Manager Claims Saints Deal Is Close ! Monday, 20th May 2019 10:36 There are many rumours at this time of yer and it is hard to sort out the wheat fro the chafe, which are agent talk, which are stalking horses and which have any substance, but now a claim direct from the selling manager's mouth. Saints have been linked with Standard Liege's Moussa Djenepo before, the player who will turn 21 next month and can play either as a forward or a striker fits Ralph Hasenhuttl's blueprint and is an easy fit to suggest as a potential transfer target and no doubt his agent will be trying to link his client with not just Saints but a few other clubs to drum up interest. But now some more concrete rumours emerge that Djenepo could be on his way to St Mary's in quotes from Standard Liege's manager Michel Preud’homme speaking after the end of the Jupiler Pro League season in Belgium. A week or so ago rumours did the rounds in Belgium that Saints had made a monster bid for the player, said to be in the region of 23 million euros, this was said to be being denied by Standard Liege in the press, but the rumours abounded. Michel Preud’homme was quoted as saying : “When you see that a team like Southampton can make an offer of €22m for a player like him, it’s hard to say no. Has there been an offer? It’s close." “There are noises, chats, contacts, but the offer in itself has yet to be confirmed”. So according to the manager of Standard Liege Saints have been in talks and discussions including price have been taking place, so perhaps this is a little more than rumour and has some substance although that does not mean that the deal will get over the line as there are sure to be other clubs involved. But is the player worth £20 m the rough exchange rate in £'s, after all like Moi Elyounoussi he has a good reputation but it is in a League that is far from the strongest in Europe. Transfermarkt reveal that Djenepo was signed by Standard Liege 2 years ago for £45k and that they think his current market value is around £4.5k, however what that is based on is unclear and a player is worth what a club is prepared to pay. Certainly his stats are impressive, in the main Jupiler League season he played 25 times and scored 7 goals along with 3 assists, in the play offs he played 7 times with 1 goal and 1 assist and in the Europa League he added a further 5 appearances and 3 goals. So his stats are impressive, but the question is whether he has been truly tested, questions like this have been asked about both Sadio Mane who joined from the Austrian League with success and the aforementioned Elyounoussi from Switzerland with no success so far. It sounds a little like 22 mlilion euros is the starting asking price from SL, but the actual price might be a bit lower. From this viewpoint you have to feel that Djenepo would be in direct competition with Che Adams of Birmingham in Saints sights, that being the case and Adams currenly being quoted as a £15 million target, you have to say that Djenepo might well be a fall back option for Saints should the Adams deal not happen. Photo: Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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