The media often get confused by odds and turn player market fluctuations into a article. Odds reflect money placed by punters and bookies trying to minimise losses and maximise profit from a market, they don't reflect the likelihood of an event!
The quality level required to reach the 1st team of a Premier League team is significantly higher now than when Saints were at The Dell.
That is not a good reason to not invest in infrastructure in 2022!
Transfer window opens on 10th June 2022, it is pointless looking at odds before the majority of transfers have been announced. The Saints squad will look very different come the end of the window.
The article is essentially random musings. They are plucking numbers of ins and outs from the air and haven't a clue what the club will do this Summer.
He isn't better than Ward-Prowse or Romeu. So spending a club record fee and huge wages on a back-up player isn't a great use of resources compared to other areas of the squad that require major improvement this summer.