Southampton: Nathan Redmond’s importance to the club

The 25-year-old comes off his best season to date in the Premier League, where he notched in six goals, and four assists for Southampton.

The Englishman was integral to the Saints staying in the English-top flight for another campaign – and was voted as Players’ and Fans’ ‘Player of the Season‘.

The recognition only slightly highlights the importance that the former Norwich City-man has to Southampton – that being the only one that makes the team tick when featured on the pitch, and in particular, under the stewardship of Ralph Hasenhuttl, Redmond has become a force to be reckoned with.

Since the arrival of Austrian manager, Redmond’s contribution has nothing short of remarkable – chipping in with an assist, his first goal involvement of the season against Arsenal in Hasenhuttl’s second game in charge, saw Saints win 3-2.

This game taking place in December, around halfway through the season. It could suggest that the English-international only flourished for the later part of the season after the introduction of a new manager.

However that line of thought is a lot further from the truth, of course Hasenhuttl has helped push Redmond onto becoming a player of real quality – but there is a lot more to it than that.

So what does this have to do with the winger’s fortunes for the upcoming Premier League season?

For one, Redmond had stated, that “the last two years have been the biggest learning curve” via The Guardian, this was back before the mentioned Arsenal game, that saw his goal involvement kick start – but it could be argued that he was consistent all of last season.

The player also stated, via the same article, that “spending last summer preparing in Los Angeles worked wonders not only for his physical condition but also his mental health” – this statement suggest the work that Redmond has put into himself have paid off.

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To add to this, a proper pre-season under an assured manager in Ralph Hasenhuttl will only do wonders for the former Birmingham City star – the players’ willingness to learn, adapt and mentality to improve year on year could see him become a real force to be reckoned with.

With this, the versatility of the 5ft8 star being able to play in any attacking position means that he will be able to find a place with ease in Hasenhuttl’s high-press system. This will only give Redmond more of an opportunity to have a real impact on the pitch, especially in a system that demands more bodies in goal scoring positions.

From it, we are most likely to see a much higher goal involvement return.

The winger has shown that through hardships on and off the field, he has always given his all to be at the best of his game – which is highlighted well in this video by the club.

Redmond explains how he wants do use football, “to make my family proud, make myself proud and my siblings proud, then that makes it all worth it for me”.

On a personal note, when you tie this type of motivation in with his development through self-work and sense of direction from management above – it all points to the thought of Redmond having the tools to become the spearhead of Southampton, and therefore pushing the club back to the dizzying heights of a top-ten, potentially top eight Premier League finish.

This might seem optimistic, but with the player on the edge of his peak years, and with the experience that he has gained over the past two to three seasons – you can only see Redmond as a player on the up.