Moussa Djenepo was ‘terribly unhappy’ at Southampton and delighted to return to Standard Liege this summer, even if he had to take a big pay cut to do so.
That’s according to Le Soir, who cover his return to the Belgian club today and how it ended up coming about.
The newspaper explains that before his return from Southampton in a €2.5m deal this summer, Standard had never really lost sight of their former player.
He joined Southampton in a €15.7m deal in 2019 but struggled to establish himself at the club and ended up ‘terribly unhappy’ during his time there.
That is why he gave up nearly 25% of the salary he was picking up at Southampton to return to play for Liege.
They were happy to welcome him back and had been following his performances and development remotely since he left four years ago.
They made their move after selling Aron Dünnum to Toulouse after the player had been suggested to them by agent Karim Rafiki, who was given a mandate to do the deal with Southampton.
They were happy to move Djenepo on after a falling out with manager Russel Martin, and the player was equally keen on the move. In fact, he expressed his desire to “come home” via a video conference with his former club.
They had considered a loan deal initially but, in the end, they were forced to do a permanent deal thanks to a new FIFA rule which states clubs cannot have more than seven incoming loans and seven outgoing loan per transfer window.
Thus, the negotiations on a permanent deal were opened and the excellent relationship between Fergal Harkin and Southampton’s Jason Willow helped to facilitate the deal.
