Southampton FC: Russell Martin makes worrying Kyle Walker-Peters claim amid Man Utd, Spurs talk | OneFootball

Russell Martin has admitted that Southampton won't be able to hold onto Kyle Walker-Peters in the summer if they don't win promotion to the Premier League.

The former Tottenham Hotspur man has displayed his Premier League-level quality in the Championship this season. There is no doubt that he should be playing at the top level of English football.

The Saints bought him from Spurs in 2022 for a reported £12 million, and his former side may look to bring him back in the upcoming summer transfer window.

The Athletic reported that, as part of the deal that took Walker-Peters to St Mary's, there was a clause inserted which meant that the north London-based club could buy him back for £30 million.

Journalist Graeme Bailey reported that Ange Postecoglu was looking for a defender who could play on either side of a back-four - a bill which the 27-year-old perfectly fits - and TEAMtalk have also said that Manchester United and Arsenal have shown interest in Walker-Peters.

The England international was recently awarded with a spot in the 2023/24 Championship Team of the Season - he was the only Saint to be in the league's best XI for this season - and the Southampton boss has made a worrying admission about the defender's future at the club.

Russell Martin's worrying Kyle Walker-Peters transfer admission

The Scotsman has said that it is unrealistic for the Saints to expect to have the full-back if they do not get promoted back to the Premier League at the first time of asking.

"I think if we get promoted it becomes a lot easier to keep him," said Martin, to the Daily Echo. "If we don't, we won't keep hold of Kyle. There's no point in pretending otherwise really, financially for the club and Kyle's ambitions as well.

"Kyle was great, he didn't kick up one fuss this summer. There was a bit of interest but not enough to tempt him or the club into him leaving. He dealt with it professionally and really well which is why he's having such a good season, at no point did he not try and give everything.

"We have to get promoted to keep a lot of these guys together. That's the fact. If not, then my job will become different in the summer in terms of how the squad looks and the people we have.

"No matter how much effort we put in to keep Kyle, which we will, it will come down to finance and Kyle's ambition as well. The best solution is for us to get promoted to the Premier League altogether and then it becomes less of an issue."

Martin continued by praising the consistency of the 27-year-old, but he did insist that no player is: "too good," for the second tier, as per the Echo.

"He's just a brilliant, brilliant footballer. Intelligent footballer. Technically really gifted. He's really brave with the ball, can do a lot of things with it and I think he's been really important for us.

"I was surprised it was only Kyle in there. Adam Armstrong maybe could feel hard done by, Taylor Harwood-Bellis as well. Jan Bednarek. They've been so consistent, but it is what it is. The lads applauded Kyle this morning on the training pitch. It's good for him.

"It's good for the club. And now he needs to top it off by achieving what we set out to achieve at the start of the season."

The fate of Kyle Walker-Peters' 24/25 destination is in Southampton's hands

Even though his contract with the Saints doesn't expire until the summer of 2025, there is clearly an understanding that they will have to cash in on him in the summer, if promotion isn't achieved.

Luckily for Southampton, they pretty much control that destiny. They are six points off the top three, with a much worse goal difference than the closest team to them (Leeds United). But, they still have to play both Leeds and Leicester in their final five games, while those two sides only have three and four matches remaining, respectively.

Southampton face the Foxes in their third-last game, and the Whites on the final day of the 23/24 campaign. This makes life a bit tougher, because, if results don't go their way, it might be out of their hands by the time these fixtures come around.

The key is to keep themselves in with a shout of the top two, which is what they've done while the top three have stuttered.

Failure to finish in the automatic promotion spots won't be the end of the world because they are guaranteed a place in the play-offs. Promotion and keeping Walker-Peters is the goal, and they can kill two birds with one stone in this case.