6:00am Friday 1st February 2008
By Adam Leitch
SAINTS' financial problems came back to haunt them yesterday as they off-loaded star striker Grzegorz Rasiak and midfielder Rudi Skacel.
Czech Skacel has gone to Bundesliga side Hertha Berlin on loan for the rest of the season with a view to a permanent move.
Prolific Polish hitman Rasiak has joined Bolton on loan until the end of the season with a view to a permanent move.
Rasiak and Skacel were two of the club's top earners. Raziak was believed to be on around £12,000 a week and Skacel is also on top wages.
That saving in wages, combined with the potential fees for the two most expensive purchases in the Saints squad, proved too much for the cash-strapped club to turn down.
Saints tried to put a brave face on the deal by saying it was also a way of easing the log-jam of strikers' but in reality it was another massive dent to their promotion hopes.
Rasiak scored 21 goals for the club last season and eight this campaign.
Acting chief executive Lee Hoos said: "It is a good opportunity for Greg to make his mark in the Premier League and it is a good deal for us. Greg wanted to go so it makes sense for both of us."
The log-jam' sited is due to the return of Marek Saganowski, who scored three goals in 15 appearances this season before his injury, and David McGoldrick who has returned from a loan spell at League One Port Vale where he scored twice in 18 appearances.
Joint caretaker manager John Gorman added: "We wish Greg well but we just move on. We have a lot of good strikers here so we feel we still have the firepower to mount a promotion challenge.
"Marek Saganowski has been working hard in training and is desperate to get back in the side and David McGoldrick is champing at the bit. He is desperate for first-team football but could not get close because there was a bottle-neck of strikers."
The other strikers at the club are Stern John, who has scored ten times in 18 starts and six sub appearances but hasn't netted since his hat-trick against Hull almost eight weeks ago and Bradley Wright-Phillips who has eight goals in 24 starts and six sub appearances.
Rasiak, whose total for Saints was 33 goals in 64 starts and 19 sub appearances, had expressed concern earlier in the season that his international place with Poland at the European Championship was in jeopardy this summer if George Burley left him out.
He was omitted from his country's training group next week and the 29-year-old was happy to make the move.
He said: "This is a big chance for me to play in the Premier League and to improve as a player. And Euro 2008 played a big part in my decision.
"It is only on loan at the moment. I still have two and a half years on my contract with Southampton but if I do well and score goals then who knows what the summer will bring? The European Championships are very important to me and if I am playing for a Premiership team I have a bigger chance to be part of it.
"It was not an easy decision and I thought about it for a long time. I have really enjoyed my time here and it is a good club and a nice place to live. I have a lot of respect for Southampton and for the fans who stuck by me even when I was not playing.
"I scored 33 goals in just under two years and that is a good record especially considering I had spells out of the team.
"I really hope Southampton go on and win promotion."
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