BRUGGE, BELGIUM - OCTOBER 28: Wesley Hoedt of SS Lazio in action during the UEFA Champions League Group F stage match between Club Brugge KV and SS Lazio at Jan Breydel Stadium on October 28, 2020 in Brugge, Belgium. (Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images)
According to La Lazio Siamo Noi (h/t Hampshire Live), Lazio could look to sign on-loan Southampton midfielder Wesley Hoedt on a permanent deal in January. The defender went on loan to Lazio at the start of this season and there was an option for the Italian side to make his stay permanent. A €5million deal could be on the cards in January.
Wesley Hoedt is a 26-year-old Dutch centre-back who plays for Lazio on loan from Southampton. He started his youth career at VV Reiger Boys and moved to AZ Alkmaar’s youth setup in 2005.
Progressing through the youth sides, he was promoted to the senior team in 2014. He made a total of 30 appearances that season before moving to Lazio next season.
The next two seasons were spent at Lazio with 61 games played, 4 goals scored and 1 goal assisted (source – Transfermarkt). He joined Southampton in 2017 and after just one and a half seasons, he was loaned out twice.
He has played a total of 45 games at Southampton. Hoedt has been a sporadic feature of the Dutch youth sides and has just 6 caps for the senior side.
It is pretty clear that Wesly Hoedt had reached the end of his time at Southampton. In his three years at the club, he was away on loan for half of that time period. Southampton recently brought in Mohammed Salisu from Real Valladolid.
They already have a bunch of centre-backs who are ahead of Hoedt in the pecking order. The likes of Jan Bednarek and Jannik Vestergaard are the first choices. There was no way Hoedt would get games at Southampton.
This is surely a move that works for everyone involved. Southampton will be removing a centre-back from their huge stock of defenders. That will also free up the wage bill and they will receive a handy €5million.
Hoedt will get to continue for a team which he has already played for. Hence, he would have no issues about readjusting or anything. He has already made 11 appearances for the side. Southampton should accept Lazio’s offer to make his deal permanent. No one loses from this deal and everyone goes home happy.
