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Would Saints Supporters Have Danny Ings Back At St Mary's

When Danny Ings left Southampton last summer with very indecent haste, Saints supporters felt betrayed in a way that would not usually be the case when a much loved player leaves the club, but with rumours that Aston Villa are now looking to cut their losses, would we have him back at at St Mary's.

There is no doubt that Saints supporters were upset when Danny Ings left the club last summer, we were prepared for him to go to a big club and perhaps have one last shot at the big time and the Champions League etc, but going to to Aston Villa was not much of a step up from Saints.

Of course there was no doubt they were a bigger club, but truth is in today's game clubs like Villa and Everton have been left behind from being a true power in the Premier League.

Danny Ings went for the "Project" so he said, but having just turned 29 he hardly had a lot of time left for a project, he needed to go to a club that could give him a shot at glory now.

But with the season drawing to a close it hasn't quite turned out the way that the striker had hoped.

Villa endured a poor start to the season and sacked their manager and Ings has found himself down the pecking order at Villa Park, he has started just 19 of the 32 Premier League games he could have played in, come on as sub in another 5 and taken no part in the other 8.

Ings was signed to score goal, but he has managed just 5, one of them a penalty in his first game for the club, indeed after scoring in his second game, he has hit the net just 3 times in the next 8 months, ironically the last of those coming against Saints in our 4-0 defeat at Villa Park, although to be fair I could probably have got a goal that day we were so poor.

This has let to the rumours that Villa are now looking to offload him at a cut price or use him as a makeweight in a deal with Brighton for Yves Bissouma.

But with it looking unlikely that Armando Broja returns to the club next season, Saints will be looking at their options up front for next season and inevitably Ings name will crop up.

Turning 30 in July he will not be a target for one of the bigger clubs, so the likes of Brighton and Saints are obvious links.

One issue though will be wages, Ings went to Villa for around £130,000 a week if the stories from last summer are to be believed, if he goes on a permanent transfer there are going to be no takers at that level.

He would be looking at taking a drop of at least £60 k a week perhaps more given his poor scoring record this season and age, with two years left on his current contract. would he be willing to throw away around £6 million of potential earnings in the next two years.

That makes it likely that if he does go in the summer then it could be out on loan to someone, where a deal could be struck regarding his wages.

So would you welcome Ings back as the Prodigal Son or should we leave him as part of our history.

I'm sure some will feel that he burned his bridges last summer, others will feel that we could do better, but there will be those that think that at the right price, it could be a deal worth doing.

Putting all emotion to one side, how do you feel about a potential return ?

Vote now in our poll using the link below and also add your comments and feelings about the local lad who came back once and could do so again.

https://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/football/southampton/forum/284993/would-you-welcom

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