Southampton Ready To Trim The Squad In January To Free Up...

With the transfer window less than a month away, there is a lot of conjecture about what will transpire at St. Mary’s

in January. Rumour has it that certain players may leave to make room for new hires.

Tall Paul Onuachu was reportedly told to find a new club in January, according to a number of media outlets,

including footballfancast.com. He was reportedly found to be surplus to requirements in the summer after spending

2023–2024 on loan in Turkey.

Several clubs, particularly Trabzonspor, where he played the previous season, attempted to sign him at a discount,

but Saints remained firm and opted to keep him rather than loan him out.

ut now it seems that there is a club willing to pay the asking price and it is said that Clubb Brugge in Belgium are

willing to fork out £8.5 million to bring him back to the country where he had a lot of success previously to being

bought by Saints.

tall Paul began his first game of the season and has strangely gone from being hailed by the fans as a failure to

becoming a cult hero. However, the truth is that, despite his unquestionable 100% effort on the field, he is not a good

fit for Russell Martin’s style of play.

We bought him to score goals, but he has hardly touched the opposition penalty area. He has fought gamely against

Liverpool and in some of his appearances off the bench, but mostly in the centre circle, dropping deeper and deeper

to try and get the ball, something that was not happening otherwise.

In order to use Onuauchu, who is an out and out forward, it is necessary to get balls into the box early and get him on

the end of them. However, this is not Russell Martin’s style; instead, tall Paul and Cameron Archer spend their time

making run after run only to have the ball pass backwards or sideways. Martin, who appears to be the only person in

Southampton who is unable to identify the root of our issues and find solutions, appears to have chosen Onuauchu

out of despair.

Onuachu might save the Saints this season, but only if Russell Martin departs. I’m genuinely perplexed by the

manager’s recent selection of him. Instead of using a forward, play a midfielder if we need one.

It’s going to be a major month for Tall Paul, and if Russell Martin is still here at the end of it, he’ll be heading to

Brugge.

Maxwell Cornet, who hasn’t had much of an impact since joining on loan from West Ham, may also be on the move.

The issue is that he is also surplus to requirement at The Hammers, therefore they won’t allow him to return to the

London Stadium until they can find another team to take him on loan.

The main issue here is that it will only be the last week of the transfer window, and a club that has failed to sign their

other targets may decide to take a chance on a player who has only started one Premier League game for Saints and

another as a substitute, totalling 71 minutes in the League and the Carabao Cup.

They may not be the only players who could depart; Kyle Walker-Peters’ contract expires in the summer of 2025, and

the Saints may decide to cash in during January as there doesn’t seem to be much possibility that he will sign a new

contract.

Although I personally like Tall Paul, it appears that Russell Martin has no intention of playing Armel Bella-Kotchap,

indicating a rift somewhere. The Saints will attempt to offload him if Martin leaves, as a new manager may have

different ideas and use Bella-Kotchap.

Southampton Ready To Trim The Squad In January To Free Up Space For New Arrivals