Southampton supporters in the Transfer Tavern are very much looking forward to the 2018/19 Premier League season following the news that manager Mark Hughes has penned a long-term deal with the club.
The 54-year-old took over at St Mary’s back in March following the sacking of Mauricio Pellegrino, and was thus briefed with trying to keep the Saints in the Premier League. And while it was far from easy for the former Stoke City chief, he did just that by guiding them to key victories over Bournemouth and Swansea City in the last few weeks of the campaign, eventually finishing in 17th place in the table and just three points clear of danger.
As such, there are many excited and expectant Southampton fans in the Tavern at present, several of whom are likely to be intrigued by recent reports linking their club, amongst others, with a move for Celtic midfielder Stuart Armstrong.
And while the 26-year-old would likely be a useful addition to Hughes’ squad, they should forget about him and instead target a move for his £1.8 million-rated Celtic teammate James Forrest (as per Transfermarkt).
Ultimately, the Saints are reasonably well-stocked in the central midfield department, what with the likes of Mario Lemina, Oriol Romeu, James Ward-Prowse, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, and Steven Davis all hugely adept Premier League midfielders, and having done a job for the club this season.
And even were Lemina, who has reportedly attracted interest in recent months, to leave St Mary’s this summer, Hughes still has plenty of quality options to choose from in the middle of the park, and arguably doesn’t really need to add Armstrong to his squad.
However, the biggest problem Southampton had this season was scoring goals having managed just 37 in their 38 Premier League matches – Charlie Austin, who only appeared 24 times in the league, finished the season as joint top-scorer alongside Dusan Tadic with just seven.
And with the likes of Sofiane Boufal and Nathan Redmond simply not producing the goods in the wide areas, Hughes may seek to bolster those ranks, and after the season Forrest has had at Parkhead, he could be the man.
The 26-year-old enjoyed a majestic campaign for Brendan Rodgers’ Bhoys in netting 17 goals and laying on ten assists for the Scottish Premiership champions, who also added the Scottish League Cup and Scottish Cup crowns to complete another domestic treble.
And while some Southampton fans will be concerned by the competitiveness of Scottish football, one mustn’t forget that Forrest performed admirably in their Champions League campaign this term, and indeed carried a genuine goal-scoring threat in their Europa League last-32 clash with Zenit St Petersburg.
And Saints supporters will know first-hand that buying from Celtic Park can prove to be beneficial given the likes of Virgil van Dijk, Fraser Forster, and Victor Wanyama all made the move from Parkhead to St Mary’s, and have since gone on to become even better players – van Dijk now plays for Liverpool, Wanyama for Tottenham.
As such, while their central midfield ranks aren’t desperately in need of reinforcements, the attacking ranks, specifically the wide areas, could do with flesh blood, which is why Southampton should forget about Armstrong and instead target his Celtic teammate Forrest this summer.
Southampton fans… what do you think? Let us know!
