Sent to Celta Vigo by Mark Hughes who had little use for him in his Southampton team, Sofiane Boufal enjoyed a fairly successful season in La Liga, a league ideally suited for his style of football.
Leading the league in dribbles completed last season, the Morocco international impressed the Spaniards enough for them to consider a purchase.
However, according to Atlantico in Spain, the €16m option to buy in the loan deal is ‘unachievable’ for Celta Vigo, who are currently in talks with Southampton for the winger’s transfer.
The idea of these discussions is to try and reduce Boufal’s price ‘considerably’, and the outlet state the prospect of doing so ‘isn’t bad’.
Celta have the player on their side, who enjoyed his time in Spain, and ‘sees with good eyes’ a permanent stay in Vigo, even agreeing to wage that ‘isn’t that low’ as long as the transfer fee doesn’t go above €8m.
It seems the Spaniards have set a certain amount of money aside for this, which includes the player’s salary, but it can only work if Boufal plays along and the Premier League club agree to the fee.
There’s no mention of where Southampton stand in all this, but considering the Saints spent close to £17m on the former Lille star, it would be surprising if they accepted less than half that amount with two years left on his contract and a good season behind him.
One we’ll be keeping an eye on.
