Southampton coach Martin Russell says his decision to retain Super Eagles striker Paul Onuachu is due to the fact that no club showed interest in signing him in the summer transfer window.
Russell made this known in an interview with Daily Echo, where he stated that he thought the Nigerian international would leave last summer.
Recall that Onuachu has made six appearances and bagged one yellow card this ongoing season for Southampton in the Premier League.
However, Russell noted that if Onuachu is happy to remain with the club, he will be willing to have him.
“Yes, I think I want him (Onuachu) to stay. If he was going to go, I think it would have been in the summer for the club to reinvest the money,” Martin told Daily Echo.
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“At the time, it was a few clubs interested but none of them were anywhere near serious enough for us to consider, and I think Paul was just caught in limbo for a bit.
“I think he thought he was going to leave and it hadn’t quite worked out, last summer he was here for probably five or six weeks before he was going.
“The whole time it was planned he was going to go because he cost a lot of money and he wanted a challenge at the top level if he could but he was brilliant.
“He was respectful and then so in January I’m sure there will be a few people that are interested in him again,” continued Martin.
“I’m sure there will also be a few people kicking themselves that they clearly didn’t quite want him enough in the summer.”
“For me, if Paul is happy, we’re really happy and we want him here as he can help us achieve what we want to achieve this season.”
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