Southampton set terms to open exit door for player as 2 clubs keen, pleased with Saints’ conditions with open door for replacement
RC Lens and RC Strasbourg want to sign Southampton’s Sékou Mara this summer, according to Foot Mercato.
The striker left Bordeaux for Southampton in 2022 and the move hasn’t worked out well so far. He managed just over 1,000 minutes of action from 34 games last season, of which 391 minutes were in cup competitions.
Mara could leave Southampton and return to France in this window, in order to try and revive his career.
Luckily for him, both Lens and Strasbourg are keen on signing the 22-year-old, albeit on a loan deal.
The Frenchman has less than two years left on his contract and Russell Martin’s side are open to sanctioning a move for him in this window if their conditions are met. The Saints will only sanction a loan move, and this seems to perfectly suit the two Ligue 1 sides.
Lens’ Elye Wahi is set to complete a move to Marseille and they’re looking for his successor in the market.
The Southampton frontman can be an option and their head of recruitment, Diego López, knows him from their time together at Bordeaux. It isn’t clear whether this would give Lens an advantage over Strasbourg in the transfer race.
Southampton are to earn less than has been suggested from selling Armel Bella-Kotchap to Hoffenheim, it has been claimed in Germany.
Bella-Kotchap was on loan at Dutch giants PSV Eindhoven last season and had a campaign to forget.
He is now ending his association with Southampton on a permanent basis and is to undergo a medical ahead of a move to Hoffenheim.
Earlier today, we covered a reported from Portuguese newspaper O Jogo, which relayed claims from the UK of Southampton making a €30m offer for Panathinaikos ‘ Fotis Ioannidis.
Southampton offer completely dismissed – Haven’t made the reported bid
O Jogo weren’t able to confirm that offer had happened, but did speak to sources, potentially at Sport Republic, who told them the newly promoted Premier League club could cover such an amount should they so wish.
Another Portuguese newspaper, Record, now dismisses the bid entirely. They say that neither Southampton or Leicester City have made any offers for the Greek striker.
Therefore, they believe Sporting CP could end up the only club in town for Fotis Ioannidis, which would present the possibility of Panathinaikos having to lower their demands for the player.
Record insist claims of offers from Southampton and Leicester ‘do not correspond with reality’. The Portuguese newspaper reports both Premier League clubs have been in contact with Panathinaikos, but neither of them went beyond that.
Reading between the lines, sources from Sporting believe these claims are being encouraged by Panathinaikos to try and get a bigger fee.
