The Southampton man has left St. Mary’s temporarily to join Feyenoord, and it could impact West Ham’s chances of signing Lemina.
The 27-year-old has been with the south coast club since 2015 after moving from Feyenoord for a fee in the region of £8 million, and he has now returned to his former club where he will spend the entire 2018/19 campaign.
Clasie has made 49 appearances for the Saints, none of which came last season as he was loaned out to Belgian outfit Club Brugge.
It will be interesting now to see what happens with Mario Lemina. Footmercato first reported that the Saints were open to selling the 24-year-old a couple of months ago, with Sky Sports more recently reporting that West Ham are keen to sign him as a replacement for Pedro Obiang, who is reportedly keen on a return to Italy with old club Sampdoria interested.
With Clasie being allowed to leave on loan, Southampton are short in the central midfield areas, with Mark Hughes only able to call on Steven Davis, Oriol Romeu, James Ward-Prowes, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and new signing Stuart Armstrong.
Since Southampton have tended to play with three in midfield in recent reasons, it means they need slightly more cover, and Lemina’s potential departure could hurt later down the line as the season wears on and fatigue sets in.
Clasie’s loan deal, along with the departures of Sofiane Boufal and Dusan Tadic, could make any plans West Ham may have had to swoop for Lemina a bit more complicated.
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