In need of a left-back, Southampton decided to gamble on Romain Perraud.
At Stade Brest 29 since 2019, where he had impressed following a transfer from OGC Nice, the player was bought by the Saints against a fee of £10.8m.
That money might have seemed minimal for the Premier League club, but for a club of the Ligue 1 side’s status, that went a long way to plug the hole left by the losses caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Ouest-France sat down with Grégory Lorenzi, the club’s sporting director, who explained how the transfer window went, and what the €12m or so sent to their bank account by Southampton meant to them.
He said: “[The transfer] plugged part of the hole in the club. Maybe we didn’t communicate well about being in trouble. We lost €17m in TV rights plus Covid. It’s huge for us.
So, there you have it. While Southampton found themselves a great little player who has already made two appearances for them in the Premier League, the sale might have been a technical blow to the Ligue 1 club, but a great one for their bank accounts.