Southampton: Saints one of seven clubs looking to sign Yoane Wissa

Southampton are reportedly one of seven clubs looking at talented Lorient winger Yoane Wissa.

According to a report from German news outlet Express, Saints are joined by FC Koln, Augsburg and Mainz from Germany and West Brom, Fulham and Watford from England in the race to sign him.

Plying his trade in Ligue 2, the second-tier of French football, Wissa has experienced his best form yet during the 2019/20 season.

He has 15 goals in 28 league games and this is a very impressive total given that he plays mostly from the left wing.

At just 23, he clearly has time to progress even further and develop the key components of his game more in the coming years.

Watching clips from his performances for Lorient highlights good finishing ability, unpredictability in attack and pace that can hurt defences.

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Switching to Saints in the Premier League could be considered a big jump for Wissa, but he only has to look at one of Saints’ more recent signings to see that he could fit in well.

Moussa Djenepo is a similar player to him and arrived from Standard Liege in the Belgian Jupiler league last summer – also a big step up.

The Malian make a big impact in his early days on the South Coast and, although he would have liked more consistency, mixed displays are to be expected from someone so young who is still learning their trade.

With Djenepo already being with Saints, it does raise a question on whether Ralph Hasenhuttl would need Wissa as well. Stuart Armstrong, Nathan Redmond, Sofiane Boufal and Djenepo all rotate in and out of the Austrian’s side in the attacking-midfield roles that Wissa would most likely take up.

If any of those players were to move on in the summer though, Saints may have a ready-made replacement lined up.

It remains to be seen just how much of an impact the Coronavirus pandemic will have on the finances of clubs like Saints, but they will fancy their chances of snapping Wissa up against the competitors for his signature that have been reported.