For the second day in a row, Brest manager Olivier Dall’Oglio has spoken out about the sale of Ibrahima Diallo to Southampton.
The Saints came in late in the transfer window to pluck the defensive midfielder from the Ligue 1 club against a fee of around €15m, which, having promised the player an exit pass should the right offer come along, they felt the need to accept.
A move was done swiftly, but Brest never replaced Diallo before the end of the transfer window, and they’re paying the consequences.
They haven’t won a game since he left, and their manager, already speaking to Ouest-France on Monday, took some time out to chat to Téléfoot Chaîne about it on Tuesday.
He said: “The loss of Ibra affects us. We’re very conscious of that. He provided a very good balance with Belkebla, who’s more attacking, and we lost in that balance.
“Ibra took a lot of space in that team, so there’s also some thinking about the future, in the winter transfer window, where we need to strengthen in that area, and I think it risks being a priority”.
That says a lot about the player Southampton have picked up, and it shows how badly Brest miss him if their manager is ready to go around various outlets to bemoan the midfielder’s departure.
It could all be a ploy to get his board to do something, and we’ll have to see if they get their adequate replacement.
Either way, it’s now Southampton who can benefit from what Diallo has to offer, and there’ll be hope Ralph Hasenhüttl uses him more going forward.
