Southampton boss Mark Hughes is launching a bid for Liverpool striker Danny Ings.

The Sun says Hughes is keen to take the forward back to the place where he started out in the youth team.

Liverpool want a stunning £20million for Ings — who they bought from Burnley for just £6.5m in 2015.

The one-cap England star is also fancied by Crystal Palace, but Southampton are willing to pay around half of the £20m asking price with extras on appearances.

Ings has had an injury-cursed spell at the Kop and they may be open to a deal that takes his past problems into account.

But Southampton have charged Liverpool top rate for the players who headed to Merseyside in recent years, so that makes negotiations awkward.