Southampton’s Nathan Jones signing has seen his value plummet by £12m
This expensive Nathan Jones signing is yet to kick on at Southampton.
Despite experiencing a rocky patch of form recently, Russell Martin’s Southampton are still very much in the running to win automatic promotion from the Championship.
Three defeats from their last four games made for grim reading before the Saints travelled to Birmingham City, the South Coast entertainers then putting on a show at St Andrew’s for their away supporters in a barnstorming 4-3 win.
That dramatic win was pulled off courtesy of second half substitute Joe Aribo instinctively finishing off a chance at the death, with another of Martin’s bench players given far less time to make an impact against the Blues.
Once costing an extortionate fee to get him to relocate to St Mary’s, the lacklustre player in question is continuing to look like a transfer miss-step on Southampton’s end.
How much Southampton paid for Kamaldeen Sulemana
Joining from Stade Rennais FC right towards the end of Nathan Jones’ doomed time in charge of the Saints, Kamaldeen Sulemana’s ex-employers would demand a bumper fee to allow him to leave France behind for pastures new.
The relegation-threatened side forked out a club-record fee of £22m to land the exciting attacker in a bid to re-energise the downtrodden Southampton camp.
| Southampton’s most expensive signings | |
|---|---|
| 1. Tino Livramento | €26.2m (£22.4m) |
| 2. Danny Ings | €25.1m (£21.48m) |
| 3. Jannick Vestergaard | €25m (£21.4m) |
| 3. Kamaldeen Sulemana | €25m (£21.4m) |
| 4. Sadio Mane | €23m (£19.6m) |
| 5. Romeo Lavia |
€22.3m (£19m) |
It didn’t prove to be smooth sailing for Sulemana on his introduction to Premier League football, helping himself to two goals and an assist from 18 games with both of those strikes coming on the final day of the season against Liverpool when the Saints were already certain of their relegation fate.
Once described as possessing “incredible speed” by Manchester United manager Erik Ten Hag when the Dutch boss commented on Sulemana back during his Ajax days, the Ghanaian attacker hasn’t been able to kick on and show off his best even in the drop-down to the second tier.
It’s resulted in Sulemana’s transfer value taking a significant dent, with the 22-year-old now worth significantly less than he once was when joining Southampton just last year.
Kamaldeen Sulemana’s current transfer value in 2024
Sulemana now comes in with a value of €11.9m (£10.1m) next to his name which means his worth has plummeted by roughly £12m in such a short span of time.
The 22-year-old hasn’t been helped by a number of Southampton’s reserve faces stepping up to the mark over him this season, resulting in the Saints number 20 finding himself further down the pecking order.
Sulemana has made 19 appearances in the Championship so far this season for Martin’s promotion hopefuls, with the 38-year-old boss only starting his potentially explosive winger nine times.
The former Rennes man has often been used as an impact option late on in games by his manager, when he hasn’t been in and out of the treatment room on the South Coast.
Kamaldeen Sulemana 🇬🇠is back to full fitness and his performance for Southampton v Liverpool shows.
The next thing is for a permanent solution to be found for the recurring injury. pic.twitter.com/hffSeBTPFr
— Ibrahim Sannie Daara (@SannieDaara) March 1, 2024
The Ghanaian forward hasn’t been helped by injury setbacks whatsover, but did shine earlier this month when Southampton travelled to Liverpool in the FA Cup.
Gifted a rare first-team chance by Martin, Sulemana would come away from the 3-0 defeat at Anfield with his head held high – the Saints number 20 completing three successful dribbles on the night, alongside clattering the post with one effort on the Reds goal.
With Martin calling on Sulemana to be more of a “killer” off the back of his bright display against Jurgen Klopp’s Reds, there’s still plenty of time for the 22-year-old winger to turn his Saints career around and justify the excessive millions spent to land him.
At present, his costly addition looks like something of a blunder as far as the Saints – and former boss Jones – are concerned.
