Nathan Tella was a hero at Burnley last season and it is no surprise that they would want him back, however they are not realistic in their valuation of a player that scored 17 Championship goals last season.
A rather bizarre story has emerged on the Internet regarding Burnley's pursuit of Nathan Tella this summer. which has not exactly seen the newly minted Premier League club get realistic in their valuation of our player.
Now footballleagueworld.co.uk report a strange twist in the saga.
It seems that that the daughter of Burnley chairman Alan Pace has gone to extreme lengths to try and get Tella to Burnley.
A video emerged on Ashlyn Pace-Ferguson's TikTok account on Monday morning entitled 'Free Nathan Tella' as she then sticks 'Missing' posters around the town of Burnley with Tella emblazoned on them.
They go on to report that this has led to many Burnley fans believing a deal has been sealed for the 24-year-old, and Clarets owner Pace himself even reposted the content onto his own Instagram story.
It has been claimed though that Pace-Ferguson runs her father's social media accounts and she has reposted it herself - nevertheless though it is a bizarre twist that has had mixed reviews from Burnley fans and has sparked fury and bemusement among the Saints fanbase online.
This is all rather ironic that Pace and his daughter should demand something for free, as the American did just that when he bought Burnley, as reported in The Guardian at the time, Alan Pace and his ALK Capital group bought Burnley in controversial fashion.
It was described as a Leveraged buy out, where the club is bought and then quickly in simple terms re-mortgage their money against the club and it's assets to repay them part or all of their investment.
Not so much as Free Tella, but Free Burnley, who suddenly went from being a club with no debt, to one loaded with it and more to the point the interest is owned & paid by the club itself and not the owner.
The Turf Moor club have so far offered around £9 million for the services of Tella, whilst Southampton want around £17 million, a reasonable amount and comparable with the amount they paid for Che Adams in 2019, a man who scored 22 goals in the Championship and Adam Armstrong who in the season prior to his arrival at St Mary's notched 28 for Blackburn, so from this perspective Saints are not being unreasonable, especially when Joel Piroe at Swansea is a similar price.
Burnley have recently signed ex Saint Nathan Redmond on a free transfer and Jacob Bruun Larsen, both similar players to Tella and are said to be offering Andros Townsend recently released by Everton.
It seems that Burnley are not planning on spending much this summer to keep them in the Premier League at the end of the coming season, Southampton are not adverse to selling the player, we have a plethora of wide players on the books at the moment, but we will only sell if the price is right.