Southampton’s season so far has not been very different from that of Leicester City’s. After an impressive run, last season both the teams have been maddeningly inconsistent this campaign. The Saints haven’t gotten hold of their game so far as it was only once, back in September, that Claude Puel’s men won two back-to-back matches. While the two teams have done well in Cups, (one in the UCL, the other in the EFL Cup), they have been patchy in the League.
Southampton’s campaign has mostly been filled with draws and defeats and very rare wins in between to keep the balance. After going on a four-match losing streak in the league, they finally broke it with a convincing win over Leicester City last week. And when the fans thought that the club was out of its purple patch with their last-minute winner against Liverpool to reach the EFL Cup final, reality crept in as Arsenal humiliated them and dumped them out of the FA Cup.
One department where Southampton have hugely suffered this season is their attack. The injury to Charlie Austin crippled massively the team’s goal scoring abilities and the only feasible option of Shane Long up front has been of little help to Puel. The 30-year-old Ireland international has scored only once in 18 league appearances this season so far and Puel cannot target a top-half finish relying only on him.
The transfer window so far has been quiet for Southampton and if reports are to be believed, it is in the last two days that the Saints are looking to remain the most active. Puel seems to have found the ideal option to share Long’s burden up front in APOEL Nicosia’s striker Pieros Sotiriou.
The 24-year-old Cyprus international has been on fire this season scoring 14 goals in 19 appearances in the Cypriot top-flight. And according to Le Parisien, Premier League clubs like Everton and Southampton have been keeping tabs on the player.
A move to the Premier League for a Cyprus international has been quite a rare phenomenon in the past, and Sotiriou could just be the third player to move to England from the country after Alexis Nicolas and Nikodimos Papavasiliou.
A youth product of Cyprus side Olympiakos Nicosia, Sotiriou joined APOEL Nicosia in 2013 and his current contract with the club extends until 2020. He has scored 31 goals in total since moving to the first division and has won 19 caps for the national team since making his debut for Cyprus four years back.
Although an unproven prospect at the top level of the game, the player could be a real revelation at Southampton as the club has been famous for unearthing talents.
