Southampton: Marlon Santos’ potential arrival hints at Hughes’ set-up

Yesterday afternoon news broke that the Saints had had a 12 million euro bid for Barcelona’s Marlon Santos accepted – does this suggest what formation Mark Hughes will use next campaign?

Just when Southampton supporters were recovering from the announcement of a second signing in under a week, news broke on various Spanish media outlets that the Saints have agreed a deal with the Spanish giants for their Brazilian defender Marlon Santos.

West Ham were previously linked with the 22-year-old however it’s now believed that Mark Hughes’ side have pipped the Hammers to defender’s signature. He was previously on Nice’s books, however his two-year loan deal was cut short when Patrick Viera took charge earlier this summer.

When you look at Marlon’s player profile though, it differs greatly from the kind of centre-back that the Saints have previously been linked with this summer – Jannik Vestergaard and Christopher Jullien both stand at least six-foot-four whilst other targets have been more physical and stronger.

However, the Brazilian stands at just under six-foot tall, an unnatural height for a central defender – furthermore, whilst he isn’t weak, he isn’t especially physical either, meaning he isn’t the answer to that void in the Saints’ defence.

Next: Three further rumours for the Saints

If we’re to assume that this rumour is true – and it’s been gathering some serious pace – then it suggests that Mark Hughes may again be about to deploy the Saints in a 3-4-3/3-4-2-1 formation next season.

More from Saints Marching

• Grading the Southampton Transfer Window Part 2: Arrivals
• Grading the Southampton Transfer Window Part 1: Departures
• It’s time to talk about Gavin Bazunu
• Rain clouds on the horizon? Southampton beat Plymouth Argyle
• A lament for Southampton legend James Ward-Prowse

Whilst Santos isn’t incredibly pacey, he can be deployed as a right-back and is perhaps most naturally positioned as a right-sided centre-back in a three-man defense. This comes as he has good composure on the ball and is a good passer too – the modern-day centre-half.

Considering Southampton’s interest in Ben Gibson in the past, it suggests that as well as an old-school defender, Southampton are also eyeing up another ball-playing defender. With four centre-halves on their books already, it would make sense that they will instead play with three at the back.

Mark Hughes deployed a 5-4-1 formation in the majority of his games in charge at the tail end of last season, although several fans were expecting the Saints to return to the 4-2-3-1 set-up which Southampton have most-often deployed since returning to the Premier League.

However, if Santos does join the Saints from Barcelona, and no other centre-backs depart, then it strongly hints that Hughes will play three at the back once again. With a new, more physical defender in the middle, and either Hoedt, Bednarek, Yoshida or Stephens on the other side.

Whilst it’ll be sad to potentially see three of the Saints’ senior defenders from the last campaign play as back-ups, there’s also no denying that a serious shake-up is needed this summer and loyalties need to be put aside in order to avoid another relegation-threatened season.

Either way, it seems like we may see Hughes planning to play three at the back once more, which would also make sense given that Stuart Armstrong has a great engine as a box-to-box midfielder whilst Elyounoussi provides creativity and goals from an inside-forward position.