Southampton: Club chose to sign Guido Carrillo instead of Raul Jimenez

Southampton reportedly chose to sign Guido Carrillo back in 2018 to please then manager Mauricio Pellegrino and rejected Raul Jimenez in the process.

According to a detailed report from the Athletic’s Dan Sheldon, Saints shelled out £19m for Carrillo after Pellegrino pushed for the deal despite looking at moves to bring in Jimenez, Theo Walcott and Quincy Promes instead.

The report also states that the deal almost led to one employee in the recruitment department resigning because they viewed the transfer as one that did not make sense – especially with the Argentine’s inconsistent goalscoring record.

Carrillo was certainly a surprise signing when it was announced, but the hope was that he could contribute to helping to get Saints out of trouble.

However, with no goals and just 10 appearances in red and white, it is fair to say that he has been an expensive mistake from the club and now looks to be on his way out should an opportunity come along.

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• Grading the Southampton Transfer Window Part 1: Departures
• It’s time to talk about Gavin Bazunu
• Rain clouds on the horizon? Southampton beat Plymouth Argyle
• A lament for Southampton legend James Ward-Prowse

It is clear that Saints made a promise to Mauricio Pellegrino to bring in Carrillo to try and help him turn things around. It really did not pay off though and the question must be asked: how could a gamble like that be signed off if there was a chance it would not work at all?

£19m is clearly a lot of money for a club like Saints and it took a sizeable amount of their budget for the 2017/18 season. Now it continues to hinder them with the player’s contract still with a year left and not a lot of interest in his services.

Back when they signed him, Saints really should have made the decision to go for someone that they knew would benefit the team rather than the manager – after all, that is exactly how they became a team that consistently finished in the top half of the Premier League and qualified for Europe.

There have been comments from the likes of club Chief Executive Martin Semmens that explain how employees at the club feel they moved away from doing what they used to do well for a while and that they are trying to get back on track.

Things certainly look to be improving in terms of transfers, the football that we see each week and the running of the club, but it will take a while to recover from some of the past mistakes like buying Carrillo.