According to reports in the Daily Mail, Southampton are confident that they will sign Spartak Moscow forward Quincy Promes in the summer after failing with a move to bring him to St Mary’s on deadline day.
What’s the word, then?
Well, the Daily Mail says that Saints had several bids for the 26-year-old rejected during the January transfer window, but they are convinced that the player wants to join them and are ready to make another bid to bring him to the south coast at the end of the season.
The offers on the table would have made the Dutchman Southampton’s club-record buy had a deal gone through before the 11pm deadline, but the Daily Mail says that Spartak turned them down as they didn’t have enough time to find a replacement for one of their best players.
Did they not have a Plan B on deadline day?
It seems unlikely as they still had time to do a deal when it became clear early on Wednesday that a deal for Promes wasn’t going to happen.
However, the Daily Mail suggests that the club didn’t rush to sign an alternative as they believe the Dutchman is the right player for them, although not having fresh blood in their attack for the remaining months of the campaign when they currently lie in the relegation zone could be a worry.
Will they sign him in the summer?
It’s difficult to say, but you can’t help but feel that Southampton have missed the boat on this one.
Firstly, they will need to stay in the Premier League to convince the attacker to come to St Mary’s in the summer, and that is something that is far from guaranteed right now considering Mauricio Pellegrino’s men have only won four of their 25 top flight matches this season, and none of their previous 12.
Additionally, the fact that Promes has scored 58 goals in 115 matches for Spartak and could potentially add to that tally in the coming months could mean that he is wanted by bigger clubs in the Premier League – and elsewhere in Europe – by the summer, and Saints would be likely to miss out on the Dutchman as a result.
If the player really does want to join then they do have hope, but there are several factors that could go against them before they have the opportunity to do that.