£12m Southampton FC star 'hasn't justified' hefty transfer fee - Middlesbrough may be laughing | OneFootball

FLW’s Southampton pundit has commented on whether he thinks Finn Azaz has justified his £12m price tag.

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Despite appearing to be resurrected under the guidance of Tonda Eckert, Southampton have been rocked by a recent poor run of results in the Championship.

The German was appointed into the Saints dugout after a run of four wins from his opening five games in interim charge, and after being given the reins on a full-time basis, also secured back-to-back victories against Birmingham City and West Brom.

But in recent times, the Saints have slumped into the form that saw Will Still relieved of his duties earlier on in the campaign, with the South Coast outfit failing to secure a victory in their last six second-tier outings, while a 4-0 thumping defeat away at Middlesbrough last Sunday has done little to inspire confidence that they can push themselves into the promotion conversation.

With inconsistency cropping up in the Southampton camp from both a performance and results perspective, Eckert needs to find a solution quickly if the Saints are going to rise up the Championship table and secure a play-off place by May, as the games continue to arrive thick and fast over the winter period.

During the summer transfer window gone, eyebrows were raised when the Saints spent a reported £12m fee to bring Finn Azaz to the club from second-tier rivals Middlesbrough.

The former West Brom academy graduate had an excellent campaign the season prior on Teesside, notching 12 goals and 11 assists from 46 matches, before adding a goal and an assist from his opening two games for Boro this term.

So far on the South Coast, the attacking midfielder has six goals and three assists to his name from 22 league appearances, with all of his returns coming in a purple patch between November and December 2025.

Since his assist against the Baggies in the second week of December, Azaz has failed to add an attacking contribution in his last six games, while he didn’t get his first assist for the club until matchday 14 against Queens Park Rangers, so it’s safe to say he’s had an inconsistent spell in red and white.

With this in mind, FLW’s Southampton fan pundit has discussed whether he feels Azaz has been worth the hefty £12m investment so far.

Speaking to Football League World, Southampton fan pundit Martin Sanders believes Finn Azaz isn’t worth £12m due to how inconsistent he’s been so far in a Saints shirt, but admits there is some potential in his game when he can get on a run of regularly claiming goals and assists.

Martin said: “If you look at his performances, he’s not worth £12m.

“I think he’s a good player, he’s got a bit about him, all the Plymouth and Boro fans say he can drift a bit in games and be in and out of games, and everything the Boro and Plymouth fans told me was true.

“On his day he’s brilliant, he had a little purple patch for five games where he was really good, he was scoring and looked every bit worth the money, but he hasn’t justified it on a consistent enough basis so far.”

Finn Azaz has to bring consistency in a Southampton shirt for the remainder of the season

It’s safe to say Finn Azaz hasn’t justified such a significant investment early into Southampton career, but we have seen from his time at Plymouth and Middlesbrough that he can be one of the top talismans in the division.

While at the Riverside Stadium, it was evident he needed a full season under his belt to adapt to a new team, as he had only delivered four goals and five assists from the 20 games he played in his opening campaign for Boro.

But heading into the following season, he really started to fire, leading to such an impressive tally last term.

Nonetheless, Middlesbrough may be the real winners from this deal right now, having netted an eight-figure outlay for a player who no longer wanted to remain on Teesside and, though talented with a more-than-impressive overall output, often frustrated with his inconsistency.

Of course, Southampton aren’t in the luxury of affording time to players given they want to be back in the Premier League as quickly as possible, but you do feel that if the Saints don’t get promoted this season, then Azaz could be fundamental to a promotion push next campaign.

However, Azaz will have to show more consistency in his game between now and the end of the season to ensure the supporters still have the faith in him to deliver in the future, as it will be so difficult to up his levels if he isn’t well-liked.