Southampton: Saints may have to take financial hit on Lemina and Hoedt

Southampton will have a number of players returning to the club in the summer that really don’t look to have a future at St Mary’s.

Two of these are Wesley Hoedt and Mario Lemina – both of whom never really settled in England after both signing in 2017.

They both took loan spells away from the club for the 2019/20 season and joined Royal Antwerp and Galatasaray respectively, and it now looks like both will be on the move again before the next campaign.

Ideally, Saints would like to sell them both permanently, but a number of factors could make this difficult.

Both players seem to be keen to rebuild their careers elsewhere and Saints boss Ralph Hasenhuttl is drawing plans up for the future without them involved.

Hoedt has spoken to Dutch news outlet Het Nieuwsblad recently to say that he wants to move permanently ahead of next season, but also thinks that Royal Antwerp is not where he will end up.

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• Grading the Southampton Transfer Window Part 1: Departures
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As quoted in the linked article, Saints want £8m for him. This is unrealistic though considering that clubs like Antwerp will suffer from financial difficulties after the Coronavirus suspension postponed matches and delayed income for teams.

Hoedt – now 26 – spent the second half of the 2018/29 campaign on loan with Celta Vigo in Spain but only made 10 appearances.

This season he has played 25 times for Antwerp, but it remains to be seen whether his performances will attract any sort of interest from other clubs in signing him permanently.

Mario Lemina is in a different situation given that he is said to have impressed people who have followed Galatasaray this year.

Now a report from Turkish outlet milliyet.com suggests that the Gabon international could rejoin the Super Lig giants for 2020/21, but only on another loan deal.

The article states that Saints inserted a £16m clause in his temporary deal this season but that financial difficulties will make that unrealistic too – bad luck for Saints who want to get rid, but also bad luck for Galatasaray who clearly want to make him their player for good.

The 26-year-old was largely inconsistent in his 52 games for Saints but milliyet state that his ability to provide energy and key passes in midfield makes him a key player for Galatasaray.