Southampton: Saints join the race for Inter’s Joao Mario
By Marc Walker
Southampton have reportedly joined the race to sign Portuguese international midfielder Joao Mario from Inter Milan this summer.
According to Italian outlet StadioSport, South Coast clubs Southampton and Bournemouth have joined West Ham in pursuing the 25-year-old.
He impressed in spells of his season-long loan with the Hammers during the 2017/18 campaign in which he made 14 appearances and scored two goals.
The report states that Mario wants to move permanently from Serie A in this transfer window and hopes that there will be some concrete offers for his services soon.
Inter Milan will be wanting to recoup a decent percentage of the £36m fee that they paid to Sporting Lisbon to sign Mario in August 2016.
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His career in Italy hasn’t proved fruitful so far and his loan spell in England last season perhaps shows the willingness for both the player and his parent club to part ways.
Mario has been at the World Cup in Russia with Portugal and played a part in all four of their matches as they were knocked out at the Round of 16 stage by Uruguay.
He will also provide a certain amount of versatility to the team that he joins this summer after playing on the wings and in the centre of attacking-midfield throughout his career.
Whether Saints need additional midfielders in their squad is another matter entirely. It is the most competitive area of the team by far and in need of less work that the team’s attack and defence.
Attacking-midfielder Stuart Armstrong came in from Celtic recently for a fee of £7m and would be likely to take the role that Mario would desire in Mark Hughes’ starting 11.
Inter’s valuation of their man could mean another loan to England for Mario and he may well find more game time with either West Ham or Bournemouth. There can be no denying his talent though and the race for his signature may hot up in the next weeks.