The sale of Dusan Tadic might have been Mark Hughes’ worst Southampton decision

Add as preferred source on Google

Southampton fans must now be rueing the sale of Dusan Tadic in the summer.

The Serbian playmaker was allowed to leave St. Mary’s Stadium after four years at the club to join Ajax for £10 million (rising to £11.4 million as reported by BBC Sport).

It was a move that was greeted with some concern, with Tadic having proven himself as one of the most creative players in the squad.

The fact that he was sold seemingly so cheap frustrated some. And his current form for his new side is only likely to increase that frustration.

Tadic caught the eye once again in the Champions League last night, by scoring twice against Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich.

He’s been scintillating in Europe, having notched five times in the group stages and providing one assist.

In the Eredivisie it’s a similar story; Tadic has been ripping it up. In 15 games (all starts), he has scored eight goals and tabled six assists.

Mark Hughes’ worst call?

Seeing Tadic flourishing like this must hurt the Southampton faithful, and invoke feelings of dismay towards former manager Mark Hughes.

Hughes’ nine-month spell in charge of the club was littered with poor decisions, mainly to do with team selections, but arguably his worst was allowing Tadic to be sold.

Hughes should have recognised that Tadic was one of Southampton’s best players and should have moved heaven and earth to stop him leaving, even if it was to his ‘dream’ club.

As the manager, he should have made it known to the player how integral he’d be to him in the 2018/19 season.

Tadic was sold, and the team have suffered immensely without him and his creative spark, having scored just 13 goals so far in the league.

Ralph Hasenhüttl must now pick up the pieces. One must wonder had he been in charge since the summer if Tadic would still be a Southampton player.