Towards the end of the January transfer window, Crystal Palace, Brighton & Hove Albion and Southampton were all trying to sign Vitinha from Braga.
The Portuguese striker was one of the hottest properties in those last few days, and he eventually decided to move to Marseille in France.
It was said Crystal Palace, Brighton and Southampton all fought practically until the end to get a deal over the line, although it appears they have dodged a bullet if the player’s early days at Marseille are anything to go by, as explained by L’Equipe.
The newspaper have an article on Monday about the tops and the flops of the January transfer window in Ligue 1, and name the young striker in their list of the latter.
Signed for €32m, the player has ‘hardly played’ under Igor Tudor, despite being the club’s most expensive signing in all its history.
He has started just one game, during which he was taken off at half-time, and has only managed 88 minutes of play with his new team.
In the meantime, Brighton have enjoyed life under Roberto De Zerbi, who has Evan Ferguson to work with going forward.
Crystal Palace, down their end, have sacked Patrick Vieira and recently lost 4-1 to Arsenal, as they continue to struggle to find the back of the net, while Southampton signed Paul Onuachu, only for him to struggle to have a real impact since his transfer from Genk.
