26-year-old star returns to starting lineup after nearly joining Southampton

Recently, 31-year-old in-form Ajax playmaker Davy Klaassen admitted that he couldn't have returned to his former club if Southampton's 22-year-old left-winger Kamaldeen Sulemana had joined the Eredivisie side on a loan move in the transfer window. Alongside Sulemana, Samuel Edozie's loan move to Scottish side Rangers wasn't completed either and the former Manchester City academy graduate agreed to join Belgian side Anderlecht on a season long loan move instead.

Alongside these two failed transfer moves in terms of outgoings, Southampton also had another signing called-off during the summer transfer window. The player is 26-year-old Feyenoord goalkeeper Justin Bijlow, whose move to the St. Mary's Stadium didn't materialise due to some injury issues despite the clubs reaching an agreement over a loan with a buy option transfer move.

26-year-old star returns to starting lineup after nearly joining Southampton

Southampton's need to sign a new goalkeeper stems from their back-to-back 1-0 defeats against Newcastle United and Nottingham Forest in the beginning of the season. The Saints created a lot of good chances in these two matches and dominated the ball possession as well, but a few defensive mistakes kept them from taking any points from these two fixtures.

Hence, Russell Martin's side entered into transfer talks with Eredivisie side Feyenoord to sign 26-year-old Netherlands international Justin Bijlow as their long-term goalkeeper. Bijlow kept an impressive twelve clean-sheets in the 2022/23 league season, and led Feyenoord to win their first league title after six years.

Justin Bijlow arrived to the St. Mary's Stadium in order to complete his move to Southampton, but the Saints weren't convinced with his previous injury issues. Thus, Southampton decided to sign Arsenal star Aaron Ramsdale instead but Bijlow was still linked with a move to join another Premier League club in the final week of the summer transfer window.

However, the 26-year-old stayed at Feyenoord but manager Brian Priske preferred Timon Wellenreuther over Bijlow in the beginning of the season. While Timon helped Feyenoord to win the Cup final on penalties, he conceded four first-half goals in a massive 4-0 Champions League defeat against Leverkusen.

That included an own-goal as well, and the recent 2-0 league defeat against Ajax has led manager Priske to consider re-integrating Justin Bijlow in the first-team, saying,

"Justin will be in goal tomorrow. It is an evaluation of Timon and Justin’s performance."

- Brian Priske

After a few months of speculations surrounding his Feyenoord future, Bijlow now looks highly likely to establish himself as a regular starter again in Priske's squad. Meanwhile, Aaron Ramsdale is yet to keep his first clean-sheet at Southampton and would want to display a masterclass goalkeeping performance as compared to his international teammate Jordan Pickford, who will start for Everton in the upcoming match.