da bet7： Southampton vice-chairman Les Reed has gone from hero to zero among the St Mary’s faithful in the last two seasons following a dramatic fall from grace for the team.
da imperador bet： The south coast outfit finished the 2015/16 Premier League campaign in sixth position under Ronald Koeman to qualify for the Europa League, but the appointments of Claude Puel and Mauricio Pellegrino – as well as signings that haven’t much such a big impact – since have left fans unhappy with the 65-year-old senior figure and sceptical of the club’s supposed ‘Southampton way’ motto.
Saints only narrowly avoided relegation from the top flight earlier this month with a 1-0 win away at Swansea City proving to be crucial, and they will know that they need some new additions to the squad this summer in order to ensure they don’t find themselves in a similar situation next term under Mark Hughes.
Their black box system scouting system has delivered the likes of Sadio Mane and Virgil van Dijk in the past, but individuals like Sofiane Boufal, Wesley Hoedt and Nathan Redmond haven’t delivered more recently like their predecessors did.
Here are three signings Reed must deliver this summer so he goes from zero to hero again among Southampton supporters…
It was clear to see this season that while the likes of Wesley Hoedt and Jack Stephens can be good with the ball at their feet, they often struggled from an aerial point of view and were too easily bullied by their centre-forward opponents – think Alvaro Morata against Hoedt in the FA Cup semi-final last month.
Southampton certainly need a more dominant centre-back in their back three or four next term, and Lyon’s Diakhaby could be the answer.
The tall 21-year-old isn’t yet a regular in the starting XI for the Ligue 1 club – he made 21 appearances in all competitions during the current campaign – but he is decent in the air and in possession and the potential he has has been shown by the fact that he has already been linked with Manchester City and Chelsea.
Southampton are surely looking likely to lose Ryan Bertrand, whom Saints fans on Twitter have delivered their verdict on whether they would like him to stay or not, this summer following four seasons at St Mary’s for the England international – who missed out on a spot in Gareth Southgate’s squad for the World Cup in Russia last week.
While the south coast outfit have Sam McQueen and Matt Targett in reserve, they perhaps need a player who has played more regularly at the highest level, and Augsburg’s Max certainly fits the bill.
The 24-year-old has almost played 100 matches for the Bundesliga outfit, and his record of 13 assists in 33 German top flight matches this season show the impact he could make in the final third for a Saints side that only scored 37 in the Premier League.
Southampton are in much need of some added quality in the final third next season with the likes of Redmond, Boufal and Dusan Tadic simply not doing enough throughout the whole campaign, and they should look to bring Maddison to St Mary’s.
The highly-rated 21-year-old has been linked with some of top Premier League teams, but he may feel that he has a better chance of playing regularly on the south coast then he would do if he joined the likes of Manchester City and Arsenal.
The England U21 international showed his qualities with 15 goals and 11 assists in 49 appearances in all competitions for the Canaries this term, while according to WhoScored.com he made 115 key passes in 44 Championship outings, as well as successfully completing 104 of the 154 dribbles he attempted.
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