Now is the time for leaders at Southampton to stand up and be counted.
While reports continue to suggest that there will be a mass exodus from St. Mary's this summer, there will be a few select players who will stick by the club, even with the Spygate adversity swallowing them whole.
This is also an apt time for those who have struggled on the South Coast previously to prove their worth, with one reserve member of the squad already pledging his defiant allegiance to the Saints, ahead of next season...
Southampton will need players to step up next season
If the likes of Leo Scienza and Finn Azaz do leave during the approaching summer transfer window, Samuel Edozie has a big chance to be Southampton's bright spark in the attacking areas.
He showed flashes of his brilliance last season, when collecting two assists in Championship action from only starts, and he will be welcomed with open arms into the first-team picture, based on his recent social media comments about how "ready" he is to be a Southampton player next season, as the Saints build again from the rubble of Spygate.
The time could be right for Cameron Archer to be pushed back into the first-team fold, as well, as several players - who could have been discarded this summer if promotion was reached - stake a claim for increased first team minutes.
Alongside those coming in from the cold, there are leaders who have been in and around the camp for a long while now who will be depended on even more, with all the unrest currently happening.
In particular, Southampton could do a lot worse than moulding their team around Jack Stephens next season, with the 32-year-old a loyal servant of the club through thick and thin.
Why Stephens could be the ideal player to build around
Stephens has now lined up for the Saints for a mammoth 232 appearances, having first made strides into the Southampton first-team picture all the way back during the 2016/17 season, when the South Coast side were a Premier League staple.
Since then, he has been a consistent, diligent first-team performer whenever he's been thrown into action, with Tonda Eckert utilising him here and there this season just gone, when he needed experience.
He would make 30 starts last campaign in the Championship, and there were no cobwebs visible, with two goals even scored from the centre-back positions.
Stephens' career numbers at Southampton:
Club | Games | Goals | Assists |
|---|---|---|---|
Southampton | 232 | 9 | 6 |
Averaging a 91% pass accuracy, too, across those 30 starts, he is a man born for the pressurised situation, and with faces such as Taylor Harwood-Bellis surely set to depart, he could be the trusty centre-back the Saints depend on at the back, to lift the club from the doldrums.
A previous promotion winner with the South Coast giants, as well, he would thrive with the responsibility of leading his team out week in week out to try and get them back to their best again, having been previously noted as a "leader" by his ex-Saints boss, Russell Martin.
He isn't a flashy new toy, but he could be just the stablising figure Southampton need, as they enter into the unknown next season in the Championship, four points down from the get-go.
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