Southampton consider Thierry Small move, Everton could receive £5m
Southampton are weighing up a move to sign 17-year-old left-back Thierry Small from Everton, according to Hampshire Live.
The newspaper claims the south-cast side are interested in the Blues starlet and have mapped out a pathway to the first team for him, similar to the ones they have designed for Tino Livramento and Dynel Simeu, both of whom joined from Chelsea earlier this summer.
Small made his Everton debut as a 16-year-old in January, becoming the club’s youngest-ever player in the process.
However, he has turned down a new contract at Everton, with The Athletic reporting last month that he had skipped training as he looked to engineer an exit.
There has been interest from top clubs around Europe, but new Brexit rules for U18 players “make a move within England more likely”, as per Hampshire Live’s report.
While Small has turned down a professional contract with Everton, and there are reports that he has already quit the club, he is still tied to the Blues in that they will be due around £5million in compensation if Southampton do indeed snap him up.
Better chances?
The situation with Small has been fairly bizarre.
Despite only recently turning 17, the reasons given for his expected exit is that he does not see a pathway to the first team at Everton, and wants to play senior football as soon as possible.
At Everton, he has France international Lucas Digne and, to a lesser extent, his compatriot Niels Nkounkou, who featured at the Olympic Games.
However, Digne is 28 and Nkounkou has barely played for the Blues, so can Small really not foresee any changes in the next few years?
Of course, perhaps his ambition should be heralded, and if he does sign for Southampton he will be moving to a club famed for giving young players a chance.
But he’s unlikely to be playing regular football for them for a while after they signed their own French left-back sensation in Romain Perraud this summer.
Surely he should have pushed for a loan at Everton if he had designs on playing soon.
As it is, we will count the cost of another starlet leaving the club for a pretty modest fee.
In other Everton news, Jeff Stelling & Chris Kamara predict scoreline of Blues v Leeds United.
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