Southampton Smash Record With £20m Sofiane Boufal Signing
Southampton have apparently secured their marquee signing of the summer transfer window, and will pay £20m for attacking midfielder Sofiane Boufal.
Word of the deal first began circulating early yesterday, and multiple sources now confirm that the Moroccan international will find his new home at St. Mary’s when the window closes in six days’ time.
Boufal, 22, currently plays for Lille in Ligue 1 but has been on the radar of the South Coast club since early summer as a complement to manager Claude Puel’s 4-4-2 diamond system.
Other suitors reportedly included well-heeled clubs Barcelona, Arsenal, Chelsea and Ligue 1 reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain, though familiarity with Puel’s style and pedigree as a youth-focused manager are thought to have played a role in the final decision.
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However he came to it, Southampton supporters will be pleased to see their summer end with the trademark bang and then some. Boufal’s reported figure of £20m, potentially including another £5m in bonuses, will shatter the previous record of £12.8m held by Dani Osvaldo.
It’s a record Saints’ faithful will be glad to see the back of.
Osvaldo, who joined the club in 2013 after a productive but contentious spell at Roma, found his time on the South Coast more contentious than productive. A series of loans failed to produce meaningful returns, and a bust-up with captain Jose Fonte on the training grounds proved to be the last straw. In 2015, halfway through his contract, he was terminated.
While there’s no set timetable for Boufal’s signing, and he’s certainly unlikely to factor in Saturday’s match, it now seems all but certain that the last remnant of the forgettable Dani Osvaldo era is past.
In its place comes a player who has put up an impressive 11 goals and 4 assists through 29 appearances with Lille last season. Those work rates, taking into account minutes played, work out to a goal every 2.37 games and an assist every 6.5 games. With a distributive role in Puel’s system, though, one has to figure that assists will be in plentiful supply this year.
The only potential downside to Southampton’s new arrival might be discipline; through last season, Boufal amassed 10 yellow cards and 1 red. For a relatively young player, though, it’s an excusable vice and one that will likely correct with age and experience.
Time will tell what sort of player Sofiane Boufal becomes in Southampton. The English game, after all, is an unforgiving one. Whether, and how well, the Moroccan adapts, and how long he chooses to call Southampton home, are questions for another day.
For now, Saints’ faithful can rejoice in their new record man, take heart in a productive signing season and forget they ever questioned the Board and managerial chops of new gaffer Puel. Southampton—with faces old and new—marches on once again.