Southampton have kicked off their transfer business with Joshua Quarshie's addition but the emerging defender sparks fears of an Armel Bella-Kotchap transfer repeat among the Southampton faithful.
Yesterday, Will Still's weaknesses in avoiding penalties warned Southampton to start working on their defensive fundamentals in the summer transfer window. Yet, this problem felt easily avoidable as the Saints have a decent pool of centre-backs who will be available at Still's disposable come preseason.
But the club doesn't appear to place a bigger trust in their defensive ranks. Maybe they want to play it safe after witnessing a tiring season where the Saints were left chasing the opposition forwards, that too often in vain.
Now, whatever be the reason, the bottom line is that Southampton have added an extra name to boost their backline.
In the words of Fabrizio Romano: "Southampton agree deal to sign 20 year old centre back Joshua Quarshie to Southampton FC. €3.5m transfer fee to Hoffenheim, medical done."
Southampton fans want Quarshie to fare better than Bella-Kotchap
So, Southampton fans, it's Joshua Quarshie who has officially kicked off the Will Still era, in terms of transfer activities. Well, I know Quarshie isn't a marquee signing and it can take months if not a couple of years to see him reaching his peak level for Southampton's first team.
Simply put, that's another "one for the future" kind of decision but there is an undeniable element of fear too. Firstly, Quarshie mirrors Saints flop Armel Bella-Kotchap in many ways than just sharing the same nationality.
Similar to the latter, Quarshie lacks a decent amount of first division experience and truth be told, even more than Bella-Kotchap. Then, neither of them are familiar with the end to end competitiveness in the Championship and touchwood, but, any lengthy injury is enough to turn Quarshie's Southampton stay into a nightmare.
Apart from that, Southampton may have done a panic buy here as waiting for a few more weeks could have presented shrewd Championship deals, at a budget friendly price as well.
Ultimately, let's stay optimistic that Quarshie erases these doubts and eventually goes on to fulfill his defensive promise at St. Mary's.
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