On 1 September 2014, Southampton pulled off one of the best double deals in Premier League history.
In came two players in the final throes of deadline day – Toby Alderweireld arriving on loan after a difficult season as a makeshift right-back with Atletico Madrid and Sadio Mane, a little-known £10 million forward snapped up from Red Bull Salzburg.
Now, when you consider Mane would blossom into one of Southampton’s finest forwards of the Premier League era, breaking records and dizzying defenders before joining Liverpool for a cool £34 million, there will be understandable excitement on the South Coast about a player whose speed, skill and eye for goal has earned comparisons with the Senegalese superstar.
The Telegraph reports Southampton are going head to head with Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds United and Steven Gerrard’s Rangers for Santiago Moreno.
And before you jump at the opportunity to point out the so-called ‘new Sadio Mane’ isn’t even a household name in his own home – let alone on British soil – hands up who’d heard of Liverpool’s Champions League-winning number ten before he rocked up at St Mary’s seven years ago?
Furthermore, with Colombian outfit America de Cali demanding only £2.5 million, 21-year-old Moreno is one of those low-risk signings. A gamble worth taking.
“I received an offer for Santiago Moreno. He is worth about €3 million,” Tulio Gomez, a major shareholder at America de Cali, said recently, via Futbolete.
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