Two players Southampton must offload in the January window

Southampton have had a difficult start to the 2018/19 campaign. Having managed to stave off relegation by a thin margin last time out, the Saints are once again staring the prospect of the drop.

So far in their eight Premier League outings, Southampton have managed to collect just five points (W1, D2, L5) and sit 16th in the table. In fact, they are just a couple of points above Huddersfield Town, who are occupying the final relegation spot in the standings.

Things aren’t looking all that well for Mark Hughes’ men and they are definitely in need of reinforcements in the January window to bounce back and avoid the prospect of relegation comfortably. However, for that to happen, the club must offload some players o generate funds for new signings.

And, to that end, here are two players the Saints should look to sell in the winter transfer window.

Fraser Forster

The 30-year-old goalkeeper arrived at Southampton from Celtic back in 2014 and enjoyed a few impressive seasons. Forster has made 124 appearances for the South Coast club, managing 45 clean sheets.

However, a string of erroneous displays saw him lose his spot in the first-team the last term. In the ongoing campaign, he has been completely frozen out of the first-team picture at the St. Mary’s with Alex McCarthy now the undisputed No.1 in goal. Meanwhile, Angus Gunn, who arrived from Manchester City in the summer transfer window, is his deputy.

It is clear that the England international has no future at the club and it would be in best interests of both the player and the club to sanction a sale in January.

Manolo Gabbiadini

The Italian international took the South Coast by storm when he arrived in January 2017 for a fee of £14m from Napoli. His brace in the EFL Cup final against Manchester United will be long remembered by the Southampton faithful.

However, it has been pretty much downhill for Gabbiadini ever since. The 26-year-old scored only five times in 33 appearances across all competitions in the 2017/18 campaign. He has fallen behind Danny Ings, Charlie Austin and Shane Long in the pecking order in the ongoing season and has started just one Premier League game so far.

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In his seven appearances across all competitions, the Italian has failed to score once. Clearly, Gabbiadini doesn’t have a part to play under Hughes moving forward and a sale in January would help the club generate funds to strengthen the squad further.