Southampton: Saints submit Djurucic offer | OneFootball

A major update has emerged on Southampton’s pursuit of a Serie A midfielder, it could lead to an unforgivable blunder by Martin Semmens.

What’s the talk?

According to Italian journalist Gianluca Di Marzio, Southampton have submitted an offer to Serie A side Sassuolo for midfielder Filip Djuricic as they attempt to re-sign the Serbian international six years on from his loan spell at St. Mary’s in 2015.

The report claims Southampton’s Premier League rivals West Ham have joined them in their pursuit of Djuricic, who has one year left on his contract at Sassuolo. However, it does not state how much has been offered or whether or not Sassuolo are open to cashing in on Djuricic in the coming months.

Earlier this year, Sassuolo coach Roberto De Zerbi voiced his frustration at Djuricic’s “wrong attitude” prior to a Serie A match with Sampdoria. He told Sport Mob:

Semmens blunder

Southampton CEO Martin Semmens could be heading for an unforgivable blunder with this prospective deal for Djuricic. This could be a major error by the club as Djuricic has not proven that he is good enough to improve Southampton’s team in the years since he left from his loan stint in 2015. Semmens should, instead, be looking to avoid this deal and he should stop himself from making a mistake in the summer window.

Djuricic played nine games for Southampton in the Premier League in the 2014/15 campaign and failed to provide a single goal or assist, averaging a dismal WhoScored rating of 6.40. This proved that he was not good enough to make an impact in England at that point in his career and his statistics for Sassuolo do not suggest that there has been a major improvement. In the last six Serie A seasons, he has racked up 12 goals and 13 assists whilst playing for various clubs and he has never averaged a WhoScored rating higher than 6.75.

The £8.1m-rated flop is also at a tricky age for a signing. He is at the age, 29, where he has little resale value and he would not be a player Southampton could develop and then sell on for a profit at a later date. This means that he needs to be of the requisite quality to come in and make an immediate, big, impact in the Premier League. Given the aforementioned statistics, he does not have that quality and Semmens should pull out of any deal to avoid making a massive blunder.

AND in other news, Semmens could land Southampton’s dream Danny Ings heir in £2k-p/w dynamo…