Two Players Who Are Likely To Leave Southampton In The Summer
Southampton have had a fairly quiet start to the summer. Having spent a good part of the month in trying to find a replacement for former manager Claude Puel, the Saints finally decided on appointing Mauricio Pellegrino as the new head coach of the club, but are yet to make any significant inroads into the transfer market.
There has been a high-profile exit from the club though, with striker Jay Rodriguez leaving the South Coast club to move to Tony Pulis’ West Bromwich Albion. With the new manager coming in, it is very likely that he would want to shape the squad according to his plans and will also bring in players according to what he visualises as best for the team.
That would certainly mean an axe for several first team members that are currently at the club. There will also be players who wouldn’t be happy with the playing time they got over the course of the last season, thus wanting to leave in order to get more playing time in a World Cup year. And here are two players that Southampton may lose ahead of the upcoming season.
Jordy Clasie
The Dutchman arrived in the summer of 2015 amid great expectations, to replace the outgoing Morgan Schneiderlin, but things could have hardly gone any more wrong for Clasie.
Injuries, time and again, have thwarted him from establishing himself as a key player for the Saints. The 26-year old has struggled for consistency since his move and hasn’t been able to carve out a regular place in the starting XI. Last season he just started 12 Premier League games and made 24 appearances in all competitions, scoring twice and setting up one more. In total, since his move from Feyenoord two summers ago, Clasie has played only 49 times for the Saints.
With the World Cup next year, the player wants more playing time and is looking for an exit. And with interest from Serie A side Lazio (The Sun), a move could certainly materialise in the coming months.
Florin Gardos
The 28-year old was brought in back in the summer of 2014, as a replacement for Dejan Lovren who was moving to Liverpool, but Gardos hasn’t been able to make any kind of impact in the first team.
Injuries have had a major say in his Southampton career going downhill, as a serious knee problem kept him out during the initial phases last season, following which he wasn’t able to break into the playing XI. Despite Virgil van Dijk’s injury in the second part of the season, then-manager Claude Puel trusted Maya Yoshida and Jack Stephens to get the job done, keeping the Romanian international out of the team. As a result, Gardos made just one senior team appearance, in an FA Cup game, and has played only on 18 occasions for Southampton in three years.
With just a year left on his contract, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Saints deciding to let Gardos go in the summer to cut their losses.