SAINTS have reportedly received two approaches from Bundesliga sides for defender Armel Bella-Kotchap.

The 22 year old is back at Southampton following his loan spell at PSV last season, where he won the Dutch title.

Bella-Kotchap did not travel to Spain for Southampton's warm-weather training camp with Russell Martin siting better rehab facilities at Staplewood as the reason.

He was a part of their open training session at St Mary's but did not travel to Millwall on Saturday.

Transfer journalist Fabrizio Romano reports that Hoffenheim and Stuttgart have both approached Saints for the centre-back.

His report adds that no agreement has been reached so far but both clubs hold an interest in the two-time German international.

Bella-Kotchap only made six senior appearances at PSV as injuries prevented him from regular game time.

Stuttgart are in the market for new defenders following Hiroki Itō and Waldemar Anton's departures this summer.

Bella-Kotchap faces tough competition at centre-back at Saints with Ronnie Edwards and Nathan Wood signed this summer.

Southampton also have Jan Bednarek, Taylor Harwood-Bellis and Jack Stephens, while James Bree, Flynn Downes and summer signing Charlie Taylor have all played minutes at centre-back in pre-season.

Bella-Kotchap joined Saints from VfL Bochum in 2022 and has gone on to make 26 appearances for the club so far.