Bundesliga strugglers Werder Bremen are expected to lose Milot Rashica with move to the Premier League, with Ralph Hasenhuttl’s Saints, a possibility.
Southampton coach Ralph Hasenhuttl is hoping to raid the Bundesliga this summer and bring Werder Bremen talisman Milot Rashica to St Mary’s, according to Weser Kurier.
It is hard to imagine a player better suited to Hasenhuttl’s high-octane, counter-attacking style than a jet-heeled Kosovo international.
Southampton have been arguably the most effective, counter-attacking team in the Premier League over the last few months and the fact that the Saints have picked up far more points away from home than at St Mary’s speaks volumes about their reactive approach to the game.
And Rashica, an explosive attacking in the mould of an Eden Hazard or an Alexis Sanchez, would have no trouble adapting to life under a coach who frequently gets the best out of speedy forwards, from Timo Werner to Nathan Redmond.
Weser Kurier claims that Southampton are hoping to sign Rashica over the summer. He has a £33 million release clause in his contract; a fee that would make the ex-Vitesse Arnhem star the most expensive player in the South Coast club’s history.
Bremen are currently sitting second bottom in the Bundesliga, five points adrift of safety, and the report suggests that his price-tag will fall to £17 million if the 2004 league champions succumb to relegation.
As it stands, Liverpool are leading the race for Rashica’s signature but Southampton would give the 25-year-old a much better chance of first-team football. For all of Redmond’s and Shane Long’s qualities, they are not exactly Mo Salah or Sadio Mane.
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