Ronald Koeman sees funny side of Southampton player exodus

Ronald Koeman sees funny side of Southampton player exodus 

Zee Media Bureau/Dattaraj Thaly


New Delhi: Never before has a club outside the “Big Four” dominated the transfer market news like Southampton have this summer. Despite big money signings by Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United, Southampton`s transfer market strategy has been the cynosure of all eyes.

Despite the core of their 2013-14 having already left for bigger clubs, Saints manager Ronald Koeman seems to have his sense of humour intact. The Dutchman tweeted a picture of the club`s Staplewoord training ground that was empty and wrote "Ready for #Training!".



Was he trolling his own club? Or maybe he just didn`t realize the irony.

Former England international Gary Lineker was among the first people to spot the tweet that went viral on the micro-blogging site Twitter.

Lineker retweted Koeman`s tweet and wrote “I think Ronald may be making a point! Brilliant!”.



The former Holland player took over at Southampton in the summer replacing Mauricio Pochettino who left for Tottenham. Since taking charge, Koeman has seen an exodus of players. Luke Shaw, Adam Lallana and Rickie Lambert were the first to leave. They were then followed by Dejan Lovrens to Liverpool.

Just after Koeman`s tweet, Arsenal confirmed the news of securing a deal for defender Calum Chambers from Southampton. There is widespread speculation of two more players - Jay Rodriguez and Morgan Schneiderlin heading elsewhere too.

Well, irrespective of the situation at the club, that tweet by Koeman even had the Saints fans smiling.