Southampton today confirmed that young versatile midfielder Harrison Reed would spend the next 12 months with the Championship side.
The deal was first reported a week or so ago and following that, Mark Hughes confirmed that his side were exploring options with the Football League’s loan market, presumably for players like Sam Gallagher and Reed.
The Saints have today confirmed that the latter with spend the rest of the campaign with the promoted side Blackburn, with the Rovers having returned to the Championship at the first attempt after relegation to the third tier.
Reed spent the 2017/18 campaign on loan at Norwich City and was impressive as both a centre-midfielder and as a right-back, leading many Southampton fans to believe that he may deputize for Cedric Soares at times this campaign.
One positive we can take is that in his pre-match presser last week, Hughes said that if players were loaned out, the club would include return clauses which would allow those away from the team to re-join in January if they were needed.
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Reed was seen by many supporters as the best back-up to Cedric Soares after the club released Jeremy Pied. The midfielders’ all-rounded game meant he appeared more natural going forward than the likes of Jan Bednarek or Jack Stephens, but clearly Hughes felt differently.
Loaning the 23-year-old to the second tier will give him another year of really valuable experience however – his game took leaps and bounds last season as he made 39 league appearances for the Canaries. Another campaign tallying up that many games and he could just be ready for regular Premier League football.
With Steven Davis aging and struggling for fitness, he could possibly leave the club at the end of the season to move to a less competitive league – after all he was strongly linked with a return to Rangers this summer.
With Hojbjerg, Romeu and Lemina all vying for first-team places Southampton may not be too keen to splash the cash if Davis leaves next year, at which point a returning and more experienced Harrison Reed could fill that spot perfectly.
The academy graduate will turn 24 over the course of this Championship season meaning it’s fair to say this year is do or die for the midfielder. He’s no longer going to be considered ‘one for the future’ and needs to prove over this year he can be a first-team player, else he may be moved on permanently.