Premier League strugglers Southampton sold Dusan Tadic to Eredivisie challengers Ajax for £9m and he shone agaisnt Real Madrid in the Champions League.
Remind us again why Southampton sold Dusan Tadic to Ajax last summer?
Despite playing a major role in their escape from relegation towards the end of the 2017/18 season, the Saints decided to cash in on the Serbian play-maker, selling him to Ajax for a fee of around £9 million, as reported by the NL Times.
The fact that Tadic has scored 22 goals in 36 games since returning to Holland, as many as he produced in four years at St Mary’s, certainly casts doubt on the logic of that decision.
While Southampton fans will be pointing out that most of these goals have come in the Eredivisie, a league that seems to regard defending as optional, Tadic’s outstanding performance in Ajax’s Champions League knockout clash against Real Madrid showed he could strut his stuff at the top level.
The 30-year-old was arguably the best player on the pitch at the Amsterdam ArenA, carving apart Real’s defence again and again, although Ajax were eventually beaten, and unfortunately so, by Marco Asensio’s late winner.
Southampton have frequently sold their best players over the years. But the watching football world cannot believe they accepted just £9 million for Tadic on last night’s evidence.