Southampton want Nigerian striker with fantastic goalscoring record

Southampton are said to be one of the clubs looking to potentially strike a deal with Genk for Nigerian striker Paul Onuachu.

According to a report from Sport Mediaset (via Sports Witness), Saints will challenge Inter Milan and Atletico Madrid for the 27-year-old’s services after seeing him plunder no less than 130 goals in 245 senior appearances for Midtjylland and Genk since 2015.

Onuachu’s age may see him outside the usual range of Southampton’s recruitment strategy but his goalscoring record cannot be denied if they want to bring in a player who has a proven ability to find the back of the net given the smallest glimpse.

Southampton have struggled to score goals so far this season despite signing Adam Armstrong permanently from Blackburn and Armando Broja on-loan from Chelsea in the summer.

When could Southampton make their move?

With the January window just around the corner, Southampton could be planning to add to Ralph Hasenhuttl’s squad if they see an area that needs strengthening.

Club CEO Martin Semmens also suggested that fans could expect a signing in the new year but that results leading up to January could play a part in final decisions.

At the moment, Che Adams, Adam Armstrong, Armando Broja, Shane Long and Nathan Tella make up the options available to fill the normal two striker roles but none of them have really stood out as a main goalscoring threat so far. After recent displays though, Broja could become this given a run of games in the side.

It is important that, whoever is signed by Saints, that they hit the ground running and adjust quickly to the levels required to play in the Premier League.

Paul Onuachu has clearly been a menace for defences in the Danish Superliga and the Belgian Jupiler League but would need to push his boundaries even further as a player to make a potential switch to an English club as a smooth as possible.