Southampton are looking to sign a defender following the departures of Luke Shaw to Manchester United, Dejan Lovren to Liverpool and Calum Chambers to Arsenal and, according to reports, are looking to get one over Brendan Rodgers by swooping for Rojo.
24-year-old Rojo has risen to prominence at Sporting Lisbon since signing from Spartak Moscow in 2012 but it is thought the Portuguese club are willing to accept £12m for his services.
The defender starred for Argentina as the South American’s reached the World Cup final before losing to Germany in extra-time.
Southampton chairman Ralph Krueger yesterday pleaded with fans to remain patient as manager Ronald Koeman begins his daunting task of rebuilding the Saints squad.
He said: “It’s quite clear that multiple players were interested in taking a short-cut to Champions League football. We set premiums on those players and reached those premiums.
“It was in the best interests of the club and our re-build to make those deals and continue to build forward with players and a team that wanted to go the hard way into Europe.
“There was interest in our players before the World Cup and our executive worked to put deals together to give us a strong position to reinvest and build.
“We’re excited to continue the rebuilding process. In the next few weeks we’ll have players coming in and we will make transfers to strengthen the squad.
“We understand the frustrations of the fans, but we needed to stay silent to bring the best deals for the club.”
Written by Steve Milne
