Southampton star to push for St Mary’s exit in summer, £15m+ bid could be accepted
Southampton defender Taylor Harwood-Bellis could leave the club for Serie A side Fiorentina in the summer if they fail to win promotion back to the Premier League.
Southampton‘s return to the Championship has not gone to plan so far, with 43 points from their 31 matches this term to occupy 14th place as it stands.
They are facing an uphill battle to push for a playoff spot this season, and will not want to lose a player of Harwood-Bellis‘ talent anytime soon.
The one-cap England centre-back is in his third season as a Saints player, and has scored four goals in 28 appearances up to now in 2025-26.
Burnley were linked with signing Harwood-Bellis last month, but even though a move away never came to fruition, he could be on his way out of St Mary’s in the summer regardless.
Fiorentina want £15m plus-rated Taylor Harwood-Bellis
West Ham reportedly submitted two offers to sign Harwood-Bellis late in the January window, but their advances were rejected as the Saints deemed him too important to let go.
Journalist Alan Nixon has now revealed, via Patreon, that the Southampton centre-back is on the transfer shortlist of Serie A side Fiorentina, after they also saw an approach for his services turned down last week.
Harwood-Bellis is set to push for a move away from Southampton if they fail to return to the Premier League this season, with clubs needing to stump up more than £15million to land his signature.
Southampton’s chances of promotion according to Opta’s supercomputer
Saints boss Tonda Eckert recently praised Harwood-Bellis as the “ultimate professional” after he played in their 2-0 win over Stoke City in wake of West Ham‘s first rejected offer for his services.
He is surely set to leave the Championship for good soon though, regardless of if they are promoted or not, with all the signs pointing to that most likely not being the case this season.
They beat Watford 1-0 on Saturday to move to within four points of sixth-placed Wrexham, but there are still seven teams between them and the playoffs with 15 league games left to play.
Opta‘s supercomputer has issued Southampton with an outside chance of 14.18 per cent to make the top six this season, while they have a 0.22 per cent chance of actually achieving promotion, so it is safe to say that Harwood-Bellis will likely be leaving ahead of next season.