According to press reports Saints are about to spent the best part of £20 million on signing a midfielder from Juventus with a medical due today.

Saints are about to secure the services of Juventus midfielder Mario Lemina beating several other Premier League clubs to his signature according to sources in both England and Italy, with a medical due today in Southampton

Lemina is descibed as a box to box central midfielder with an ability to win the ball and start attacking plays.

Although Mauricio Pellegrino has a plethora of central midfielders, he is known to prefer a holding two and clearly feels that he does not have a suitable partner for Oriol Romeo in this role.

Lemina can also play a variety of positions including as a full back and a winger and even appeared as a central defender during his time in Marseille in a three man defence.

Turning 24 on 1st September he has already played for two of the top clubs in Europe after starting his career in France at L'Orient before joining Marseille and then in 2015 Juventus.

He was linked with Saints, Liverpool and West Ham United in two years ago but opted to join Serie A giants Juventus on loan with an option to buy which was excercised at the end of that season for around £10 million , his time at Juve has been mixed in that he has struggled to make the starting line up, but used mainly as a substitute.

He has played at full International level for his country Gabon.

Only drawback is he is known to have a temper and can be prone to losing it on the pitch.

Photo: Action Images

RednWight added 09:14 - Aug 6 And apparently the manager knows nothing about it
2

warnfordcookie added 09:16 - Aug 6 So all the bedwetters say we need a central defender and a forward and we are spending £20 million on a midfielder who will be back up for Romeo. Guess they are not satisfied then? Or is ANY £20 million signing a show of strength in the transfer market?
-12

bstokesaint added 09:38 - Aug 6 Warnford, where did you get 'back up for Romeu" when the article quite clearly suggests "partner for Romeu?" You can't take a poke at the "bedwetters" if you can't get your facts straight. Sounds like the kind of player who will be useful and add some steel to the midfield. My only slight concern is the question of temperament. It's hard not to think of Osvaldo or Boufal when you think of these big name signings. Big money signings seem to get moodier the more they cost. I just hope this manager is able to control big personalities because I think Puel might have struggled in that department.

4

bstokesaint added 09:56 - Aug 6 And we still do need a centre back!
9

SanMarco added 11:28 - Aug 6 Probably best to save the 'bedwetter' abuse, if you need to use it at all of course, for AFTER the signature is on the dotted line eh Warnford?
5

saint_sebastian added 12:32 - Aug 6 According to Wikipedia he's already a Southampton player ... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario_Lemina
0

SaintBrock added 13:13 - Aug 6 warnford, why don't you concentrate on offering us your own opinion which we would love to read rather than throw insults around in this rather vague and offensive way. If that is your style then please go back to the other fansite where such abuse is routine and accepted by the moderators. We don't want it here! On Nick's site we try to keep a reasonably serious level of debate going about current issues without the need to insult one another.

5

SaintBrock added 13:19 - Aug 6 The manager comment is worrying in the sense that if he has been asked by the club to reveal nothing then surely he can bat enquires away without having to tell a white lie. One would have thought that the manager would have some input into who comes i to his squad and who doesn't? If he really knows nothing about this then the club management have learned nothing and it will not be long before we have another disgruntled manager trying to play poker with all the cards stacked against him.

7

legod7 added 14:22 - Aug 6 Saint, Are you that naive to think the manager knows nothing about him.Most players that are in our price range are already in the black box system anyway. The manager has access to this system. It is very obvious that he has been on Saints radar for some time,probably even before Pellegrino was appointed. He said on Friday that we have missed out on a couple of signings so probably is keeping quiet until he has actually signed.

1

pete_boggs added 14:35 - Aug 6 Mopo 2 either hasn't been informed by Reed, in which case Saints B is correct in thinking he will be off asap same as all the others, or Mopo2 is a liar. I'm inclined towards Reed is running amok with no idea what he's doing. Also Lemina is presently valued at £6.38m and averages 1.5 goals per season. Waste of space and overvalued, more mistakes from Reed to come as well as throwing away £5m on Targett. Reed's lost it!

-9

ElSanto added 16:27 - Aug 6 "Also Lemina is presently valued at £6.38m and averages 1.5 goals per season." This is my worry. Overpriced by the fact Juve paid 9.5m euros for him and didn't play him much. Now we pay 20m pounds.
-4

pete_boggs added 16:31 - Aug 6 Only 6 appearances with Juve as deemed not up to it.
-6

the_saint added 17:10 - Aug 6 To be fair to him would take a lot to get into that juv midfield, think he would be a cracking addition to our midfield and think he would find it a bit easier getting in our midfield then theirs. Would love to see us get the Dutch centre back and get vvd head back out of his arse then it would be game on
3

NYC_Saint added 18:27 - Aug 6 According to Wikipedia he made 29 appearances last year not six. This includes playing the enitre domestic cup final for the team that won the Italian double and came runner up in the champions league.
5

SaintPaulVW added 22:43 - Aug 6 Bertrand and Romeo weren't exactly turning out every week for Chelsea and they've done sort of okay. Les seems to take a hit for everything that could, has or may go wrong. Shame he never gets much credit for all the things that have gone right.
8

StRipper added 01:58 - Aug 7 He's a cracking signing if we can get him over the line. More than a bit part player for Juve by some margin. Can't blame Mope for not wanting to be seen as commenting on someone else's player in the current climate. Also why look an idiot if this one gets away from us too. He's already said that two have slipped through the net. Am sure he is aware he's on Saints list as would have agreed to include Lemina as a target. But from that point, who we sign is between Wilson and Reed to negotiate

4

Blogs 32 bloggers

Macclesfield Town Polls