Club were ‘close to an agreement’ with Southampton for player – Still time for deal to be done

KRC Genk saw a move for Southampton striker Paul Onuachu fail at the last minute on Friday’s deadline but could still return in the coming days.

That’s according to Voetbal Nieuws, who relay information from Het Beland van Limburg and Het Laatste Nieuws regarding the last collapse in negotiations for Onuachu yesterday.

The giant striker has been linked with a move back to his former club throughout the summer after enduring a miserable eight months at Southampton since a move in the January transfer window.

He arrived at Saint Mary’s after scoring 85 goals and registering 10 assists in 134 games for Genk but managed to neither score nor assist for the Saints in 12 games before their eventual relegation.

He remains out of the picture at the club, and it’s been made clear Genk would be more than happy to have him back, having sorely missed him since his departure.

Het Beland van Limburg report that last night the Belgian club ‘was close to an agreement’ with Southampton but that was haltered by ‘additional demands’ which ‘suddenly came up’.

Het Laatste Nieuws provide more details, stating that there was a general agreement on a loan with a mandatory purchase option that would have been ‘considerably less’ than the €18m Southampton paid for the striker in January.

The exact amount isn’t known but, in the end, it wasn’t enough, and the two clubs couldn’t strike an agreement before the Premier League deadline passed.

According to the newspaper, negotiations had ‘dragged on’ because Southampton kept pushing for a swap deal involving Joseph Paintsil, but he wasn’t keen on a switch to a Championship side.

Onuachu’s potential return to the Cegeka Arena is therefore looking unlikely for now, although there is a chance the difference can be bridged and a deal done, with the Belgian window not closing until September 6^th.