Emmanuel Mayuka looks set to be banished to the snowy wastes of Russia as he is rumoured to be joining Spartak Moscow.
Emmanuel Mayuka was a strange signing for Saints and was perhaps one of the factors in the total breakdown of relations between Nigel Adkins and Nicola Cortese.
Billy Sharp had every right to be given a chance to prove himself in the Premier League after his goals fired Saints to promotion, but the manager found himself isolated and Sharp was told in no uncertain terms that he would not even be allowed to remain at the club and fight for his place.
In came Emmanuel Mayuka who in fairness had a reasonable record in Swiss football for a fee allegedly of around £3.5 -4 million. The Zambian made his debut against Manchester United and his pace in that 15 minute spell initially suggested that he might have something, however that was soon to be dispelled and it soon became clear that parralels could be drawn between Mayuka and another signing two years earlier Guly Du Prado in that in seemed that neither were wanted by the manager.
His appearances were sporadic and always off the bench over the next few months when suddenly in the week before Christmas he appeared in the starting line up against Sunderland at St Mary's with the reason given that he had looked good in training.
Nigel Adkins seemed hacked off and the word was that the manager had been ordered to play Mayuka, his appearance lasted 55 minutes and he was replaced by Steve De Ridder another strange signing.
Adkins was soon gone but it didn't help Mayuka, he would never start another first team game to date, although under Mauricio Pochettino he had four little sub roles in the final games of the season.
But his Saints career was effectively over he was shipped out to Sochaux for the 2013/14 season.
Last season with injuries hitting hard Ronald Koeman gave him a chance off the bench in the final ten minutes of several games with no other attacking options available, but it was clear that he was still not up to the standard needed with ironically what now appears to be his last Saints game identical to his first coming on as sub against Man Utd.
So for our not insubstancial money we got 1 start in the Premier league plus 15 appearances as sub plus another 2(1) games in the League cup, in one of those games he scored his solitary goal in a 5-1 win at Barnsley.
All in all he has not been the greatest signing for the club and he will go down in the history books as one that appeared to have been made by the Chairman at the time rather than the manager.
Now it seems he is joining Spartak Moscow, whether we are getting a fee is unclear, but with two years left on his contract and having made little contribution in the first three years it is likely that Saints will be happy to let him go for little or no money to get him off the books.
To be fair to Mayuka he didnt kick up a fuss he appeared to cause no problems off the pitch, but the reality was he was far from the standard neccessary and he now finds himself a long way down in the pecking order and that does not include the youngsters coming through.
He needs to kick start his career and Saints need to clear the path for the youngsters to come on through and Mayuka will add to the total of the transfer fees wasted in our first 18 months back in the Premier along with Gaston Ramirez, Osvaldo and of course the strange case of Vegard Forren.