No Arsenal offer for Alex Chamberlain say Southampton

Chamberlain is considered a hot prospect for the future (GETTY IMAGES)

Southampton have not received an offer from Arsenal for youngster Alex Chamberlain, manager Nigel Adkins has reiterated today.

The 17-year-old has been constantly linked with a move to one of the Barclays Premier League giants, with recent reports suggesting a move to the Gunners was all but secured.

However, Adkins has today denied such speculation.

"We had the same sort of scenario in January," he told Sky Sports News. "He was going to go in January, wasn't he? But he didn't.

"I think it will be interesting when does that materialise if Arsenal or whoever does start talking to the football club.

"At this moment in time he is at Solent University doing fitness testing with the players and I had a conversation with Alex last week, he was doing a little bit of training.

"He really loves being at Southampton. It is as simple as that."

He added: "I think probably there is conversation going on in the boardroom at Arsenal about players who are probably going to leave and players that are going to leave.

"If Arsenal wanted to put a bid in I am sure they would put a bid in the right manner to the board and then this football club will decide what they want to go and do with that bad if it is offered."

Chamberlain is one of the most sought-after youngsters in British football at the moment and is believed to be valued by Saints in the region of £12million.

The son of former England international Mark Chamberlain is widely known to be admired by Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, who swooped to sign fellow Southampton academy graduate Theo Walcott in 2006.

While becoming a regular in the Arsenal set-up, Walcott has failed to hit the heights his promise suggested when he moved to the Emirates Stadium and Adkins has fired a warning Chamberlain too may fail to reach his potential if he leaves the south coast side too early.

"We believe he is very good," he said. "The big thing is we didn't play him for the past two months of the season because he was out of injured and we had a fantastic run so that was really, really pleasing from our point of view.

"We did manage to get him on the pitch for the last half hour of the final game and you can see he is talented. He has come a long, long way in a very short space of time.

"I think the important thing is that you make sure that he keeps playing football and not get lost like so many players are lost when maybe they move on to other football clubs and they don't do what they want to do and what they love to do, which is play football and he has a great opportunity to do that here at Southampton."

Southampton also confirmed this morning they have had a bid accepted by Chelsea for England Under-21 international Jack Cork.

The versatile 22-year-old, who represented Stuart Pearce's side at the recent European Championships in Denmark, spent time on loan at St Mary's during the 2008/09 season.

Adkins' side is one potential destination for the well-travelled youngster, who is also thought to be attracting interest from npower Championship rivals Burnley - with whom he spent last season.

In other news, Southampton striker Rickie Lambert penned a new three-year deal with the club this morning and Oscar Gobern completed his protracted move to League One outfit Huddersfield.