Southampton: Saints could still make deadline day move
By Chris Hughes
Despite not having signed anyone now in four weeks, Southampton are apparently not totally ruling out a move between now and 5PM.
Having spent the remaining £50 million the Virgil van Dijk money, we haven’t seen the Saints sign anyone now since Jannik Vestergaard’s arrival, despite the need for more signings before the start of the new campaign this weekend.
However the Daily Echo understands that if the right opportunity comes the Saints’ way, they aren’t totally ruling out further deals before the deadline.
Despite this the same report does clearly state that the club are, as ever, not expecting a busy deadline day, much to the supporters’ disappointment.
The club’s uncompromising ‘sell to buy’ transfer policy has left with Saints with some gaping holes in their squad, having not managed to bring in the funds with several high profile players instead going on loan. You’d imagine that with a new billionaire owner policies could be bent, but it doesn’t seem that way.
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Southampton are in desperate need of a new striker and some reinforcement out wide but instead haven’t seen either arrive, despite late links to Danny Welbeck in the past few days.
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Fans have, as a result, discussed possibilities that would allow the club to sign fresh talent if their business model is set in concrete – these include: loan deals, selling Cedric Soares or even selling James Ward-Prowse. The latter has been strongly linked with a move to Watford.
Nonetheless it’ll be disappointing to see the club not do any late summer business for the third season in a row, with their last deadline day deal being Virgil van Dijk in 2015.
Granted, signings on the last day of the window often result in inflated prices, but with the English deadline three weeks earlier than the rest of Europe, foreign clubs may not be as tough in negotiations as they still have until September to finish their business for the summer.
Nonetheless, teams around Southampton have strengthened really well this summer – Wolves, Fulham and Leicester have all been shrewd in the transfer market whilst both Everton and West Ham have splashed the cash. In turn, the Saints’ decision to potentially not strengthen any further could really hurt their chances at finishing higher up the table, and if more attacking players aren’t brought in by this evening, they could seriously struggle to end the season higher than 14th.