Inter and Birmingham City are reportedly very far apart in their respective valuations of George Puscas.
So in the meantime, the Blues have turned their attention elsewhere by reportedly entering the market for striker Jonathan Afolabi.
Yet to make an appearance at senior level, his record in the Southampton academy has been respectable but not quite remarkable, notching 16 goals and 8 assists in 74 appearances for the Saints.
The 19-year-old Irishman did however have a relatively successful summer with his national side. He scored a goal against the Czech Republic in the European U19 Championships and was named in the Team of the tournament, yet still finds himself without a club having been released by the South Coast side at the end of last season.
I’ve spoken before about the need to address the forward position, particularly when it comes to finding Lukas Jutkiewicz a partner. With Isaac Vassell reportedly on the verge of a loan move, the Blues need as much firepower up top as they can get given how light they are, any striker would be a good move.
Now whilst I’d much rather have an established striker like Puscas, I don’t see any problem with signing someone like this to be brought into the fold. His record shows that he knows where the goal is, and his performances for his country show that he’s got a bright future ahead of him.
The best bit about a move like this is that he’s free. Just like what I said yesterday with the signing of Moha Ramos, this could be yet another good bit of business by the club. It’s a low risk but high reward situation. If he turns out to be the next big thing, then you’ve either got yourself a fine striker with the ability to catapult them into the Premier League, or you can sell him on for a handy profit and use the funds to build a decent squad.
There are several Premier League clubs also after him, so they may have to produce something special to pry him away from them, but if they can pull it off then it could go down as one of the better bits of business that the club has done so far. And given their moves this summer, that would be saying something.
