According to a report in Belgian media outlet Het Belang van Limburg, via Sport Witness, KRC Genk Head of Football Dimitri De Condé has criticized Southampton for their summer pursuit of winger Joseph Paintsill.
The Saints’ pursuit of the 25-year-old was highly publicized, with Genk willing to include Paul Onuachu in the deal. The striker has struggled since joining St Mary’s earlier this year, with only 22 minutes of play this season coming as a substitute in the 3-1 Carabao Cup defeat to Gillingham last month.
Before joining the then-Premier League club, the Nigerian international was a star at Genk, where he scored 85 goals in 134 appearances.
Southampton had identified Paintsil as a player capable of assisting them in achieving their goal of exiting the Championship at the first attempt, and conversations had taken place between the two clubs. De Condé, on the other hand, was harsh in his appraisal of the negotiations, accusing the south coast team of going ‘a step too far’. During an interview, the 48-year-old stated:
“I knew right away that involving Paintsil in an exchange deal with Onuachu would be nearly impossible.”
“But Southampton kept pushing until they went too far for me.” We should put Paintsil under pressure by not allowing him to fly to Adana. Sorry, but I’m only here for that.”
“In several conversations, Joseph has stated that he feels good here and does not see Southampton as the next step in his career.”
Continuing, De Condé claimed that he eventually had to move on to other targets, while sympathizing with Onuachu.
“I think it’s especially bad for Paul, who is going through a difficult time.” But three days before the European deadline, it became evident that we needed to shift gears. We had other possibilities, but the other targets didn’t just talk to us. Others were not let to leave.”
Genk were anxious to re-sign Onuachu after his extremely successful tenure in Belgium previous to joining Southampton. This isn’t the first time the Championship club has been chastised for their activities in this transaction; they were accused of’moving the goalposts’ before the transfer window closed last month.
The agreement appeared to be dead in the water when Joseph Paintsil chose to back out, but Genk plainly believes they still have a chance of negotiating anything for Onuachu. Expect no direct moves between these two clubs in the near future.
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