Southampton have identified Marseille’s Pol Lirola as a target this summer, according to reports.
The 24-year-old initially joined the Ligue 1 side on a loan deal in January 2021 and his stay there was made permanent later that year.
His performances for the French club have caught Southampton’s attention, who are in the market for a new right-back.
That’s according to journalist Sacha Tavolieri, who took to Twitter to explain the Saints are in talks with Marseille to sign the Spaniard.
He claims the Premier League side don’t have ‘enough funds’ to pay €10m to Marseille to take Lirola. They are now studying the possibility to sign the player on a loan deal with an option to buy.
🔵 En quête d’un latéral droit, #SouthamptonFC discute avec l’#OM pour Pol #Lirola. N’ayant pas suffisamment de fonds pour payer 10M d’€ en transfert, un prêt avec option d’achat est à l’étude. À suivre. #TeamOM #SaintsFC #mercato pic.twitter.com/wITxaJsLmk
— Sacha Tavolieri (@sachatavolieri) August 5, 2022
Ralph Hasenhüttl currently has Tino Livramento, Yan Valery and Kyle Walker-Peters as the three right-backs at his disposal at the St Mary’s Stadium. He used the latter on the left side of the defence, while Valery was hardly given opportunities last season.
If Southampton manage to add Lirola to their squad this summer, he would provide cover and competition to Livramento for the new campaign.
