Home / Football / Austin signing for Southampton leaves QPR Stone Cold

Austin signing for Southampton leaves QPR Stone Cold

Southampton announced the signing of Striker Charlie Austin from Queens Park Rangers for a bargain price of £4m yesterday. The 26 year old was set to depart on a Bosman in the Summer so QPR had to sell this Month or he would walk away from the club for nothing.

Remember this was a player who was being touted as being a £12m signing a year or so again, so not quite the return that QPR could have got. But I guess it would have been crazy for The West London club to sell him when they were battling relegation as they felt his goals could keep them up. Unfortunately that was not to be but then it was also hoped that Austin’s goals this season would fire them back up this season, but with finding themselves 17th in The Championship that has proved not to be the case. Therefore after weighing the options it made sense for QPR to recoup some sort of fee than opposed to none.

With Austin more than prepared to run down his contract, then the balance of power is with the player rather than the club and QPR almost have their hands tied in the situation. But with the Bosman Ruling in place this is the way it is now. Will QPR kick themselves by not cashing in a year ago, with the reason stated above probably not but they took a gamble and they gamble has proved to be a costly one on the balance sheet.

As for Southampton they have got a bit of a steal here. A Striker who is already a proven Goalscorer at Premier League level will no doubt provide competition for Graziano Pelle and Shane Long and it’s hopes it will boost The Saints spluttering season and move them further away from the relegation battle and closer if not into the Top Half.

As a Spurs fan I’m still scratching my head as to why we didn’t go in for him at this price. Maybe it was felt that Austin wouldn’t be comfortable playing a bit part role as Harry Kane’s understudy and will no doubt get much more game time on The South Coast. Still an opportunity missed for Spurs but I guess Southampton won’t care for that right now. Although don’t be surprised when he moves to Liverpool in 18 months time.

Leave a Reply

%d bloggers like this: