da 888： As reported by the BBC, Juventus have confirmed the £29.7m capture of Atalanta prospect Dejan Kulusevski, who was also believed to be a target for Southampton.
What’s the word, then?
da apostaganha： Well, according to Corriere della Sera Bergamo, the Saints were interested in the 19-year-old and were ‘ready for a 17-18 million offer’ – the report did not mention if that figure was in euros or pounds.
Nevertheless, it did state that Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side were interested in the Swedish prospect who has been enjoying a fine Serie A campaign on loan at Parma.
The teenager has scored four goals while registering an impressive seven assists across 17 appearances in Italy’s top-flight this term – he has also won three WhoScored Man of the Match awards.
While some may presumably view Juventus’ latest signing as a transfer blow for Southampton, the news is more suited to being proof that the south coast side were always punching above their weight in this deal.
Would’ve been difficult to complete
As aforesaid, Kulusevski cost Juventus £29.7m, which is £9.7m more than Southampton’s club-record signing Danny Ings, who cost £20m – that just goes to prove that the Saints would’ve needed to enter unprecedented grounds in the market to complete this deal.
Additionally, The Daily Mail report that Southampton have a budget of £35m to spend this month, so if they did want to tie up a deal for Kulusevski, it would’ve eaten into a massive chunk of their available funds.
This surely would’ve posed a problem for Hasenhuttl’s promise that Southampton “will do something” in the full-back positions this January, as it would’ve left the former RB Leipzig boss with just £5.3m to spend if he shelled out £29.7m on the Swedish forward.
“It is absolutely clear that we must do something with the full-back positions. This is definitely a position we’re looking at for the moment and we will do something.”
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This information, as well as the fact that Juventus are one of Europe’s biggest clubs and can offer Champions League football, suggests Kulusevski was never really a realistic signing for Southampton to make.
In other news, this “technically good” Southampton target would give Jack Stephens and Jan Bednarek food for thought…