Southampton: Late transfer bidding war for Lemina as new teams show interest
By Marc Walker
The bidding war to secure the services of Southampton midfielder Mario Lemina has started to hot up.
One more week remains of the European transfer window, and two more clubs have reportedly entered the race to sign the Gabon international this summer.
According to the Daily Mail, both Lyon and Celta Vigo have joined Roma and Monaco with late offers to take the 25-year-old before the 2nd September.
Monaco were said to have agreed personal terms with Lemina most recently, but Saints now have more options to consider as they look to get him out the door.
The TalkSport’s Alex Crook has also said that Monaco are not keen on the compulsory clause to buy that Saints wanted at the end of an initial season-long loan.
Whilst the Daily Mail’s link mentions Roma too, their interest in Lemina was mentioned earlier this month.
For Saints and Ralph Hasenhuttl, they will be wanting this transfer saga to be over as soon as possible.
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Lemina has been linked with no less than 10 clubs this summer – Arsenal, Manchester United, Wolves, Everton, Roma, Lyon, Celta Vigo, Sevilla, Monaco and Leicester City – and is clearly not wanted at St Mary’s any longer.
On his day, he can be a skilful presence in the middle of the park and has terrific ability when on the ball. However, his defensive positioning could do with some work – as Saints often found out.
Memorable flashes of brilliance came when he scored a long-range strike against West Brom in the 2017/18 season, and then a classy finish away at Newcastle last campaign.
Overall, he has made just 52 appearances for Saints and hasn’t been able to live up to the £18m price that they paid for him in 2017.
As he chooses his next career move, Lemina may well be considering leagues that he knows well or new challenges entirely.
He has had previous spells with Lorient and Marseille in France, whilst he joined Saints from Italian giants Juventus.
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