A couple of years ago, in an interview with The Athletic, former Southampton owner Rupert Lowe admitted that the Saints had a £3 million double deal lined up to bring both Didier Drogba and Florent Malouda to St Mary’s, seven years before they dovetailed in devastating fashion to fire Carlo Ancelotti’s Chelsea to Premier League glory.
Oh what could have been, if Lowe had ended the summer of 2003 arm and arm with Drogba and Malouda?
Sooner rather than later, Saints supporters could be looking back at the summer of 2020 with a similar sense of regret.
According to Calciomercato, Southampton made an £11 million bid for a little-known Almeria striker by the name of Darwin Nunez two years ago.
Earlier that summer, Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side were also reported to be keeping very close tabs on another highly-rated centre-forward, Ascoli’s Serie B loanee Gianluca Scamacca (TMW).
Flash forward two years and you’d struggle to get much change out of £100 million for the pair of them.
What could’ve been for Southampton?
Nunez has 31 goals in 36 games this season. Including one in a fearsome performance during last week’s Champions League clash with Liverpool.
According to The Sun, a who’s who of Premier League clubs are duking it out for the powerhouse Uruguayan. And, as far as Benfica are concerned, the bidding starts at £65 million for a man fulfilling Jorge Jesus’s ‘world-class’ prophecy.
Scamacca, an Italy international compared to Saints hero Graziano Pelle due to his formidable frame and emphatic finishing, won’t cost quite so much as Nunez. But nor will he come cheap.
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According to Sassuolo CEO Giovanni Carnevali, anyone hoping to lure Scamacca away from the Mapei Stadium will need to part with ‘at least 40 million euros (£33 million)’.
For Drogba and Malouda in 2003, read Nunez and Scamacca in 2020.
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