Despite scoring just three goals and assisting another six for Southampton in 44 appearances, Bayer Leverkusen were convinced to pay €23m for Nathan Tella in the summer.
A lot will have had to do with his loan spell at Burnley during the 2022-23 season, where he scored 19 goals and assisted another five in 45 games, but what has followed isn’t what the 24-year-old will have wanted.
Goal Germany have a round up of some of the flops of the first half of the season in the Bundesliga and place the winger on the last after his exit from Southampton.
It could be deemed a bit unfair, since the player has arrived at a team that is very much set in its ways under Xabi Alonso, and who are currently topping the German league, but more was expected from Tella.
He has been give more of a chance in the Europa League, starting all of his team’s games in the competition, scoring a goal and assisting another in six appearances, but at league level, he has yet to even be in the top half of the team sheet.
The player is ‘lagging behind expectations’ set by his transfer fee, and they do point out that he could still ‘get off to a flying start’ in the foreseeable future.
