Speaking on a recent episode of the Here We Go podcast, football agent Patrick Bastianelli told Fabrizio Romano that David Okereke came close to joining Southampton in the summer of 2019.
Since joining Club Brugge from Spezia Calcio in what was a £7.2 million deal back in 2019, Okereke has gone on to feature 41 times for the Jupiler Pro League side, scoring 12 goals and providing two assists along the way.
However, prior to the £4.05 million-rated centre-forward joining Brugge, he had highly impressed for Italian club Spezia, scoring 10 goals and providing 12 assists over his 30 Serie B appearances in the 2018/19 season.
And, according to Bastianelli, the performances of the 23-year-old that season had caught the eye of Southampton and Ralph Hasenhuttl, as, speaking on a recent episode of the Here We Go podcast, Bastianelli revealed to Romano that Okereke came close to joining Saints before he eventually made the move to Belgium.
He said: “David is a young player that now is playing in Bruges, and it’s true that he was close to [joining] Southampton. He [had] a marvellous season when he was playing in Italy with Spezia and many clubs, [including] from the Premier League, watched his [performances] during [that] season – especially Southampton, [who had their eye] on him.
“[However], then [Club Brugge were] very fast [to sign the player, who are] a top team in Belgium and [had qualified for the] Champions League. Last season, with Okereke, they won the league. They [went in for Okereke] and so, [in] the end, the transfer [to Brugge] was very fast.”
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TIF Thoughts on Patrick Bastianelli’s comments regarding Southampton’s interest in David Okereke…
From Bastianelli’s comments, it is clear that the agent is of the belief that Southampton were indeed keen on the idea of signing Okereke back in the summer of 2019, however, that Brugge moved very quickly to get a deal over the line for the 23-year-old.
And, considering the centre-forward highly impressed in his first season for Brugge, scoring 11 goals and providing two assists over his 35 appearances in all competitions, it could be argued that Southampton missed out on a striker who appears to be rather prolific.