Mario Lemina finally sealed a move away from Southampton on Monday’s deadline day.
After months of speculation surrounding the 25-year-old’s future – where at one point it looked like he would potentially be moving to Manchester United – the Gabon international has in fact joined Turkish outfit Galatasaray on loan until the end of the season.
The midfielder, signed from Juventus for £18m back in 2017, had clearly become surplus to requirements at St. Mary’s under Ralph Hasenhuttl.
With Oriol Romeu, Pierre-Emile Højbjerg, Stuart Armstrong and James Ward-Prowse all ahead of him in the pecking order on the south coast, Lemina would have seen game-time limited this season had he remained at his parent club, so has definitely made the right decision heading abroad for the rest of the campaign.
Saints fans are pretty pleased with the news of his departure, too. Here’s what they had to say on Twitter when the club’s official account tweeted about him leaving…
— tøby (@sfctoby) September 2, 2019
I WILL FIND MY LEVEL AND FIGHT FOR IT 😭🤣😭
— 🔴⚪️Rhys🔴⚪️ (@RhysTheSaint) September 2, 2019
— James Beavis (@bamesjeavis) September 2, 2019
Funny way of spelling Manchester United…. 🤷🏼♂️
— Kieran (@kieranknight98) September 2, 2019
— Simon Hambleton (@TheRuggedChef_) September 2, 2019
Yeah great step up! 🙄 Glad he’s gone, but disappointed also as he had potential if the right attitude. Not suprised he didn’t end up at a big club or league
— Darren Spiller (@darren_spiller) September 2, 2019
