Southampton finally announced Russell Martin as their new manager on Wednesday and now look set to ramp up their preparations for the new Championship campaign.

Martin arrives from Swansea City with a reputation for playing free-flowing football, which supporters will now hope to see at St Mary's following their relegation from the Premier League.

The Saints released a number of players following the expiration of their contracts earlier this month, but they have yet to officially sign or sell anyone.

However, with speculation continuing to grow regarding the future of striker Nathan Tella, Martin's first port of call may well be bringing in an adequate replacement.

Three clubs have reportedly made their interest in Tella known, but the Saints may potentially have priced each of those out of the market by valuing him at £15m.

It may well be that the Saints' resolve breaks as the window goes on, though, and they could do with signing a replacement sooner rather than later.

According to the Sheffield Star, Sheffield Wednesday striker Josh Windass is one of those being eyed up by the Saints.

What would Josh Windass bring to Southampton?

The report suggests that with Windass now into the final year of his contract at Hillsborough, Southampton are ready to test the waters with an opening bid.

Wednesday are currently without a manager following Darren Moore's shock departure this week and face a second major setback should Windass move on.

The 29-year-old followed in his father Dean's footsteps last month when scoring the winning goal in a play-off final to fire Wednesday past Barnsley and back into the Championship, earning himself iconic status among Owls fans in the process.

Windass' antics off the pitch have seen him labelled a "crackpot" by former Rangers favourite Andy Little, but he also impressed on it during his time at Ibrox as he scored 13 goals in 33 appearances in his final Scottish Premiership campaign.

Moves to Wigan Athletic and Wednesday followed, and he has continued to show his quality across three-and-a-half years with the latter. Windass scored 12 goals last season and assisted another seven in 37 appearances as Wednesday ended their wait for a return to the Championship.

It would be difficult to argue the case of Windass – valued at £4m by Football Observatory – being an upgrade on Tella should the latter swap St Mary's for Turf Moor, where he scored 17 goals on loan last season.

However, Windass has the ability to both score and assist, as shown by his 0.66 goal involvements per 90 minutes in League One last season. That compares to 0.79 for Tella in the Championship, as per FBref.

Windass can also bring other qualities to Southampton, such as his ability to play off the striker or on the right, with his 3.58 crosses per 90 minutes an increase on Tella's 2.24.

There are similarities between the pair in terms of tackles won per 90 (0.47 for Tella compared to 0.40 for Windass) and interceptions (0.36 v 0.26).

Keeping hold of Tella would be the ideal scenario for Martin, but with rival clubs circling, it makes perfect sense for Southampton to kick off their summer spending with a move for a possible replacement in Windass.