Guido Carrillo could have his £80,000-a-week contract cancelled by Southampton, with the Premier League flop potentially set for a return to La Liga with newly-promoted Elche, according to AS.
Back in January 2018, when a shot-shy, insomnia-curing Saints side were sleepwalking towards the relegation zone under Mauricio Pellegrino, the South Coast club identified two centre-forwards to solve their goal-scoring problems.
And it is fair to say hindsight does not look fondly on Southampton’s decision to choose Guido Carrillo over Raul Jimenez.
While the latter fast became one of the Premier League’s most feared forwards at Wolves, the former has proved to be little more than an expensive drain on the Saints’ resources.
Carrillo failed to score a single goal in seven games after becoming the club’s £19 million record signing and hasn’t made an appearance in red and white stripes in over two years.
The 29-year-old Argentine flopped on loan at Leganes last season too, netting just once in 24 La Liga games, and thereby scuppering Southampton’s hopes of finding a buyer for a man who hasn’t been given a look-in under Ralph Hasenhuttl.
There is just ten months remaining on Carrillo’s £80k-a-week contract.
According to AS, Southampton could be tempted to let him leave for free if they are unable to sell between now and Monday’s transfer deadline.
That, of course, would see the Saints take a staggering £19 million loss. But, with Carrillo due to become a free agent next summer, they might as well terminate his deal now rather than continue forking out £320,000 every month in wages.
An Elche side who returned to La Liga after triumphing in the play-offs are interested.
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