Southampton, despite seeing their incredible unbeaten run come to an end at the hands of Bristol City, are still well and truly in pursuit of automatic Championship promotion, sitting just two points behind Leeds United with a game in hand.
As the Saints potentially prepare for an instant return to the Premier League, however, they may be forced to contend with the exit of a forgotten man ahead of this summer.
Southampton transfer news
Those at St Mary’s always looked likely to be promotion contenders, having kept hold of the likes of Adam Armstrong and Kyle Walker-Peters, instead only losing two key players in James Ward-Prowse and Romeo Lavia. That gave Russell Martin plenty of pressure to deal with, however, he has ultimately worked wonders after overseeing the Saints’ longest unbeaten run in the club’s history to put them in the race for promotion.
Despite all of their success on the pitch, the Saints could still see one player complete a move away from St Mary’s. According to reports in Turkey, relayed by Sport Witness, Trabzonspor are preparing an offer to sign Paul Onuachu on a permanent deal after he left everyone pleased during his loan spell at the club. The Turkish club have reportedly planned talks to secure a deal.
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Southampton came crashing back down to reality away at Ashton Gate last night, with this Saints man poor throughout.
Having initially joined Southampton for a reported £18m in January 2023, Onuachu has quickly become the forgotten man and could now bring an end to a disappointing spell.
“Athletic” Onuachu is one to forget
Attracting the interest of Southampton last year following a clinical spell in Belgium, fans may have been excited by the prospect of what Onuachu could offer, especially since the Saints were on course for relegation at the time. The Nigerian failed to score a single goal in 11 Premier League appearances before finding himself out on loan at Trabzonspor this season, however, and it now looks as though he could complete a permanent move away.
What will perhaps frustrate Southampton fans is that Onuachu has enjoyed much-improved performances in Turkey and has earned deserved praise in the process, including from former teammate Stryger Larsen, who told Danish outlet Bold:
“He’s off to a really good start. From watching him play in Midtjylland to now, he has really developed as a footballer. He has done really well for us, so we are very happy with him. He’s more athletic than he was when he was young and obviously just had to learn everything.”
Onuachu’s stats – nine goals and three assists in 16 games – could at least up his price tag to hand Southampton a boost in an otherwise transfer to quickly forget.
