Southampton target Valencia midfielder

With a reported £30 million war chest to spend to transform Southampton into a European household name, Mauricio Pochettino has tabled a bid for Ever Banega of Valencia.

 Southampton seem to really be on a mission to add bodies to their team, with the signing of Dejan Lovren from Lyon, yes you read that right, Southampton signed a decent player from LYON, and the Ligue 1 qualified for the Champions League this year!?

The mind boggles because I’ve been to Southampton and it’s not exactly like the area is the attraction point of the deal. Southampton have now set their sights on adding European quality to their midfield in Ever Banega, who has got over 100 appearances for Valencia and has played at Atletico Madrid on loan and has been touted to join the Premier League before with Everton being on the borderline of signing him but a visa issue scuppered the deal.

I’ll admit I haven’t seen him play a lot but when I have done, he has genuine quality that will only help Southampton become a bigger and better club, but this Argentinian isn’t always revered in the same light as his fellow countrymen who are currently in the national team.

 Banega seems to have a dark cloud of luck over him, which was evident in February of 2012 where he fractured left ankle and broke his tibia and fibula all in the same leg, which is horrifying enough but alongside having ligament damage in his knee alongside the decimation of his left leg, it wasn’t much better. The cause of the damages to his ankle and tibia and fibula wasn’t a result of a big crunching tackle, but in fact was the result of his own car running him over when he forgot to put the handbrake on when going to fill his car up with petrol before it trapped his leg between the curb and the front bumper of his car.

I think Southampton hope this is behind him and it could have been worse, Banega might have eaten too many jacket potatoes and caused it himself much like Brian Harvey did. If he does join the Saints, Southampton will have signed a quality player and maybe Banega can become the player he has the potential to be.  

Find the original story here on the Daily Mirror

Follow @ThisNeedsAGoal

Comments

[Ernest Zambucco]

Sure St. Mary's Stadium isn't in the the most attractive area of the City. But Southampton is one of the loveliest and greenest cities in UK. The City Centre Parks are award winning. We have some of the best sailing in the world, fantastic beaches 20 minutes drive away. The largest cruise port in Northern Europe. The New Forest National Park borders Southampton. Direct Motorway link to London, a very modern Airport with flights to every major European City. Two Universities, a vibrant nightlife, the largest Theatre South of London, One of the best collections of post modern British art in the world! City walls that date back over 1,000 years 47 battles have been fought around the walls, French, Vikings, Normans, Saxons.

Please do your homework before you rubbish a place based on 1 visit to a bad area of a City.

[Wes Tender]

The mind does not boggle at all. Southampton is attractive enough as a place to live. The person who wrote this blog is starting to sit up and take notice of us not because of the Southampton scenery, but because we are a club with ambitions and the wherewithal to accomplish them. To assume that a player would be discouraged from coming here just because he might not admire the city when everything else is fine, shows that the author doesn't have much of an appreciation of how players think. I suggest instead that he subscribes to Trip Advisor as that may be more appropriate to his inclinations.