23 year old star fired Burnley to Premier League promotion last season, but Southampton will not let him join permanently for cheap.
Burnley may regret spending a lot of money on Wout Weghorst during their most recent Premier League season, but they must not let that stop them from making a move for top target Nathan Tella this summer
Weghorst was one of the Clarets’ most expensive acquisitions ever when they forked over an initial £12 million increasing to £15 million for him in January 2022. However, the Dutchman managed just two goals in 20 appearances before being loaned out to Besiktas.
Weghorst seemed to be on the verge of reviving his career after some impressive performances for the Netherlands at the World Cup, which led to a half-season loan to Manchester United. However, the lack of goals in 17 Premier League games at Old Trafford put an end to that trend.
It seems unlikely that Vincent Kompany would rely on the 30-year-old to maintain the Clarets in the division now that he is back at Turf Moor ahead of the 2023–24 season. The Belgian head coach should instead convince his own superiors to shell out that same £15 million to re-sign Tella.
Is Nathan Tella worth £15 million to Burnley?
Alan Nixon of The Sun reports that Southampton is seeking that amount for Tella, who dominated the Championship last year with 17 goals and five assists.
No other Burnley player could match Tella’s number of goals (Manuel Benson had the next-highest total with 11), and no teammate could match his four WhoScored Man of the Match accolades.
with 22 goals directly goal involvements, meanwhile, Tella ranked fifth among all Championship players in that metric.
It wouldn’t be too contentious to say that Burnley might not have advanced from the Championship automatically – or at least not as quickly – if Tella hadn’t been on loan from Southampton.
As things stand, Kompany will have to rely on Benson and Jay Rodriguez for goals next season because no new attacker will be joining this summer, with the exception of Michael Obefami’s loan deal from Swansea City being made permanent.
Spending a significant portion of the transfer budget on a single player is always a risk, but Burnley knows exactly what they are getting in Tella, a player who Owen Hargreaves called a “handful.”
With an expected goals (xG) value of 10.3, the 23-year-old’s 17 goals from previous season were the second-best return of any player in the Championship. He scored 6.7 goals more than predicted based on the caliber of his opportunities.
Although Tella has only registered one goal in 33 Premier League appearances for Southampton over the course of his two seasons there, he did demonstrate his potential last season when given a number of starts by a manager who has faith in him in Kompany.
Burnley knows they have a guy in Tella who is already acclimated and ready to go as Premier League football returns to Turf Moor, unlike Weghorst.
READ MORE:
In response to a Burnley inquiry, a Manchester City defender states, “It is my wish.”
The 22 year-old joined Manchester City from RSC Anderlecht for £11 million last summer, following the departure of Oleksandr Zinchenko to Arsenal.
Gomez made his Premier League debut against Crystal Palace last August and featured in 23 matches for Pep Guardiola’s side during the treble-winning campaign.
The Spain U21 international started the FA Cup semi-final win at Wembley Stadium over Sheffield United, and also made his Champions League debut during season.
Vincent Kompany’s Burnley, who secured a return to the top-flight after an impressive campaign in the Sky Bet Championship, have been linked with potentially signing Gomez on loan.
The full-back played under Kompany in Belgium, having signed for Anderlecht from Borussia Dortmund.
City begin their 2023/24 Premier League campaign at Turf Moor against Burnley, with the Blues having beaten the Claret’s last season in the FA Cup quarter-finals at the Etihad Stadium.
Gomez signed a four-year deal with Manchester City in August, and despite talk of a potential exit, the player has revealed his desire to remain with the Premier League champions next season.
“I haven’t talked to him about the next season, but I want to stay there,” Gomez told AS, as relayed by Sport Witness.
“I’m going to go from the first day of the pre-season with a lot of desire to show him that I can have more minutes.
“The idea is to stay there. It is my wish.”
Leave a Reply