Saints sign Quarshie – so what should fans expect from ‘promising’ talent?
Southampton have signed defender Joshua Quarshie from Hoffenheim for a fee understood to be £3.5m.
The 20-year-old has signed a four-year deal and becomes the Saints’ first signing of the summer under new manager Will Still.
Quarshie made his Bundesliga debut at 18 and gained the majority of his experience with Hoffenheim’s second team, as well as on loan with Fortuna Dusseldorf and Greuther Furth, making 28 appearances in the German second tier.
Southampton’s group technical director Johannes said the Germany Under-20 international is a “talented young player” and “natural fit” for Still’s style, while Quarshie himself said the Saints felt like the “right club” for him.
German football expert Constantin Eckner told BBC Radio Solent: “Quarshie was one of the more promising talents in the Bundesliga 2. It was expected that he would move on somewhere and the link to Southampton probably comes through the new sporting directer Johannes Spors, who is German, and may have an eye on youth national team players.
“His height and athletic promises are there. He’s still very young so he’s still a work in progress, but he’s technically pretty proficient.
“He’s not just the type of player to play one steller pass after another, but he’s pretty precise when it comes to build-up passes too.
“Now Southampton are playing in the Championship again, they will have a lot of matches where they will have a lot of possession, so they have to deal with how to set up their build-up plays, so he could also play a part there.
“Fans should expect someone who’s still in development and who will still have to become a professional player at that level.
“With the schedule of the Championship you play so many games over a season. It’s important to have a number of centre-backs with different skillsets. With Quarshie you have someone who is tall, athletic, two-footed and has a lot of upsides.”
