Jan Bednarek’s performances for Southampton often go under the radar, but he remains a real prospect who could grow with the club.
Having joined Saints from Lech Poznan for around £5m back in the summer of 2017, it took the Poland international a while to get himself into the starting line-up.
He is a regular under Ralph Hasenhuttl now though and this has continued into the 2019/20 campaign.
Before the Coronavirus halted the Premier League this year, he had featured in 27 top-flight games for Saints and had spent 2,428 minutes on the field of play.
He has played with a number of partners as his manager looked for the perfect combination, and even dropped out of the starting line-up for two separate games.
His statistics go to show just how much of an asset he is to Saints and how much potential he has going into the future.
2.2 interceptions per game is the 6th highest amount of any player who has played in the Premier League this season, and he has also recorded 2 tackles per game too.
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5.9 clearances per appearance is also third highest in the league this year, whilst a value of just 1 foul per 90 is an excellent figure for a central-defender.
For context, it really is important to remember that Bednarek has a lot of his career still ahead of him.
At 24 years of age, he’s been a Premier League regular for just two years and could go on playing for over 10 seasons.
Saints haven’t had a perfect season by any means and had to overcome a tough spell – and this can be said for Bednarek too.
Premierleague.com have him with three errors leading to goals in the early part of the campaign, but some of these weren’t totally his fault if we were to look back on them.
However, a beautifully taken goal against Wolves back in January also showed he has the right touch to finish at the other end of the pitch when given the opportunity.
Saints need to fine tune their squad even more over the coming transfer windows and adding more accomplished talents around Bednarek really could see him blossom into the player he is going to become for club and indeed country.