Southampton have turned down the chance to sign young forward Abdul Abdulmalik this summer after his trial period with the club’s youth sides, according to Hampshire Live.

Abdulmalik’s future this summer has been something of a real saga with the 18-year-old having turned down the offer of a new contract from the Lions.

That has seen the forward attract plenty of transfer interest and he has already been on trial with both Portsmouth and Watford without being able to earn a deal with either club this summer.

It has been reported that both Arsenal and Swansea City are interested in making a move for Abdulmalik at some stage during the transfer window as well.

Southampton have been the latest club to hand the 18-year-old a trial and Abdulmalik had managed to register a goal for the Saints’ B team during his period with the club.

It was believed that if he had been handed a deal he would have gone straight into the Premier League club’s under-23s squad.

However, despite that, Hampshire Live have now reported that the Saints have decided against handing him a deal and that means that Abdulmalik will once again be aiming to find a club that will offer him a contract this summer.

The verdict

This has been a very difficult transfer sage really for Millwall and Abdulmalik and at this stage, you can not help but wonder how much simpler things would have been had he accepted the offer of a new deal that was put to him by the Lions.

Millwall will be invested in this saga until the 18-year-old finds himself a new club because that are entitled to a fee due to his age. That means that they will be hoping he can find a new club as soon as possible so that they can move on and start the proceedings of attempting to recoup some money for the attacker.

It seems that Abdulmalik remains a player in-demand but he has now yet to convince three clubs to sign him after a trial period with them.

There are numerous examples of players being rejected constantly and then still proving to be a success at another side who eventually take a chance on them, but he possibly will be getting concerned at this point.

Both Arsenal and Swansea have been mentioned as potential destinations for the attacker this summer and this might open the door for one of those to now take a look at Abdulmalik.

It does not seem as though the attacker’s situation will be sorted anytime soon and therefore Millwall will have to be prepared to wait a little longer to know what is happening with the 18-year-old.