‘He shoots, shoots and shoots again’ – how and why Southampton signed Adam Armstrong
By Dan Sheldon 2h ago
Southampton’s pursuit of Adam Armstrong started long before Danny Ings was sold to Aston Villa in a £30 million deal.
The Premier League club’s technical and recruitment teams were unable to ignore the 24-year-old’s sheer output in a Blackburn Rovers shirt during the 2020-21 season.
Armstrong scored an impressive 29 goals in 43 appearances and was entering the final year of his contract.
Southampton viewed this opportunity as a no-lose: they could sign an up-and-coming striker in a cut-price deal due to the fact Blackburn wouldn’t want to lose him on a free in 2022.
But they weren’t his only suitors, with Crystal Palace and Norwich providing stern competition.
When Southampton first approached Blackburn earlier this summer with their opening offer for Adam Armstrong, believed to be £8 million plus an extra £2 million in potential add-ons, it became clear the two clubs were miles apart in their valuation of the player.
Rovers were seeking a figure closer to £20-25 million since they would have to pay Newcastle around 40 per cent of any fee they received from a sell-on clause.
Sources close to the deal have told The Athletic that at this point, especially with Ings still in the building, the Premier League side were happy to sit back and play a waiting game while pursuing other options.
Southampton suspected, even though they still tried, that signing Tammy Abraham on loan was a non-starter. It became clear Chelsea were only keen on selling the striker on a permanent deal. RB Leipzig’s Alexander Sorloth was also briefly considered but again, the club decided that it was not the deal for them.
But the reality is that Armstrong was always top of Southampton’s list, and he was the player they pictured as Ings’ long-term replacement. This meant they had to be strategic in appearing interested enough to not be forgotten, but also not showing too much desire so as to drive up the price.
Adam Armstrong is unveiled at St Mary’s as a Southampton player (Photo: Matt Watson/Southampton FC via Getty Images)
The club’s initial plan was to sign the 24-year-old, play him with Ings and Che Adams for a season, then watch him kick-on in 2022-23.
It’s understood there were another two to three rounds of conversations between Southampton and Blackburn, although a fee still couldn’t be agreed. After the £8 million offer, Southampton tried their luck with a £10 million plus £2 million bid. Again, though, it was rejected. This allowed the likes of Crystal Palace and Norwich to steal a march and it is believed the former thought they had a deal in place.
However, once Ings was sold to Villa, catching almost everyone off guard as the club were planning for him to stay on the south coast, there was a realisation Southampton would come back to the negotiating table.
One source close to proceedings explained how the other clubs thought Southampton would “come in like a train” to try and finalise a deal for Armstrong.
Matt Crocker, Southampton’s director of football of operations, is believed to have been a key influence in the deal, especially having previously known the striker well from his time spent working at the FA.
He was able to impart his knowledge of Armstrong’s character to Hasenhuttl, chief executive Martin Semmens, the scouts and other recruitment team members.
In terms of scouting, it was difficult for Southampton not to notice the number of shots Armstrong hit last season — and this, too, was believed to be a key factor behind their pursuit.
In recent times, Southampton have been accused of trying to walk the ball into the net, but that isn’t Armstrong’s game at all. He shoots, shoots and then shoots again.
Last season he registered 189 shots (85 on target), more than any other player in the English leagues.
Most shot-happy players
ENGLISH LEAGUES 2020-21
TOTAL SHOTS (INC. BLOCKS)
Adam Armstrong
189
Paul Mullin
169
Joe Pigott
160
Scott Twine
148
Mallik Wilks
140
Teemu Pukki
139
Harry Kane
137
Ivan Toney
135
Jonson Clarke-Harris
132
Aaron Collins
131
To compare that with Southampton’s attacking players, Ings had 57 shots (27 on target), Stuart Armstrong and Adams had 55 (11 and 31 on target) and Nathan Redmond was fourth with 45 (13 on target). Southampton’s squad as a whole had a combined 424 shots in the Premier League last year. Their newest signing had close to half of that figure on his own.
It was widely accepted that since they couldn’t sign a Premier League striker who could match Ings’ output in front of goal, which would have been financially impossible, then they had to go for the next best available option. And, to Southampton, that was Adam Armstrong.
So once Ings was out the door and on his way to Villa Park, their desire to sign Armstrong was escalated and Semmens worked day and night to get the deal done. Sources close to the deal suggest there were club-to-club talks between Southampton’s hierarchy and Blackburn’s owners to come to a resolution after two failed bids. It’s said that the Premier League club found “extra motivation” to spend an additional £2 million or so to land their target once Ings had departed.
In the end, it was an offer of £12 million plus £3 million in add-ons, which The Athletic is told are easy to achieve and will be met, taking the overall price to £15 million.
Once a fee had been settled on, Armstrong had to agree to personal terms with Southampton, and his meeting with Hasenhuttl was said to have gone “very smoothly”.
There was even time for Alan Shearer, the former Newcastle striker and columnist at The Athletic, to wish him luck. Much has been made of the fact Armstrong is following Shearer’s career in reverse by going from Newcastle to Blackburn and then to Southampton.
Southampton view this as a low-risk signing. It is hoped Armstrong will come in and hit the ground running, and it’s understood Hasenhuttl has already been impressed by his standard of finishing in training.
If the deal works out, then Southampton have replaced Ings with a player who can match, if not better, his tally of goals. But that is a big “if”, and a slow start to the Premier League will undoubtedly lead to people asking whether selling their best player was a risk worth taking.
Yet many feel the club could have a Premier League star on their hands, which may one day see them land a tidy profit if Armstrong is as prolific in England’s top flight as he was in the Championship.
