Southampton’s chances of signing free agent Martin Caceres received a blow this weekend, well at least according to several English interpretations of a Spanish report.
On Saturday Aleix Vidal suffered a terrible season ending injury and that leaves Barcelona short on the right back front. Catalan newspaper Mundo Deportivo came up with a few ideas over who they could sign to replace Vidal, and Caceres was mentioned.
That was it. The newspaper didn’t say Barcelona want to sign him, are in a battle to sign him, or anything like that. And so far it’s the only suggestion of his name.
Southampton are interested, Claude Puel has made that clear, but still no deal has been done. Caceres has already this year passed a medical with AC Milan only to see that deal fail, and he also flew to Turkey but a move there collapsed.
Because Caceres hasn’t played for a year, there’s a lot of doubt about hiring him, especially given he wants big wages. That Southampton have seen past that has put them firmly in the driving seat.
The Uruguayan spent a period with Barcelona earlier in his career, but it was a disaster. After signing for big bucks from Villarreal, a poor first season saw Caceres loaned out to Juventus and then Sevilla, and he joined the latter in a permanent deal for a few million.
Barcelona fans would likely be aghast if the club signed Caceres on a short term deal, ignoring any possibilities in the club’s youth set-up. Southampton and Puel are unlikely to be pushed aside by Barca interest, which will be a relief for the manager. However, it is a little surprising Caceres isn’t already a Southampton player, and that suggests things aren’t going smoothly.
