Southampton: Saints made offer to take new Aston Villa signing from Lille

Southampton reportedly made a move to take Anwar El Ghazi on a permanent deal from Lille before he committed to joining Aston Villa for around £8m.

According to journalist Duncan Castles (speaking via the Transfer Window podcast), Saints and Everton both came in with offers for the 24-year-old before Villa made his loan deal from last season permanent.

The Netherlands international worked his way up to becoming a key man at Villa Park and he and his teammates were rewarded with promotion to the Premier League via the play-offs.

He made 36 appearances in all competitions and made an important contribution of six goals and six assists whilst playing on either the right or left wing.

Saints are said to be on the lookout for attackers this summer and El Ghazi may have suited the attacking-midfield roles that need to be filled in the team’s line-up.

As a naturally direct and right-footed player, he could have played on the right with Nathan Redmond on the left-flank where he was hugely effective last season.

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However, with his permanent move to the West Midlands now confirmed he looks set to be lining up against the other pursuers of his signature in the Premier League.

It does look as though Saints have managed to get a player in that mould already however.

They confirmed the signing of Moussa Djenepo from Standard Liege yesterday for a fee that could reportedly rise to around £15m if performance-related clauses are met in his time at St Mary’s.

Other signings are expected, with a striker and a central defender understood to be high on the list of positions to fill this summer.

Manager Ralph Hasenhuttl has spoken about how he wants to add significant quality and not quantity to an already crowded squad at his disposal.

Several reports have hinted at the sale of a number of first-team players recently, with Charlie Austin and Matt Targett potentially on their way out of the club.