Southampton have sold another centre-back, this time cashing in on a 24-year-old defender who featured for the club just 31 times.
Southampton defender Armel Bella-Kotchap, who has spent the first part of the season on loan at Serie A outfit Hellas Verona, has had his deal in Italy made permanent.
The deal is worth a total of €5m [£4.3m], putting an end to a long saga going back to 2023, when Southampton first tried to offload the defender permanently.
It looks like Southampton have caught a good deal for a player who never showed progress from early signs of promise.
When arriving at Southampton in 2022/23, Bella-Kotchap looked like a future star. The German received a call-up for his national side, following a brilliant start to life in England’s top flight, for the World Cup in 2022.
But injuries took their toll. Bella-Kotchap missed the rest of a season that saw the Saints relegated, and then didn’t want to drop down to the Championship with the club.
Eventually, the defender fought through a move to PSV, but an injury-ridden 2023/24 loan spell in the Netherlands followed.
That disappointing season left the Saints without any suitors in the following summer, for no clubs were interested in meeting their asking price for a player with clear injury proneness. Bella-Kotchap stayed with Southampton for their embarrassing Premier League relegation, albeit playing just 5 times.
The 24-year-old then joined Hellas Verona last summer for an initial season-long loan, making 15 appearances so far this campaign. A switch to a permanent move has brought an end to his time at Saints, where he made 31 appearances from joining in June 2022 to now.
Southampton’s website made a short parting comment, bidding farewell to Bella-Kotchap: ‘We wish Armel well for his time in Italy.’
A spell that Southampton fans will swiftly want to forget.
