Paul Onuachu will be a ‘great loss’ for KRC Genk with Southampton completing an £18 million deal to bring the giant striker to the Premier League, the Belgian club’s head of football Dimitri de Conde tells the Blue and Whites’ website.
The only frustration for Nathan Jones and co, after a successful deadline day, was that the EFL Cup semi-final second-leg with Newcastle United came a few days too early.
Southampton spent much of the final 45 minutes at St James’ Park knocking on Nick Pope’s door without ever looking like blowing the house down. Adam Armstrong, like Che Adams in the first leg, wasted a glorious opportunity one-v-one. A lack of creativity, and a dearth of penalty-box prowess, eventually cost the Saints a potential re-match with 2017 Wembley rivals Manchester United.
At least, with Onuachu and Kamaldeen Sulemana arriving for a combined fee of around £40 million, Southampton’s frontline looks much stronger now than it did on January 1st. That’s without mentioning Mislav Orsic – prolific at Dinamo Zagreb – and the stylish, scheming Carlos Alcaraz.
Southampton sign Nigeria striker Paul Onuachu from Belgian giants KRC Genk
Onuachu heads to the South Coast after a remarkable couple of seasons at Genk. There were 75 goals in his last 102 games. A Belgian Cup winners’ medal, a Golden Boot and a Golden Shoe.
Toluwalase Arokodare, Genk’s deadline day arrival from Latvian football, certainly has big boots to fill.
“(Onuachu) reiterated that dream (to play in the Premier League) during a long conversation. We could no longer stop him from making his dream come true,” explains De Conde.
“I am pleased that Paul is grateful to the club for that. His departure is, of course, a great loss for our current squad. We shouldn’t be silly about that. But we were prepared for a possible departure.”
Onachu immediately becomes the tallest footballer in the Premier League; making Jannik Vestergaard, Illan Meslier, Wout Weghorst and co look positively diminutive by comparison.
“Paul is a significant signing for us,” Jones adds. “And completes what has been an extremely positive month in terms of recruitment.
“He’s a handful to play against, has got a tremendous record throughout his career. He’s also someone who brings great experience with him. So he’ll be a really positive addition to the squad.”
Onuachu scored 17 goals in just 22 matches during the first half of 2022/23.
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