Euro club ‘agree deal’ to sign Southampton talent after six-figure sum revealed
An emerging Southampton talent has reportedly agreed a deal with a European club.
Southampton have been clearing the decks this summer, with Russell Martin looking to replace the older with the younger.
Among those to have already left St Mary’s on permanent deals are Lyanco, Duje Caleta-Car, and Romain Perraud, with Che Adams and Stuart Armstrong having been released.
The Saints have since signed four players aged 22 or under in Taylor Harwood-Bellis, Nathan Wood, Ronnie Edwards, and Rento Takaoka, with the likes of Adam Lallana and Charlie Taylor joining on free transfers to add Premier League experience to the side.
Martin’s side are widely expected to bring in a number of other players this summer with AZ Alkmaar right-back Yukinari Sugawara having agreed a deal to join the Saints.
But there could also be a few more player departures this summer, with the next seemingly agreed.
Alejandro Gomes Rodriguez set to leave Southampton for Lyon
There’s been a lot of talk about Southampton and England youth player Alejandro Gomes Rodriguez recently.
The 16-year-old has also represented the likes of Portugal and Venezuela at youth international level, having recently been linked with a number of clubs around Europe.
Southampton have offered the attacker a professional contract, despite him not being 17 until March 2025, with the likes of Benfica and even Arsenal having been linked.
But journalist Fabrizio Romano now says that French giants Lyon have won the race to sign Gomez Rodriguez this summer.
Separate reports say that Lyon will have to pay £150,000 to Southampton in training fees for Gomes Rodriguez.
Southampton and Russell Martin need to avoid key mistake going forward
It’s certainly not unusual for club’s to lose their emerging young talents, often for very small fees too.
It’ll always be a blow, and it may certainly feel like that for Southampton after they earned promotion to the Premier League, and still couldn’t convince Gomes Rodriguez to stay.
For Martin though, the situation could be avoided in years to come if he can prove to future players like Gomes Rodrigues that there’s a route into the first-team for the club’s youth players.
Although it’ll be difficult to integrate too many youngsters into the side next season, Martin could potentially promote some of the club’s youth players into the first-team and showcase Southampton as a club who promotes and puts faith in youngsters.
It’ll allow Southampton to keep their young stars going forward and it’ll also help them to attract new ones to the club.
That way, Southampton may avoid a repeat of the Gomes Rodrigues situation later down the line.
