KRC Genk’s Head of Football Dimitri De Condé has revealed that striker Paul Onuachu begged to be allowed to join Southampton at the end of the transfer window.
The striker completed a move to St Mary’s on deadline day of the January transfer window, joining Southampton in an €18m deal.
He arrives with a big reputation from his time in Belgium, where he managed 85 goals and 10 assists in 134 games for Genk since arriving in 2019.
His impressive numbers over the last three years have seen him regularly linked with a move to the Premier League, with more than one club having looked at a possible signing in previous windows.
Onuachu has often made it clear that he wanted to move to the Premier League on more than one occasion and it seems he made that clear again to Genk at the end of the window when it appeared his move to Southampton may not come off.
“He had trained very well; you really can’t blame that boy. But he felt his dream slipping away again. ‘Please, let me go. This could be my very last chance,’ he begged.
“I had to make it clear to him that there were two conditions under which the deal could succeed. One: the numbers had to be right. And two: we had to be able to bring in a replacement.
“I had already had a conversation about it in the morning with coach Wouter Vrancken. ‘On a human level, you can no longer say ‘no’ at a certain point,’ Wouter also agreed. Especially because certain promises had been made.”
