't help the rest of the team.

"I have been kept fully up to date with any negotiations that have been happening, but when asked about it after yesterday's match I was simply unaware of the exact stage that any talks had reached between Andrew's representatives and Stoke City.

"Andrew Davies is one of the high earners and we've made no secret of the financial pressures that have been placed on us by the bank."

With Michael Svensson unable to play three games a week yet, Davies' sale would leave Saints either having to call upon Wayne Thomas, Ollie Lancashire, who was on the bench on Saturday, or even using Paul Wotton or Morgan Schneiderlin at centre half in midweek games.

The latter two shared the central defensive role at Exeter in last Tuesday's Carling Cup tie.

Davies only joined Saints in October last year from Middlesbrough, on an initial three month loan that became a £1m permanent deal.

Pulis junior is a 24-year-old midfielder who has made 25 senior appearances in his career which began at Portsmouth before he rejoined his father at Stoke.

Full story in today's Daily Echo