Premier League hero firmly believes Southampton made £8m transfer mistake | OneFootball

Watching Bednarek's lackluster man-marking against Bournemouth, Troy Deeney believes Southampton might have missed a golden £8m opportunity.

Honestly, no Southampton fan must have exited the St. Mary's with any flattering thoughts. A defeat isn't something alienated among the Saints but how it occurred left a lot to be desired.

While the home fans demonstrated their disapproval of starting Smallbone, more questions should be raised about Southampton's defence. Throughout the evening, Bournemouth were easily chipping in crosses and even seemed to be scoring goals at their will.

Clearly, this shouldn't be the defensive standards of a Premier League club. Well, what can one expect when the backline's leader struggles to anticipate the opposition forwards well?

Jan Bednarek is a proven centre-back, without a doubt. Still, his poor positioning in the first half led Ryan Christie to carve out two Cherries' goals.

Premier League hero firmly believes Southampton made £8m transfer mistake

Leaving Ouattara unmarked, failing to block Christie's long range effort - these two instances convey that Southampton fumbled a big January call. If you didn't know, Roma were prepared to take Bednarek and even handed an £8m payday to the Saints.

Well, at least Troy Deeney thinks Bednarek should have been sold, if not the majority of the Southampton fanbase. Further, the retired centre forward is confident that even he can outrun the 28-year-old at the moment.

In his own words, Deeney spoke to TalkSport: "And finally, the big centre-half, Bednarek. I was running around him three years ago, and I haven't run in a year. I'd put money on it, mate, that I could run past him now."

In all honesty, Bednarek isn't a slow defender. Instead, his slow reactions and terrible game awareness leaves his decent pace helpless.

That too, playing against a dominating attacking unit makes it difficult to even squeeze out a draw. Ultimately, the outcome was 3-1 and Bednarek must step up his performances otherwise huge defeats could become Southampton's norm.