Cast your mind back twelve months. Damion Downs turned up on the south coast for around £7m, fresh off firing FC Köln back to the Bundesliga.
The German-born USMNT striker was supposed to be one for the future. Then the future stalled.
Downs went a whole season without a Southampton goal. When he did get on the pitch, he barely made a dent.
Saints Marching pointed out he managed just one Championship start all year.
The first year went nowhere
A January loan to Hamburger SV was meant to fix things. It went nowhere.
Downs stayed goalless in the Bundesliga, and Hamburg never triggered their purchase option. So you'd forgive Saints fans for writing the lad off.
Plenty already have, mind. A blank first year, then a flat loan back home, hardly screams saviour.
Here's the thing, though. Technical director Johannes Spors didn't spend £7m on a whim, and Transfermarkt still values him around £5m.
The kid is only 22. There's a footballer in there.
At 6ft 4in he's a proper handful, a target man who can lead the line and bring runners into play. That's a profile Southampton are short of up top.
Home soil, and a point to prove
Fast forward to the 24th July. Southampton rocked up at Eintracht Braunschweig and Downs got the nod from new head coach Tonda Eckert.
He took it.
On 35 minutes, new signing Lewis Dobbin threaded Downs clean through. The striker rounded it off and beat the goalkeeper for the only goal of the night. It was a calm finish from a player with confidence renewed.
Back on German soil, in front of a home crowd, Downs looked like a man who needed that one. Romeo Akachukwu nearly grabbed a second after the break, so it wasn't a solo turn from Downs either.
Why should one pre-season goal earn a fresh look? Because momentum is a funny old thing for a young striker.
Downs has a new manager, a clean slate, and a strike partner in Dobbin who already gets how he plays. That is a lot more than he had last August.
SC Preußen Münster are up next on the 1st August, so there's another 90 minutes for Downs to build on. Nobody's promising double figures here.
But give the lad a proper run under Eckert, and Saints might yet see a return on that £7m. He's earned the chance to keep this going.
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