Southampton have completed the signing of Charlie Austin from QPR for a fee of £4 million and the 26-year-old striker might just prove to be one of the bargains of the January transfer window.
Southampton manager Ronald Koeman is looking to add more scoring power to his team who are currently sitting in tenth position on the table.
Charlie Austin is the man who fits the bill perfectly to fire the Saints up the table in the second half of the season.
In the previous year, many clubs had been linked with signing Austin, and many pundits expected him to leave QPR at the end of last season when the club was relegated to the Championship. But a move never materialised.
Last season saw Austin score 18 goals, which had him ranked fourth on the list of top scorers for the Premier League and led to Austin’s first call-up to the England squad. Austin’s goalscoring form has continued in the Championship with 10 goals in 16 appearances this campaign.
Possibly the only concerns over the deal will be the rumours around a knee issue that Austin has supposedly carried for some time and what wages Austin will be paid. While at Burnley a deal was agreed for Austin to join Hull in 2013, but it collapsed after a failed medical.
Not many details were released at the time, but shortly after QPR were happy to sign Austin after they completed a medical of their own. One person who has commented recently, however, is West Ham chairman David Sullivan, who was urged to sign Austin at the time and was criticised by West Ham fans for not going after the striker.
“He [Austin] failed a medical at Hull a couple of years ago. They say he has no ligaments in his knee, who knows,” Sullivan said.
Austin is currently recovering from a hamstring injury, but is expected to be available for selection in the coming week.
Time will tell if the deal is a good one for Southampton. But in this day and age a transfer fee of £4 million is probably considered low risk when you see some of the extravagant fees some clubs spend.
Obviously, wages need to be factored in as well, but Southampton will have done their due diligence. With many clubs in need of a proven goalscorer, it is surprising more clubs did not try and hijack the deal.
When Austin starts banging in goals the transfer fee will look even better.
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