For some bizarre reason clubs in Turkey seem to have spent much of the last few years trying to sign players from Saints, they have largely failed due to their reticence to pay the going rate, now it seems one club are looking to buy one player get another half price.
Trabzonspor have been linked with Southampton forward Tall Paul Onuachu several times in the past but always failed to come up with the readies, however according to insidefutbol.com they are not only in discussions with Saints about finally landing Onuachu, but are also interested in central defender Jan Bednarek as well.
Onuachu is entering the last year of his contract, so Trabzonspor might well get their man this time out, the sticking point has been not only the transfer fee demanded by Saints, but Onuachu's wages, meaning that the striker has been loathe to take a drop in salary to join Trabzonspor or for that matter any club on a permanent deal.
But now could be the time that he opts for the security of a long term deal elsewhere, rather than risk his stock dropping meaning that his potential salary will also drop.
However he could also opt again to go out on loan thus retaining his large wages at St Mary's for another year.
Of course Saints would prefer to get him off the books, his current value has plummeted to around 6 million Euros, around the fee that Trabzonspor and other clubs were willing to pay two years ago when his value was still around 13 million Euros, so I would expect that given their usual stance, Trabzonspor will be trying to get him for free, Saints will be demanding the 6 million Euros he is worth, but would probably be prepared to do business around 3-4 million Euros.
However as insidefutbol.com have reported, whilst in discussions with Southampton, Trabzonspor have made an offer for Jan Bednarek.
The Polish defenders value has dropped to around 9 million Euros, and his current valuation is said to be around 9 million euros, so it is no surprise that Trabzonspor have been offering in the region of 3-4 million Euros.
However it is also being claimed that Bednarek has a release clause in his contract that currently stands at just over 7 million Euros for a player who will turn 30 in April next year.
So Trabzonspor's stance seems to be based on buy one player and get another half price.
So if Trabzonspor or for that matter any other club trigger this release clause, then Saints would not be able to prevent Bednarek moving on, I would also think Saints would not be too unhappy if this happened.
But whether Bednarek would be willing to move to Turkey or indeed any other club is again unclear, he has two years left on his contract and he will be on a salary that will be far in excess than he will get in Turkey or indeed anywhere else, will he be prepared to take a substantial drop in wages to move on ? I would say not.
So I would be surprised if Trabzonspor land either player on a permanent basis, Onuachu will once again want to hold on to his high wages and will push for a loan move and Bednarek will probably want to do likewise.
Given their low valuations these days, I would suspect that Southampton will reluctantly acquiesce to this and hope that in the case of Bednarek at least if his value rises they might get a transfer fee in a years time.