Aberdeen striker Luis ‘Duk’ Lopes has admirers at Premier League duo Everton and Burnley but is reportedly still ‘open’ to joining Southampton in the Championship.
With The Athletic claiming that the Saints are closing in on the appointment of one Darren Mowbray as their new head of recruitment, alleged interest in two of Pittodrie’s star men suddenly make that litlte bit more sense.
And not just because both Duk and Bojan Miovski – prolific in 2022/23 with 18 strikes apiece – would add a much-needed ruthless streak to a Southampton side with the second-worst goals tally in the Premier League.
The Scottish Sun believe that Southampton have sent scouts north of the border to watch Miovski in action. Duk, meanwhile, has not been put off a potential move to the banks of the Solent by the club’s recent relegation back to the Championship after 11 uninterrupted seasons in England’s top flight.
Mowbray brought both Miovski and Duk to Aberdeen. And TEAMtalk believe that a reunion with the latter is most certainly on the cards, despite interest from newly-promoted Burnley and an Everton side who may need only a point at home to Bournemouth to guarantee survival on the final day.
Is Duk going to swap Aberdeen for Southampton
Duk could reportedly replace Che Adams; the Scotland international likely to leave between now and September 1st. The Lisbon-born striker, once of Sporting Lisbon and Portugal’s U19s, could be a potentially inspired addition.
Not only is he a more natural goalscorer than the hard-working but often-profligate Adams, Duk also has the feeling of a ‘classic Southampton signing’. Young, hungry, improving and brimming with re-sale potential.
Not that Aberdeen are going to let either Duk or Miovski go without a fight.
“Duk and Miovski have long-term contracts at the club,” chief executive Alan Burrows says, in quotes reported by the Daily Record. “They’re only in the first year of longer term contracts. The club is under no pressure to sell any of them. The club don’t want to sell any of the two of them.”
“The nature of football is, that the most successful you are, the more successful players are, they attract interest from other, bigger clubs,” Burrows adds.
“That’s not just true of Aberdeen. That’s true of almost every club in the world. What I will say, and the message I would send out is; if anybody wants to take out best assets away from us, particularly ones who have long contracts, we’re going to be a very difficult club to deal with.”
Southampton lost 3-1 at local rivals Brighton and Hove Albion on Sunday. Interim head coach Ruben Selles is unlikely to stay on, with Swansea City boss Russell Martin the clear frontrunner to take his place in the St Mary’s dugout.
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