Southampton FC launch transfer scouting mission - Mateus Fernandes 2.0 must be on the radar | OneFootball

Saints are on the lookout for their next star following the lucrative West Ham sale

Southampton have launched a fresh scouting mission, which appears designed to locate the next Mateus Fernandes for the south coast outfit.

Based on reports from Portuguese outlet A Bola, Saints dispatched scouts to two Liga Portugal games recently to search for new talent.

It will not be lost on Southampton fans that this is the exact market the club tapped into to find recently sold star midfielder Fernandes.

Following his success for Saints, along with the tidy profit he turned, the club seem to be searching for a second helping.

Southampton dispatch scouts to two Liga Portugal games - it could provide them with the next Mateus Fernandes

According to A Bola’s report, scouting staff from the Championship club were seen at two Portuguese top-tier games.

The matches they attended over the weekend were Sporting’s victorious trip to Famalicao, and Porto’s home win against Nacional.

The Saints’ recruiters were joined in the stands by representatives of Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Brentford, Rennes and Bologna; tough competition should any of the sides move in for players Southampton are tracking.

While it’s unclear precisely which players were the subject of the south-coast club’s attention, any move would replicate their successful dealings with Fernandes.

Fernandes joined the Saints from Sporting last summer for a fee of around £15m, as the club looked to gear themselves up for a tough Premier League season ahead.

That top-flight campaign did not quite go to plan, ending in relegation, but the then-20-year-old was a particular highlight, registering six league goal involvements as part of a struggling side despite his young years.

Those factors made it clear that a season in the Championship was not the best next step for the young Portuguese player, and so the club decided to cash in.

Just 12 months after signing Fernandes, Southampton flipped him in a deal that could rise up to £42m, with £38m of that guaranteed.

If all the add-ons are met, Southampton will have almost tripled their initial investment; it’s no wonder they’re keen to get back out to Portugal.

Southampton have a lot to offer young European prospects

While Saints have a tough task ahead of them landing the top talents from these clubs, with Premier League and La Liga sides tracking the same games, they could provide a unique advantage.

Any player signed up from the Portuguese league is unlikely to go straight into the first team for, say, Barcelona, but under exciting young coach Will Still, there would be a much clearer route to first-team minutes.

The Saints boss works with a relatively young squad as it is, but has proven himself as open to giving young and relatively untested talents plenty of game time, as has been the case so far this season with 18-year-old attacker Jay Robinson.

Still’s reputation, coupled with Southampton’s Fernandes case study to prove how quickly they can progress players, makes them an attractive option, even against some of the big hitters present at those two games last weekend.

Everyone associated with the Saints will hold hope that this European recruitment mission can produce a transfer even half as successful as the Fernandes deal.