Southampton‘s Armel Bella-Kotchap is on the radar of a newly promoted club, according to reports in The Athletic.
After their torrid season in the Premier League, The Saints are being raided for their prized assets this summer, with Kamaldeen Sulemana already gone and a few other figures, such as Samuel Edozie and Taylor Harwood-Bellis, are being monitored by other sides either in the Premier League or abroad. Will Still’s side have only recruited one new player so far in Hoffenheim centre-back Joshua Quarshie.
Bundesliga Return On The Cards
The Athletic’s German Football Correspondent Seb Stafford-Bloor has stated that Hamburg are interested in a move for Armel Bella-Kotchap, but may face difficulties signing the 23-year-old. He played just five games all season under both Russell Martin and Ivan Juric, despite using a back-three formation for much of the campaign.
The defender, who was part of Germany’s 2022 World Cup Squad, was signed by Southampton in June of that year from Bochum and had a promising start to his time at St. Mary’s, making 26 appearances in his debut year. However, with their relegation back to the Championship, he was loaned out to PSV Eindhoven and there he failed to make an impact and dropped into their youth development side in the second tier of Dutch football.
The report states that whilst Bella-Kotchap is keen on returning to his homeland this summer, his wage demands may prove to be a hurdle for Hamburg, who earned promotion from the 2. Bundesliga by finishing in second place. It marks the end of a seven-year exodus from the top flight for the former Champions League winners, who until 2018 had never been relegated from the top flight.
Writers’ View
Bella-Kotchap has always been on the fringes at Southampton so a sale this summer seems logical. The Bundesliga was a division he is familiar with and could see him return to regular action after nearly three years without playing regularly. His wage demands may prove an issue for Hamburg who will have not been operating on a big budget for some time, but with the interest for a deal still there, perhaps it will be resolved through the negotiation process.
