Jay Rodriguez transfer news: Manchester City, Liverpool and Tottenham consider January move despite cruciate ligament injury

Rodriguez has not played since injuring his knee last April but is expected to make his return for Southampton Under-21s in the next few weeks

Jay Rodriguez in action for Southampton (GETTY IMAGES)

The Southampton striker Jay Rodriguez remains a priority target for Manchester City, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur in spite of the cruciate knee ligament injury that has kept him out the game since last April.

Rodriguez, 25, who is expected to make his comeback to football in an Under-21s game for his club in the next few weeks is being closely monitored by the three Premier League sides with a view to a move in the summer. There is still the possibility that one of the three may try to get a lead on the others by making a move for the player this month.

The England international was due to be back in action by now but his return was delayed by a procedure on the knee last month to clear out liquid.

Ideally, Southampton would like to negotiate a new contract with the player, who has one more season after this to run on his deal. They turned down an offer from Tottenham Hotspur in the summer valued at £16m, which included the winger Andros Townsend.

City are eager to raise their Premier League squad quotient of home-grown players, especially with James Milner likely to leave in the summer when his contract expires, as well as Frank Lampard and Scott Sinclair. Home-grown is defined as any player who has spent the requisite development period at an English club.

Jay Rodriguez injured a cruciate ligament by landing awkwardly (Getty Images)

In that scenario City would be left with just Joe Hart, Gael Clichy, Dedryck Boyata and reserve goalkeeper Richard Wright for the eight home-grown places. It is understood they would press head with a deal for Rodriguez even with Wilfried Bony poised to sign for them this month.

Liverpool are anticipated to get rid of strikers Mario Balotelli and Rickie Lambert in the summer. At Spurs, the situation is fluid with Emmanuel Adebayor and Roberto Soldado among those the club would very much like to move on. Spurs’ head of recruitment, Paul Mitchell was at Southampton when the club signed Rodriguez from Burnley in the summer of 2012.