The news on the official Southampton FC website stated that terms have been agreed with Trabzonspor for Tall Paul Onuachu, but dealing with the Turkish club has been difficult and the fact that the story did not say the striker had actually joined them, spoke volumes.
As we know from over two years of dealing with Trabzonspor in both transfers and loan deals, that actually agreeing something with them is far from them actually doing it and so Saints seem to be making this exact point in the way that this story was worded.
They did not say that he was gone, merely that they had agreed a fee and as far as they were concerned the deal is going to be done and so they wished him well for the future.
But two days after the announcement there is still no official confirmation that he has left Southampton FC and is now a Trabzonspor player.
Now there could be a good reason for that, the player could be on holiday and so unable to take his medical and complete the forms with his signature for a few days, even a week, but if that was the case you would have thought that the club would have said that in the article.
I think that the club are subtly letting people know that they are serious, but that Trabzonspor’s word is not exactly their bond, that just because they have agreed the terms to buy him, does not mean that they will actally go through with the deal.
Perhaps they will come back and try to haggle further, certainly Saints seem to feel that this could be the case and have forced Trabzonspors hand by making the announcement that terms have been agreed, this is unusual, usually a club does not announce to the media that a player is leaving until the contracts are signed.
Indeed clubs often agree transfer fees etc for a player with another club, but it doesn’t happen as the player can’t agree terms, usually neither party say anything and no one knows.
So it will be interesting to see how long this drags on before Tall Paul actually leaves.
He himself is probably frustrated with the situation, he would be glad to sign on the dotted line and have his future settled.
If and when he does go I wish him well, he was not a great player for Southampton FC, but he was a truer and no one could accuse him of going through the motions.