Southampton have intensified their negotiations to sign Ghanaian top class defender Mohammed Salisu from Spanish side Real Valladolid.
Sky Sports had previously revealed that the Saints were strongly linked with the Ghanian defender back in January. However, a move could not be engineered and he stayed in north-western Spain.
An agreement had been reached between the La Liga side and the Ligue 1 outfit Rennes for Salisu to make the move north to France, but a spanner has ended up in the works of that move.
According to AS, talks with the two clubs have broken down as the Ghana international’s agent, Juan Mata Snr, the father of Manchester United’s Juan Mata, would rather his client made the move to the Premier League and the Saints are now favourites to capture him.
There have been many claims that Salisu is holding out for a move to the Premier League, with Newcastle and Wolves also keen to sign the talented 21-year-old.
It’s rumoured that Valladolid received an €8m (£7.2m) offer from Rennes and that the player has a meagre £10m release clause.
Salisu has been an important asset for Sergio’s side during the current campaign, having started 28 La Liga matches and scoring once and providing one assist. His defensive record is impressive for a young player and has averaged 1.4 tackles, 2.5 aerial battles won and a pass success rate of 80.5% during that time, as per Whoscored.
