Leicester City announcement proves Southampton got 2025 transfer call horribly wrong

Leicester City’s 2025/26 released players announcement proves Southampton got one 2025 transfer call horribly wrong.

The 2025/26 Championship season is finally over. The league season concluded on 4th May but since then, the playoffs and the never-ending ‘Spygate’ scandal took a heavy toll on Southampton fans.

Thankfully, all that is over with Hull City’s 1-0 playoff final win over Middlesbrough to wrap up the 2025/26 Championship season. From now on, Southampton will seek to reach the end of the ‘Spygate’ saga investigation and subsequently start drawing out summer transfer plans to strengthen the squad further.

For the record, the EFL has confirmed 15th June as the starting date of the 2026/27 summer transfer window. It goes without saying that Saints will need to get their transfers spot on, much like they did during the course of the past 12 months.

But even then, Southampton made a few blunders and one of them stands out for all the horrible reasons.

Southampton opted against selling Joe Aribo in 2025

One year ago, Southampton were mainly busy seeking huge transfer fees for promising stars like Mateus Fernandes and Tyler Dibling. The club eventually succeeded in raising a combined £84m from their sales, no doubt. However, the Saints paid less transfer attention to other 2024/25 Premier League starters like Joe Aribo.

The 29-year-old Nigerian international was a shining light in an otherwise poor Southampton team. Plus, he contributed with 3 Premier League goals including a left-footed strike in the 2-1 Ipswich Town win that went a long way in helping the Saints get past Derby County’s 11 point total.

Less said, Aribo was a fairly sellable asset who could have brought Southampton around £3-4m in 2025, roughly half of the initial £6m paid to acquire him from Rangers in 2022. But Southampton led by Will Still back then, took too long to decide on Aribo’s future and ultimately ended up keeping him.

Leicester City announcement proves Southampton got Joe Aribo call horribly wrong

To give more context, Aribo’s Southampton contract was set to expire in 2026 summer so the club risked earning next to nothing on the midfielder. And boy, did that go horribly wrong. Under Will Still and Tonda Eckert, Aribo played some 100-odd minutes for Southampton this season before jetting off to Leicester City on loan in January.

What happened afterwards? Well, Aribo got more or less the same playing time at Leicester City who later succumbed to a shock relegation to League One. And this is how, Aribo has hit free agency in 2026 at present.

Recently, the Foxes announced they are letting Joe Aribo head back to St. Mary’s where his contract is swiftly running out. Back in January, Southampton should have anticipated Aribo becoming a free agent once his Leicester City loan ended.

And accordingly, the club should have contacted potential suitors across the EFL and abroad to offer Aribo at a cut-price fee. That was another missed opportunity from Southampton to make a sizable amount on a midfielder they were never going to use anyway.

Whatever be Southampton’s reason to ignore Joe Aribo’s sale both in summer and winter, the club missed out on the easiest transfer windfall in a while. For the sake of saying, the Saints can still pull a Jack Stephens-type contract renewal on Aribo but that will clearly be a step back.

Overall, it’s a Joe Aribo goodbye barring any late twist. Let’s see where he goes next.