Burnley have moved on from Southampton’s Nathan Tella after being priced out of a deal
Burnley have ended their pursuit of Southampton winger Nathan Tella after being priced out of a move, according to Football Insider.
The 24-year-old starred on loan at Turf Moor last season – finishing as the Clarets’ top scorer with 19 goals as they won the Championship at a canter – and has proven his quality already with the Saints now back in the second tier.
Burnley’s pursuit of Nathan Tella
Given his success at Burnley last season, it’s no surprise that the Lancashire club have been linked with re-signing him throughout the summer as Vincent Kompany tools up for life in the Premier League.
Reports first emerged in July indicating that the Saints’ £15 million valuation of the attacker was proving an obstacle to a deal with the Clarets not willing to meet that figure in the talks held between the pair after an initial £9 million bid.
Southampton were not willing to budge either, which is no surprise given Alan Nixon’s claims that they’re keen to keep hold of Tella beyond the end of the summer transfer window and want him to sign a new contract.
A fresh update on Burnley’s pursuit of the winger has now emerged, with Football Insider reporting that they have ended their pursuit of the Southampton player.
Kompany was said to be keen on bringing both Tella and Chelsea’s Ian Maatsen, another of last season’s loanees, back to the club this summer but has been priced out of both deals.
It is thought that their current priority is signing a number nine that can be relied upon to score goals in the Premier League.
Will Nathan Tella leave Southampton this summer?
The Clarets update is a boost to Southampton’s hopes of keeping the 24-year-old but they are not the only club that have expressed an interest this summer.
In fact, Mike McGrath from The Telegraph has reported that Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen have submitted an €18million (£15.3million) offer for Tella.
However, reports in Germany have now indicated that the Saints want a fee in the region of €25-30 million (£21.4m-£25.7m) with the rise in his valuation likely to be due to the money brought in from the sales of Tino Livramento, James Ward-Prowse, and Romeo Lavia with Kyle Walker-Peters attracting interest as well.
Russell Martin on Nathan Tella’s future
At the end of July, Martin made it clear that he was keen to keep hold of the winger, who has subsequently started all three of their Championship games this term.
He said on talkSPORT (via Lancs Live): “Obviously, I played against Nathan a couple of times last year and he was one of the top performers in the division, for sure. And he’s a brilliant lad; a brilliant young man who had a really good season. And yeah, hopefully we get to continue working with him for a while and he can be a big part of it here.”
Martin added: “Hopefully, we can keep hold of a few that are attracting real interest. A few might have to go to help us get a few in that we also really want to help us. We just have to wait and see. I can’t control that, all I can control is coaching them.”
Leave a Reply