Southampton's urgent stance on Damion Downs isn't sure to go down well among the fans who are right to have concerns for a new fullback and a declining transfer fund.
It's been two days now, still, a good chunk of Southampton fans will be replaying Damion Downs game-winning penalty on repeat. Now, that calmness in big moments is quite welcome at St. Mary's but the club strangely appear to be running out of patience.
Every time a summer tournament is on the verge of concluding, there are multiple new stars grabbing transfer attention, too. And enough of that often leads to eleventh hour overtakes which is why handshaking the deal without the rumour mill noticing is desired.
Talking about the Downs case, Southampton did a commendable job in fast-tracking player and club contacts but the swift Joe Rothwell announcement seems to have upped their transfer game to a whole unnecessary level.
Saints must realise other priority signings alongside Downs
In their own words, the Kicker delivered an out-of-the-box update saying: "An offer from English second-division club Southampton FC is currently on the table, totalling more than ten million euros, including some bonuses. A sum that FC Köln – which has stretched to the limit financially for the striker – cannot ignore."
As things stand, Koln will have started the countdown for the eye-catching figure they are set to receive but Southampton fans won't approve this hasty call. The reason being that two different lineup spots could have been upgraded with this amount which isn't stopping from rising further in the first place.
On a side note, the fresh €2m they have placed to sweeten the move was roughly the exact price tag needed to bring Downs' United States teammate Alex Freeman too.
Already, Southampton has watched the Kaine Kesler-Hayden ship sail by but still they aren't planning to save a sizeable chunk on a fullback in order to not miss another transfer sitter.