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Southampton could allow £13.5m-rated international to leave St Mary’s – report

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Southampton could allow midfielder Mario Lemina to leave the club, according to a report in The Telegraph.

The Telegraph claims Ralph Hasenhuttl is prepared to allow another five senior first-team players leave St Mary’s, including Lemina.

Defender Matt Targett finalised his move to Aston Villa earlier today and if the report is accurate there could be a few more departures in the near future.

Charlie Austin, Wesley Hoedt, Fraser Forster, Alex McCarthy, and Cedric Soares could all be sold during this transfer window as Hasenhuttl revamps his squad. Striker Sam Gallagher is also on the list, with Blackburn expected to sign the academy graduate.

It can be argued that most of the names on that list deserve to be on it, possibly with the exception of Lemina. He outperformed the other defensive midfielder in Saints’ squad, Oriol Romeu, in most areas last season, according to WhoScored.com.

Lemina has more average passes per game – 38.6 compared to 35.5 for the Spaniard. Lemina also has better key passes per game, assists, and pass success rate. He is also two years younger than his team-mate, at 25, so he is just coming into his prime.

The Telegraph’s doesn’t mention what fee Southampton would accept for Lemina, but Transfermarkt value the midfielder at £13.5million.

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