Saints hit Koch stalemate

The shot stopper is available on a Bosman free transfer after Kaiserslautern decided not to renew his contract and the towering keeper has been in talks about a switch to St Mary's, althought the two parties are said to be apart in terms of length of contract and salary.

Saints boss Gordon Strachan is seeking to bring in a new goalkeeper after first choice Antti Niemi again picked up a reccurrence of his knee injury last month and has yet to start a game this season, with Paul Jones deputising for Saturday's 2-2 draw opening day fixture against Leicester City.

The Finn has returned to training but Strachan knows he needs cover after Niemi was also forced out of the FA Cup final defeat to Arsenal last season and is unsure how long the ex-Hearts man will take to make a full recovery.

Koch has plenty of experience at the highest level and can list PSV Eindhoven, Arminia Bielefeld, Fortuna Dusseldorf and Bayer Leverkusen among his former clubs.

Hearts, Celtic and Murcia are also reported to be interested in Koch's services.