yesterday we carried a story that Werder Bremen were worried that Saints might turn down the option on Eljero Elia and prefer to put in a lower bid, but another side of the story is emerging from Germany.
Yesterday we releayed a story from the German Media regarding Saints clause to buy Elia from Werder Bremen and how the Bundesliga Club were desperate to offload and worried Saints might renege on the deal and try to get him a lower price.
Now however there is a different slant on the story published in the German sport magazine SportBild (not to be confused with Bild who carried yesterdays piece)
They reckon that Southampton have until April 30th rather than the end of May to complete the deal for Elia and that the price agreed to do so is €5.5m. At today's fortunate exchange rates that converts to just over £3.9m which for a player who has just been called up to the Dutch national squad sounds very much like a bargain.
When Elia joined Saints that would have meant the price would have been nearer £4.6 million meaning that Saints if they excercise the option could be forking out aroung 3/4 million less than they anticipated for the player, indeed if the Euro exchange rate hits 1.5 to the £ as is predicted in the next month or so then the price to Saints could be as little as £3.6 million and that represents a good price for a player with his experience.
Indeed the strength of the pound against the Euro in the coming months could see Saints and indeed many clubs preferring to shop on the continent rather than in the inflated Uk market, especially when they can pay so much less for a player now due to the currency exchange rates.