Media reports are suggesting that Saints are looking to take a cut price offer on Sofiane Boufal as he enters the final season of his contract, strangely some Saints fans think we should keep him !!!
According to a report from French publication Foot Mercato, Saints are prepared to listen to offers for Sofiane Boufal, the Morocco international who cost a then-club record £16 million to sign from Lille back in 2016 could be sold for a as little as £4 million as the club look to get some money back, but more importantly shave a big chunk off the wage bill.
Amazingly this seems to have split Saints fans down the middle with a significant number seemingly demanding that he stays at St Mary's.
The facts though don't lie, yes there have been some exciting moments, but they have been few and far between, in 31 starts and another 39 appearances off the bench he scored only 3 goals in the Premier League, granted they were all quite spectacular, but 3 goals in the 3 full seasons he played for us is not a good return.
A year ago Boufal was a player that Saints were looking to sell, he had been at Celta Vigo all season and was seen as surplus, but then came a goal at Feyenoord in a friendly and suddenly fans were demanding he stay Ralph Hasenhuttl getting his first look at the player thought that perhaps there was something there.
Now it seems that the goal in Holland was an expensive one, after a couple of early assists, Boufal spent much of the season just gone in the same way he had spent the previous two, promising a lot, showing a few glimpses of his talent here and there but ultimately having no end product.
After lockdown he featured only once in the opening restart game at Norwich, even this was as an 89th minute sub so not significant, after that he was injured, firstly with a "slight thigh injury" and then bizarrely by a toe problem seemingly gained when he ran into his own kitchen table.
Now it seems that Saints have had enough and with less than a year left on his contract, they should get some money back whilst they still can, it is time to write off the amount paid and sell him for £4-5 million and in doing so save about £3 million in wages as well.
The problem before in trying to sell him is his wages, somewhere around £3.5 million a year, he seemingly wasn't willing to give that up over the past two years hence the loan spell, but now he might be willing to take a pay cut in order to secure a long term deal elsewhere.
Our problem though is his reputation is gone, when we signed him he was 22 and a promising youngster, he will turn 27 next week and has not established himself at the top level, there will not be a queue of buyers.
Boufal would not be missed, Moussa Djenepo was signed to replace him last season and suffered with injuries as he adapted to the more intense training and games for a Premier League club, but hopefully with a year under his belt he will be fitter this season and have built up the stamina needed for this level.
So what do you think, should we cash in now, or should we gamble another £4 million in the hope that after 4 years he will suddenly turn out to the the player we hoped that he was.
Vote now in our online poll using the link below.
https://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/football/southampton/members//polls/2550/sofiane-b