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According to the Daily Echo, Southampton are hopeful of selling record signing Guido Carrillo this summer rather than sending him out on another loan spell.

What's the deal, then?

The 28-year-old signed for the Saints in January 2018 for £19.1million from Monaco but failed to make any sort of impact as he failed to score in 10 appearances for the club.

In the summer of last year, he was subsequently sent on loan to Leganes where he also did not live up to expectations, scoring just five goals in 25 games for the Spanish side.

Despite his disappointing goal return, Leganes and former manager Mauricio Pellegrino want Carrillo back for next season on another loan deal as per the Daily Echo, but those at St Mary’s are hoping they can get some money back on the Argentine.

However, the report claims that the Saints are keen to recoup as much of their original investment as possible. With this summer representing their best chance of getting maximum value before Carrillo's contract goes into its final two years, the suggestion appears to be that Southampton will wait for the right offer rather than simply getting the striker out the exit door.

Saints should get rid of Carrillo as soon as possible

Carrillo has to be considered one of the worst signings of recent Premier League campaigns.

Given the expectation that surrounds a player any time a club breaks their transfer record, it is a tremendous fall from grace especially when you consider he has not netted a single goal for Saints.

It is true that he was perhaps not given the time to bed into English football as he was only handed half a season to stamp his authority on the Premier League before being sent off to Spain.

But what he could have done to try and turn his fortunes around is perform well for Leganes and force himself into a starting place once he returns.

He didn't manage to do that either given his goal return and the fact that he was a substitute for nine of his 32 La Liga appearances. As a result, the south coast outfit need to accept they got this one completely wrong, and move him on regardless of the loss they'll almost certainly make on his original fee.

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Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side need to get rid of a player who clearly doesn't fit into the Austrian's plans or high-pressing style, given he has already said he is looking to add speed to his attack via an interview with SportBild.

Even if it means taking a substantially reduced price from the extortionate fee that initially paid, it must be done this summer. As the Daily Echo report itself inadvertently insinuates, waiting around for a good offer only makes another loan move more likely.