According to the latest reports, Southampton defender Kyle Walker-Peters could return to his former club Tottenham Hotspur this summer.
The Saints travel to the West Midlands on Sunday afternoon to face West Bromwich Albion at The Hawthorns in the first leg of their play-off semi-final match. Russell Martin’s men will be hoping for a positive outcome when they return to St. Mary’s Stadium next week.The club’s relegation from the Premier League was not particularly shocking. Southampton had been losing some of their best players, including Oriol Romeu and Danny Ings, and it appeared that Championship football would be on its way for some time.
This season, Martin’s team scored 87 points and was one of the second-tier’s best entertainers. However, the club was competing in one of the most competitive Championship seasons in recent memory, with Leeds United, Leicester City, and Ipswich Town all accumulating 90 or more points.
The Saints will now enter the play-off lottery to determine whether or not they will return to the Premier League at the first attempt. If they fail to win promotion in the next three matches, the south coast club may struggle to retain some key players over the summer.
Walker-Peters is one player rumored to be leaving the club in the coming months. According to talkSPORT, his former club, Tottenham Hotspur, are considering a bid for the fullback, which would see him return to North London.
The 27-year-old has twelve months left on his current contract and a market value of £17 million, making him one of Southampton’s most sellable assets if the club needs to reduce its wage bill.
Writer’s perspective
Parachute payments are significantly reduced in a club’s second season after relegation from the Premier League. As a result, Southampton will have to offload some of its top-flight players, including Walker-Peters.
Martin recently admitted that the wide defender will most likely leave St Mary’s this summer if the club fails to regain promotion to the promised land.
“I think if we get promoted it becomes a lot easier to keep him,” he stated.
“If not, we will lose Kyle. There’s no point pretending otherwise, both financially and in terms of Kyle’s ambitions.
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