Celta Vigo will not stand in Hugo Mallo’s way if the long-serving skipper wants to leave the La Liga outfit for Southampton this summer, president Carlos Mourino has told El Desmarque.
After 11 years and over 350 appearances, the academy graduate turned club-captain might have donned his powder blue shirt for the very last time.
Southampton are apparently still in the market for a new right-back despite signing Kyle Walker-Peters on a permanent basis last week and the 29-year-old Mallo would bring experience and leadership to Ralph Hasenhuttl’s squad.
Mallo is not only a dependable performer, he also epitomises everything the ‘Alpine Klopp’ wants from his full-backs – aggressive, attack-minded and more than dependable at both ends of the pitch.
If the Saints come calling, Celta would not stand in Mallo’s way if he wants to prove himself in the Premier League in the peak of his career.
“With an academy graduate like Hugo, we would do the best for him. If he wanted to leave, we wouldn’t stand in his way,” Mourino says. “If players can progress (by leaving Celta), go ahead.”
The Celta president beleives that Celta’s status as something of a ‘stepping stone’ club in Spanish football is no bad thing either, allowing them to snap up promising youngsters with the promise of selling them on again if the vultures start circling.
The 2017 Europa League semi-finalists cashed in on Stanislav Lobotka and Maxi Gomez to Napoli and Valencia last year while Jonny Otto swapped the Balaidos for Wolverhampton 12 months earlier.
It remains to be seen whether Mallo can replicate Jonny’s success on British soil.
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