It appears that the more time passes, the bigger Southampton’s rejected bid for Morten Hjulmand in January was.
At the time, we covered claims from Italy that the Saints were interested in the Danish midfielder, who currently plays for Lecce.
It was said that Southampton had bid €11m for him, but that had been rejected by the Serie A side, who didn’t want to part ways with a key player midway through an important campaign.
It made sense, and there was talk that their stance could be different in the summer, encouraging the idea that clubs would return in a few months.
Well, we now have Gazzetta dello Sport on Monday stating that Southampton’s bid was actually bigger than that, as clubs such as Roma, Atalanta and Juventus all start considering the Lecce star.
They explain that those in charge of transfers at the Serie A side ‘rejected an offer from Southampton’, who were reportedly ‘ready to put €14m on the plane (with bonuses included)’.
However, in the meantime, the bar ‘has risen’, meaning his price has increased, although with big Italian clubs starting to circle, Southampton will really have to avoid relegation to stand any sort of chance of getting Hjulmand.
