Southampton are to be presented with two different offers for attacker Paul Onuachu as Trabzonspor plot a way to keep the 29-year-old beyond their initial season-long loan, according to Sport Witness.
The Nigerian international only joined the Hampshire-based club in February and arrived as one of the most in-form strikers in Europe. It was hoped that he would fire the Saints to Premier League survival, but his £18.6 million move from Genk proved to be a nightmare and he ended the campaign with zero goals in 11 Premier League appearances.
Southampton were subsequently relegated to the second tier and it was clear that incoming boss Russell Martin had no plans to utilise the striker. He joined Turkish Super Lig club Trabzonspor in September but has rediscovered his sparkle, scoring seven goals in 10 appearances, including four in his last three outings.
As a result, the seven-time Turkish champions are already keen to extend his stay at the club. The Real EFL understands that talks between the two parties have already taken place but Sport Witness, via Fotospor, can now shed some light on details of the offer that is being prepared.
It is claimed that the Turks are hoping to negotiate a permanent deal this summer, although they would be prepared to extend the attacker’s loan by another season should an agreement over a fee failed to be reached.
A permanent exit does appear to be on the cards, but journalist Dean Jones does believe that the ex-Midtjylland could be given another shot at Southampton should they be promoted back to the Premier League;
“Onuachu obviously hasn’t set the world on fire since landing at Saints, but I actually thought it was a good signing when they brought him in initially. I don’t think he’s really been given enough opportunity to show that he could crack it at Southampton.
“You could argue that that’s not necessarily the club’s fault. They’ve been in really bad times and they’ve been pretty desperate”, he continued.
“They’ve had to try various things and they’ve had different managers. So he’s kind of been a victim of that as well.
“But to see him go away now scoring goals, everyone’s a winner from that point of view.
“I think that eventually he’ll come back to Southampton and he will get another opportunity and just needs to hit the ground running when that happens.”
Southampton currently sit in fourth in the Championship and host Bristol City on Wednesday night.
Writer’s View
It’s a complete mystery as to why Onuachu’s move to Southampton didn’t work out. He is a player that has scored bags of goals wherever he has been and he is surely a player that would’ve scored a hatful in the Championship.
He joined a club in complete disarray in February this year and it was always going to be a tough ask for him to turn things around. He is a player that thrives in the box, but the simple matter is that the Saints were not creating enough chances. There is still every opportunity that he could be a hit at St Mary’s, but he is enjoying his time in Turkey and a permanent move looks increasingly likely.
