Saints’ Chinese owner ready to up sticks
Wolves must beware Greeks bearing down on hot Traore
WOLVES have been told that Olympiakos will target danger man Adama Traore and his dodgy shoulder when they clash in the Europa League on Thursday.
Traore has dislocated his shoulder three times this season and was kept out of this game until Wolves needed him to rouse them with 26 minutes remaining.
He had only been on the field 13 minutes when he complained to manager Nuno Espirito Santo that Brighton defender Dan Burn had tried to grab his weak left shoulder.
Burn denied it was intentional and said: “He complained that he thought I’d done him, but I genuinely didn’t know which shoulder it was.You have to get as close as you can because if he runs against you and uses that pace against you, you are struggling.
“WhenWolves go to play Olympiakos, I’m sure they will look at that, they will exploit it as a weakness.
“If teams need to stop Traore, they might look at it.”
Traore is in pain when his shoulder dislocates.
He needs to have an operation but is soldiering on and is likely to face the Greek side in the last-16 tie. Brighton’s lack of a finisher cost them. This was their sixth draw in their past nine league games and that is hurting their bid to get clear of relegation. “I hope it’s the old ‘ketchup effect’ as they say in Sweden,” said manager Graham Potter, who made his name with Ostersunds in Sweden. “It’s when you hit the bottle and eventually it splurts out.”
SOUTHAMPTON have been put up for sale for £250million.
Chinese owner Gao Jisheng, right, is looking to sell his 80 per cent stake in the club just three years after taking over.
Gao paid £210m for his share in Saints in 2017, but former owner Katharina Liebherr, who still holds the other 20 per cent, is not thought to be selling up.
Saints have been fighting relegation constantly since Gao, 67, arrived, finishing 17th in 2018 and 16th last season.
Saturday’s defeat by Newcastle left them seven points clear of the drop zone. The club posted a
Prowse 6, Hojbjerg 6; Boufal 5 (Obafemi 84), Djenepo 5; Long 6 (Adams 77), Ings 6.
NEWCASTLE (4-2-3-1): Dubravka 7; Manquillo 6 (Lazaro 72), Lascelles 7, Fernandez 7, Rose 7; Shelvey 7, Hayden 6 (S Longstaff 78); Ritchie 6 (Joelinton 61, 6), Almiron 7, Saint-Maximin 8; Gayle 6.
Goal: Saint-Maximin 79. £28.6m profit last March, mainly due toVirgil van Dijk’s £75m sale to Liverpool. Results this year are not expected to be anywhere near as good. Gao’s Lander Sports Development company reported a loss in 2018 and he sold a large chunk of it to the Chinese government.