No one can accuse Kyle Walker-Peters of not remaining loyal to Southampton Football Club, he signed a 5 year deal with the club and he saw out it's entirety, a rare thing these days, but his hope of finding something better is still to materialise.

There could not me many Saints fans who thought that Kyle Walker- Peters would be staying at St Mary's once his contract expired at the start of this month, we all assumed that he would have no problem finding a new deal elsewhere, probably in the Premier League.

However it seems that there had been little interest from top notch Premier League clubs and it was a surprise when it was announced by Turkish club Besiktas that they had reached an agreement to sign him.

So it was a bigger surprise to find out, as The Daily Echo has reported that Besiktas have announced that they have pulled out of the transfer.

A statement from the Turkish side said:

"It is publicly known that the arrival of Kyle Walker-Peters, with whom we previously announced an agreement in principle and invited him to Istanbul for a medical examination, has been postponed.

"Today, Kyle Walker-Peters notified us, requesting an extension. Consequently, our club has withdrawn its transfer.

"Our club continues its transfer efforts in accordance with its established policy. We respectfully inform the public."

On the face of it it seems that Besiktas are dumping Walker-Peters, but read between the lines and it seems that it is the opposite, the Turkish club smelled a rat, that the player or his agent had agreed to join Besiktas as it was the only deal on the table, but suddenly there was interest and the player therefore told Besiktas he wanted to delay the medical.

For the Turks this was an insult and rather than wait for the inevitable, they got in first and effectively said, you don't cancel us, we cancel you!

So where next for KWP after this bridge seems to be burned, some reports are suggesting a return to Saints could be on the cards, but I don't think this is going to be the case, my suspicion is that West Ham United have been in touch with his agent and the player himself would obviously prefer to stay in England and the Premier League in particular.

The issue that Walker-Peters has faced is that as we all know, most transfers are done in the first week of the window or the last, little is done in between as players and clubs hold out for better deals, but that is not good for a player out of contract.

Now the Hammers seem to have come to the table and Everton are another club who have been previously linked and I would not be surprised if he plots up at either in the next few days.

Clearly talks were in place, hence he did not wish to travel to Istanbul, take a medical and then sign a contract whilst another option was around, something he was prepared to do only a day or so ago.

Kyle Walker-Peters is a player who is Premier League quality, he has his critics in the Southampton fan base, but over the 5 1/2 seasons he played for the club, he was consistently one of the better players, I would love to see him return, but It won't happen, he will play in England in the top flight for the coming season and Besiktas will have the feeling that they have been well and truly used.

All Photos Via Reuters

Jesus_02 added 11:57 - Jul 18 West Ham it is then. I believe they have signed 2/3 other full backs so he will most likely be back up. Underlines the gulf with PL teams really.
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beynali73 added 12:55 - Jul 18 Top guy, very likable and one of the few highlights of the last few years. Really hope he signs for a team that play him rather than him waste his talent bench warming.
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