The 23-year-old midfielder recently regrouped with the Saints camp following a season-long loan to Championship side Norwich City, and now faces a make or break season on his future.
Having looked like a promising holding midfielder for a few years now, the 5’9 Southampton man has always been considered to have a bright future ahead of him, this due to being likened by former managers Mauricio Pochettino and Ronald Koeman – both of who are well known for developing young players.
Various football websites also seemed to think similar with the likes of Copa90 claiming that Reed would be one of five ‘breakout stars’ for the 2015-16 Premier League campaign – having seen some of his performances against other Premier League opposition at the time being enough for them to suggest his rise into a top class player and Southampton starter.
Forward a few years, to the pre-season of the 2018-19 season, and this claim could be considered hit and miss now, with other players such as Chelsea’s Ruben Loftus Cheek and Aston Villa’s Jack Grealish making up some of the numbers on this list – both having contrasting careers since being named as one of the five, however both worthy of playing in England’s top flight.
Despite this, it does not warrant that the defensive-minded player has not quite lived up to his hype, the young-midfielder has always had to face good competition in recent seasons for a holding spot in the team, with the likes of Morgan Schneiderlin, Victor Wanyama and Oriol Romeu – two of which were crowned as Saints’ Player of the Season’.
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So with the mentioned Romeu, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Mario Lemina making up the numbers for the defensive midfield spots in the 2017-18 campaign, it was no real surprise to see Reed loaned out to help provide him the minutes that he desperately needed and therefore help develop his game.
Now, the academy graduate returns at a time where there is still a lot of competition for defensive midfield spots, with all the stated players from last season still repping the red and white of the Saints, and therefore Reed could again find his game-time staggered.
Statistically and when compared to Southampton’s current crop of players, it is clear to see why Reed is not on the forefront to being in the first-team squad, averaging 2.2 tackles, 1.1 interceptions, and 1.2 clearances a game against (next best stats) Hojbjerg’s 2 tackles, 1.6 interceptions, and 1 clearance a game – the difference being Reed’s stats being recorded on a Championship level.
So despite all of this, is there any chance that the academy graduate might of any worth to the south-coast club?
Well, in pre-seaon Reed has been utilised at right-wing-back and has also been seen to play as a right sided full-back for Norwich last season, which would suggest that his versatility could see him play a big part for Southampton in the near future – especially with Cedric Soares yet to return from his World Cup adventure with Portugal.
Therefore suggesting come the start of the campaign, Reed could be lining up in the starting-11 as a makeshift wing-back/full-back system depending, but therefore making himself of worth to Southampton due to his adaptability.
Furthermore, having the Worthing-born man as a back-up player for both positions would be a wise idea, on a personal note, Reed still has a lot to offer the club providing he is not loaned out again before the end of the current window, as he possesses a solid defensive and technical side to his game as stated by WhoScored.com, and is only likely to get better providing he’s given his chance.
To add, with Mario Lemina constantly being linked away to Manchester City and West Ham, and the possibilities of injuries very likely due to a hectic schedule around Christmas, there should be a confidence within the squad and from the fans to see Reed be able to plug the gaps and also raise the competition amongst the squad.
With the former Norwich-loanee being a natural holding midfielder it would also eliminate any chance weakness within the squad depth, and it would also mean that Southampton are keeping a hold of a player that possesses great potential – just needing the game time to help him reach that level.