We may well be negotiating for new players but whether we are doing so with the aim of making sensible offers for good quality players remains to be see. Feel free to bounce this if I'm wrong but I would be surprised if we signed anyone else of note before 1 Sept.
I think we're now well beyond the "signing players for the sake of it". The fact is that we desperately need new players and they need to be players of Championship quality. Anything less will probably mean that we will be relegated this year.
For what it's worth, I agree with you about Solly's immense potential and the approach you propose to any Saints bid but my worry is that Saints have a fantastic record at spotting and developing talent so they may just be prepared to pay what we ask - especially given the money that they have...
Even if Saints put in a bid of £2-3M we should still tell them to move long. We need to be keeping our best talent if we are going to get anywhere in the next few years. I'v already written off this season.
If the club let Solly March go as well that will be it for me. The whole transfer business this Summer has become a complete joke for a club that claims to have ambition to get to the PL.