Southampton director of football Les Reed believes right-back Nathaniel Clyne is edging closer to signing a new deal at St Mary’s this summer.

The 24-year-old has one year left on his current deal and the vultures have been circling, with Manchester United thought to be the front runners to sign the player.

Despite the interest coming out of Old Trafford, Southampton have not given up hope of keeping holding of Clyne this summer.

Reed knows the value of Clyne to Saints after an impressive campaign this term and believes the player is now closer to signing a new deal at the club.

He said: “I’m confident we will have a resolution sooner rather than later.

“I’m in discussions and those have been very, very positive. That was about getting a response.

“That issue was sorted as Nathaniel has changed his agent. We got an immediate response from the new one. We are at a very good place at the moment.”

Clyne will feature in Southampton’s next Premier League clash against Aston Villa on Saturday before the Saints travel to take on former champions Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium on the final day of the season.

Saints are 1.73 to claim all three points, 3.50 to draw and 4.75 to lose to Villa this weekend.