West Ham star turned down the chance to return to Southampton

Southampton returned to the Premier League this season after winning the Championship playoffs final 1-0 against Leeds United. Thus, on their Premier League return, Southampton wanted to sign some Premier League players to provide more quality to their squad in order to stay in the Premier League this season. Therefore, Southampton signed Taylor Harwood Bellis from Manchester City, Aaron Ramsdale from Arsenal, Lesley Ugochukwu on a season long loan transfer from Chelsea and Cameron Archer from Aston Villa.

Adam Lallana returned to Southampton on a free transfer and the Saints signed West Ham players Maxwel Cornet and Flynn Downes. However, Russell Martin's side also tried to sign another West Ham star who had previously been a star performer at the St. Mary's Stadium. The player is English forward Danny Ings, who scored twelve goals in his final season at Southampton before joining Aston Villa in 2021.

West Ham star turned down the chance to return to Southampton

Also, in the previous season, Ings found the back of the net 22 times in the Premier League while playing for the Saints. At Aston Villa, he was decent with his performances and after that joined West Ham in January 2023 but has struggled with form and fitness there. Therefore, this summer he was the subject of transfer rumours with a return to his former club Southampton.

Although the Saints were interested in signing him, the move didn't materialised and Ings stayed at West Ham. Now, according to a report from GIVEMESPORT, Ings turned down the chance to sign for Southampton and several other Premier League clubs this summer and wants to become the starting centre forward at West Ham. Southampton are struggling to score more goals in the Premier League, thus, signing a prolific and experienced forward like Danny Ings could have been a great decision.

However, the Saints need to improve their performance with their current squad and try to take more points in the Premier League this season.