Southampton transfer news: Takeover could now see Saints land £33.3m wonderkid | OneFootball

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GiveMeSport

·13 January 2022

Southampton transfer news: Takeover could now see Saints land £33.3m wonderkid

Article image:Southampton transfer news: Takeover could now see Saints land £33.3m wonderkid

Ligue 1 expert Adam White believes that Southampton may be able to afford a deal for Angers striker Mohamed Ali Cho after their takeover.

The club confirmed last week that businessman Dragan Solak had bought the club for a fee of £100m, with reports claiming that he has a net worth of over £1 billion.


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What’s the latest with Southampton?

They celebrated their takeover in style by thumping Brentford on Tuesday evening.

Saints beat Thomas Frank’s side 4-1 at St Mary’s to climb to 11th in the Premier League table, 13 points clear of the relegation zone.

They have been linked with a potential swoop to sign Ali Cho, with The Sun claiming that the Saints are leading the race to sign the 17-year-old, although any deal is takeover-dependent.

He has already made his breakthrough at Angers and has been playing regularly in Ligue 1 despite his tender age.

This season, he has played 18 times in the French top-flight, scoring twice.

Cho has played for Everton and PSG at youth level but has appeared to find a club that trusts him in Angers, when it comes to playing first-team football.

White has claimed that the club value their teenage asset highly and would not let him leave for much less than €40m (£33.3m).

But he believes that the Saints may be able to do the deal after their takeover.

Article image:Southampton transfer news: Takeover could now see Saints land £33.3m wonderkid

What has White said?

He told GiveMeSport: “Angers are after €40 million. So I imagine that if it was takeover dependant, I imagine they’d probably be able to afford that if that was the case.”

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Should Saints do the deal?

This is a debatable one.

Cho is clearly a talent and has been playing regularly for the club in Ligue 1, even if his output isn’t genuinely excellent at this point.

He is a bundle of potential, though, and the fact that he is playing in a top league at the age of 17 surely points to the talent that he has.

Per fbref, he has a strange cocktail of attributes, with his standout ability being his pressing, while he also has good numbers for progressive carries and dribbles completed, along with interceptions.

What he isn’t brilliant at is the actual attacking but there is the potential to turn him into a pressing forward who can work as a really excellent partner to another attacker.

But it’s obvious that, at £33.3m, it would be a mighty risk.

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