As transfers go, Guido Carrillo’s £19.8m move from AS Monaco to Southampton has been as close to a disaster as it could have.
Following his very expensive switch in January 2018, the Argentine only spent six months at St Mary’s before being sent on loan to Leganes last summer, where he played a fair bit.
While not the first name on the team sheet, the 28-year-old still featured 32 times in the league for the La Liga side, managing to score six goals and assist teammates once along the way.
With no option to buy the player in the deal, Carrillo was expected to return to Southampton this summer, where a solution would have needed to be found, as Ralph Hasenhuttl was unlikely to want his services for the coming campaign.
With Chimy Avila going to Osasuna and Martin Braithwaite unobtainable at €8m, Carrillo’s return appears to be the least difficult deal to pull off.
The Spanish newspaper believe a package similar to that made last summer (paying around €1m for the loan and taking on a ‘good part’ of his salary) could be on the cards, even if Southampton aren’t thrilled at the idea.
Talks to that end are ‘continuing, haven’t stopped and promise to be very complex’, but the desire from Leganes is there.
Southampton, down their end, would much rather sell Carrillo and be done with him once and for all, but they know that might be difficult, especially since the Spanish side can’t afford that, or at least can’t afford a transfer that would allow the Saints to recoup most of their original expenditure.
