Kamaldeen Sulemana had one of perhaps his only two decent performances for the club against Swansea City, but it could be his last, with media reports suggesting that there is a fair bit of interest from European clubs in signing him.

Those who are not fans of Kamaldeen Sulemana will claim that in terms of impact for Southampton, that he has only had two games of note, the first being his two goal salvo against Liverpool as Saints waved goodbye to the Premier League in May 2023 and the second his performance against Swansea in the FA Cup on Sunday, where he scored one and created another.

That is perhaps a little harsh, but the reality is that this season in 9 Premier League starts, he has not scored a goal or provided an assist.

Last season saw him start just 10 games in the Championship, come off the bench on another 15 occasions and sit on it on another 8 occasions including the all 3 of the Play off games.

His contribution though was minimal, just 3 assists, the first two occurred in the 3-1 defeat of Leeds United at St Mary's, prompting hopes that he might just star in the season.

This proved to be a false dawn and he would add just one further assist when Birmingham City were beaten 3-1 again at St Mary's.

It would be fair to say that his reputation with Southampton supporters is not great.

However as sportwitness.co.uk are reporting, on the Continent of Europe, it seems there is much interest.

In Italy Genoa are said to be interested in getting his signature and in France, Nantes are pursuing a loan deal.

But early indications are also that Ivan Juric has some faith in the Ghanian striker and may want to keep him, but that not be the view of the Southampton hierarchy.

With Saints chances of avoiding relegation having significantly diminished after a poor Xmas period and with the chances that they will not get better with two tough trips to Manchester United & Nottingham Forest in the next few days, it would be no surprise that Saints start to plan now for next season in the Championship and that means trimming the squad and building a transfer kitty for the summer.

So I would hazard a guess that Saints would prefer to sell Sulemana now.

He was signed almost two years ago at the end of the January window for a then record fee of around £22 million, but his value has dropped to almost half of that and to be blunt Saints would do well to get even that as it stands.

But beggars can't be choosers and although there is no pressure to sell with 2 years still left on his contract, but his value is dropping rather than increasing and the club may want to grab what they can get now.

The Ghanian is not the only player that Saints will probably want to cash in on, Kyle Walker Peters looks unlikely to sign a new deal and that being the case getting anything for him now is better than nothing, this is a different situation than Che Adams last season, we had something to play for and although Adams left for free, his contribution meant that we returned to the Premier League so was worth more than we would have got in a transfer fee.

But with nothing to play for why keep KWP and for that matter, Sulemana, Tall paul Onuachu, Ben Brereton Diaz, Armel Bella-Kotchap & even Aaron Ramsdale, there is a case for cashing in now and banking the cash.

All Photos Via Reuters

BuenosSaint added 10:45 - Jan 14 Better to do a fire sale now than in the close season.
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Frank_Xerox added 11:07 - Jan 14 Oh hooray. The first mention of a 'fire sale' since the last relegation. Sports Republic have got so many things wrong that I'm not going to attempt to list them. But the one thing they did show some nous about was the player sales last time around. A fire sale means selling off quick, whatever the price. The reason we raised quite so much money that year was because there was no fire sale. We only sold if the price was right, otherwise they hung on. It's probably best if we try to forget what they've done with most of that money since though. I agree with the idea of selling some now, Nick, but surely we have to keep some of the better players to give us a chance of playing for pride between now and May? I think we can beat Derby's total (in a good way!) but not if they gut the squad in January. Think how demoralised they'd be going into next season. We'd need Russell back to deal with the 'scar tissue' 🙄

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IanRC added 13:46 - Jan 14 You know my feelings, I think this would be a huge mistake. We at last appear to have a manager who believes in him and will encourage him to perform as he did in the cup. Should at least be given a chance with a decent strike partner.
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Bowlercow added 13:50 - Jan 14 Hopefully he stays and Juric gives him a free role or plays him as a central striker Imagine his value if he scores 4 or more between now and the seasons end More important are the boardroom changes just announced Top priority is a replacement for Wilcox He was the architect of our transfer success in23
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underweststand added 15:59 - Jan 14 For once Sulemana was given the chance to show his worth and Juric will surely have been encouraged at the result. IF ..he can show up in the coming games, he will attract attention from clubs more able to utilise his skill and pace but Saints will most certainly drop a packet on any eventual deal for someone who is " our most expensive failure" , and his worth will drop even more if /when we eventually drop a level. Better to cut a deal now that later.

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DoctorSleep added 19:06 - Jan 14 First question I have is are we under pressure to sell to maintain PSR? Either way, I would be for selling KWP - for obvious reasons - Sulemana, Tall Paul, Diaz and one or two others. Then with a few selected additions I would keep Ramsdale and the bulk of the squad on the condition that if we didn't get promoted at the end of the 25-26 season they could leave. A gentlemans agreement if you will. Its certain we are going back down so its important to get a squad that is capable of a quick return and then stay in the PL. That also includes the manager!!

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