Dan N’Lundulu and Alex Jankewitz face uncertain futures at Premier League outfit Southampton with just a year remaining on their contracts, as reported by The Athletic.
When the Saints fought off competition from Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United and Juventus to sign a teenage midfielder in 2018, they probably didn’t expect to be listening to offers for that very same player just three years later (TMW).
But with Jankewitz due to become a free agent in summer 2022, Southampton may have no choice but to sell a 19-year-old whose time at the South Coast hasn’t exactly gone to plan.
It was Jankewitz’s horror challenge that left Southampton a man light with 88 minutes to go at Old Trafford in February.
Worse punishment was to come, of course. The Switzerland U21 international watched on helplessly, ashen-faced and embarrassed as his teammates were bludgeoned into the ground by a Manchester United side that scored nine times before the final whistle.
There’s a chance Jankewitz will never get the chance to make amends either.
Will Southampton sell Jankewitz and N’Lundulu?
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Southampton will consider bids this summer for a man who didn’t exactly endear himself to supporters even before that nightmare night at the Theatre of Dreams.
Jankewitz handed in a transfer request in January having grown frustrated by a lack of first-team opportunities under Ralph Hasenhuttl.
It is uncertain whether N’Lundulu feels the same.
The 22-year-old forward was a far more regular fixture in Hasenhuttl’s side, making 13 Premier League appearances in 2020/21.
The Athletic claims N’Lundulu could still be offered a new contract at Southampton before being given the chance to prove himself out on loan. Tellingly, the report doesn’t say the same about Jankewitz.
“I liked him,” Hasenhuttl said of N’Lundulu in October, via the Daily Echo.
“He’s a type of striker we don’t have in our side so far. He gives us physical options, can keep the ball very well.”
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