Southampton are no longer interested in the services of Florin Gardos as he has been given the green light to leave after this season. The 29-year-old’s contract is set to run out in the summer and he is free to start entertaining offers from other clubs.
Gardos arrived at Saint Mary’s Stadium in the summer of 2014 for £6m and has made a total of only 18 appearances so far. According to calculations, he has cost the club £680,000 each time he stepped onto the pitch. A bonker statistic especially when the club is undergoing defensive struggles this season after the departure of Virgil van Dijk.
Gardos was a promising talent during his time with Steaua București. He appeared in 121 games between 2010 and 2014 for the Romanian outfit. A call-up to the Premier League was almost a fairytale-like chapter in his life but 3 years later, it has turned out to be a completely different story.
The Saints have seen a host of young centre-halfs make an exit to more illustrious sides – Dejan Lovren, Jose Fonte and van Dijk and yet Gardos has not seen a single minute of senior team football. His future in a Saints shirt is crystal clear and it looks like Maya Yoshida, Wesley Hoedt and Jack Stephens will continue to feature in the centre-back roles.
Southampton’s struggles in the league have been one of the interesting stories this season. While a series of injuries have not helped their case, Mauricio Pellegrino’s uphill task to get into the win column is starting to infuriate the fans at Saint Mary’s. The strike force has fallen short with Charlie Austin troubled with injuries and Manolo Gabbiadini and Shane Long finding it hard to find the back of the net.
They have strengthened through the addition of Guido Carrillo in the centre-forward position but the striker looked less than impressive in the 0-2 loss to Liverpool on the weekend. One game is not enough to judge the player but the Saints are desperate to see their £19.2m investment hit the ground running for the last 13 games of the season.
They are currently in the 18th spot of the points table and the gruelling battle for survival are already upon them. Every gameday the bottom half of the table is getting shuffled around over a meagre 4-point differential. While the stage has been set, Pellegrino will have to work out a miracle to save his side from dropping to the EFL Championship after 5-and-a-half years.
