£34 million PSV Eindhoven midfielder Ibrahim Sangare turned down Southampton and Everton because both clubs are not secure of their place in the Premier League, former Dutch international Kiki Musampa tells ESPN’s Good Morning Eredivisie show.
As those old demons returned on Saturday afternoon, The Saints descending once again into their own personal hell as Dejan Kulusevski tormented Ralph Hasenhuttl’s troubled backline, it was a classic case of ‘new season, same old problems’ for Southampton.
One game, one defeat, four goals conceded, bottom of the table already.
Things didn’t go quite so disastrously for Everton but, thanks to Jorginho’s first-half penalty, The Toffees too kicked off 2022/23 with a dispiriting defeat. Sangare, then, won’t have been regretting his decision to stay put as Ruud van Nistelrooy’s free-flowing PSV stormed to the top of the embryonic Eredivisie table.
Ibrahim Sangare turns down Everton and Southampton
“There was English interest,” explains Musampa, who’s brother Jean is Sangare’s agent and therefore has an inside track into the midfielder’s situation at the Philipps Stadium.
“Southampton wanted him but he didn’t think it was the right club. Everton also wanted him but he also had his doubts about that. Those are clubs that are not safe in the Premier League. The danger of relegation is great.”
Sangare, valued at £34 million, looks certain to stay at PSV after signing a new long-term contract over the weekend.
Van Nistelrooy indicated earlier in the summer that he expected the former Toulouse giant to stick around. That confidence, it seems, was not misplaced.
“I have to say, it was a very good offer from PSV. He is now the highest paid player at PSV,” Musampa adds.
“PSV have done everything they can to keep him this season. We don’t have to (leave) for the money, because the offers from England are as high as PSV pays now. (Staying) is better than playing in England for fourteenth and fifteenth place.
“We are going to try to take the step to the top of European (football). If that doesn’t work, he will go to the ‘normal’ teams.”
Everton might have missed out on Sangare but at least a deal for Lille’s Amadou Onana – another 6ft-something powerhouse of a midfielder – is edging closer to completion. Onana was at Goodison Park on Saturday.
As for Southampton, 18-year-old Romeo Lavia was perhaps their most positive in a performance full of negatives.
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