West Brom and Aston Villa are both interested in signing Southampton striker Micheal Obafemi, a report from The Sun has claimed.
The 20-year-old attacker, who came through Southampton’s academy, has made 33 appearances and scored five goals in all competitions at senior level for the Saints.
Obafemi has also been capped once at senior level by the Republic of Ireland already, and it now seems as though there is interest emerging in the young forward.
According to the latest reports, both West Brom and Villa are keen to sign Obafemi from Southampton, as they both look to add to their goalscoring threats ahead of the upcoming Premier League campaign.
However, it seems as though it will not be easy to secure the services of Obafemi, with Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl said to be a fan of the striker, meaning it could take an offer of around £10million to convince the Saints to negotiate over a deal.
As things stand, there are two years remaining on Obafemi’s contract with Southampton, securing his future at the St Mary’s until the end of the 2021/22 season, and putting the club in a strong position to negotiate any offers that come.
This therefore, is something of an interesting one for West Brom to consider.
There is no doubt that Obafemi has plenty of potential, as evidenced by the opportunities he has already been given at such a young age.
However, Obafemi’s record suggests he still has some way to go to reach the peak of his abilities, meaning it could be a risk for the Baggies to pin their goalscoring hopes on the Irishman next season, when establishing themselves in the Premier League must be a priority.
That risk is only emphasised by the apparent cost of this prospective signing, meaning you feel that Bilic and co. may want to look elsewhere for the time being.
