Saints Handed Boost In Pursuit Of Striker
Southampton have been given a light at the end of the tunnel in their pursuit of Manchester City striker Liam Delap, with the son of ex Saints player Rory Delap being told he can leave the Etihad.
Earlier this summer Saints reportedly had a bid of £16 million turned down by Manchester City for teenage striker Liam Delap, however the deal could soon be on after Pep Guardiola confirmed that the teenage forward will leave the Etihad on loan.
"We loaned ‘Macca’ [James McAtee, to Sheffield United], Liam is in that process because we have Erling and Julian and he needs minutes. The EDS phase is done. He has to try and go there and play the other ones.”
This could be interesting news for Saints, clearly when they made the bid for Delap he was interested in the move and he obviously knows new Saints head of recruitment Joe Shields well from their time spent together at the City academy.
A loan deal might suit Saints better now than a permanent move, it would reduce expenditure and enable them to also tackle other areas of concern in the team, such as in the centre of defence.
Delap is still only 19, the same age that Armado Broja was when he joined Saints a year ago, although the Chelsea man was within weeks of turning 20 and had a season on loan at Vitesse Arnhem, whereas Delap wont leave his teens until February and although has played for City in the Premier League twice has little experience of first team football at any level.
City are clearly keen to keep Delap and as mentioned that could now suit Saints.
What to read next:
Saints V Stoke City A Look Back In Pictures 2In the second part of our pictorial look back at some of our games against Stoke City from the past, here we look back at more recent games, so most of you would have been at them.
Southampton V Stoke City The PreviewSaints go into the last two games of the season with their hopes of automatic promotion ended, even the hope of finishing 3rd is only a point away from being ended, but they do have something to play for and that is getting back the togetherness, character & fight Russell Martin has recently be moaned.
No Togetherness No Character No FightNot my words, but those of Southampton manager Russell Martin, who should ask himself the question why two months ago we had all those attributes and now we don't !
Southampton At Leicester The DebacleThe big question is how can a side that was so tight at the back, so clinical up front and who could pass the ball around almost with their eyes closed, become the disorganised rabble that they were at the Leicester City this evening.
Southampton At Leicester City The PreviewSaints travel up to Leicester knowing that it is almost certain that they will just be in the play offs come the end of the season, however there is still the feint hope of 3rd place to play for, however the Foxes are playing for a bigger prize.
A Rough Guide To Leicester City FCSaints head up to Leicester City this evening with their automatic promotion hopes just about over, so for the 3,000 fans who bought their tickets when there was hope here are the details.
Southampton At Cardiff City The VerdictThere can be no excuses for this defeat, a loss that effectively means that it will be a play off spot and not an automatic promotion place for Southampton, so where did it all go wrong.