Whilst Southampton have whimpered towards relegation to the Championship, next season could be more about those who those who are already at the club. but have played little part in this season and two of those [layers could be crucial.

A large part of Saints roster of players have played little part in this woeful season for several different reasons and the good news for Southampton fans is that they could all return to action next season and play a crucial part in what we hope will be a promotion battle.

Some such as Gavin Bazunu, Shea Charles, Ronnie Edwards Sam Edozie have not played a part at all in the Premier League this season mainly due to being out on loan and in Bazunu's case firstly injury and them loan.

You could also add Adam Armstrong to this trio, who although played a lot before January has spent the second half of the season at West Brom, likewise Ben Brereton Diaz who manged just a handful of appearances before being ostracised and then loaned out.

Then you have those that have been largely ignored by both Russell Martin & Ivan Juric, in this list you have Charlie Taylor, Adam Lallana, Ryan Fraser & Armel Bella-Kotchap,

Finally you have the long term injuries, Ross Stewart & Juan Larios.

That is a grand total of 13 players who have been either ostracised or injured and if you look at them all are proven at either Championship level or above, Juan Larios aside who is an undoubted talent but has barely played.

These players alone could form a formidable team in the Championship, although in fairness I would expect at least a couple of them to depart in the summer.

Gavin Bazunu in goal played a big part in the last promotion, he has his critics but a team at Championship level doesn't go 23 games unbeaten in the league if they have a dodgy goalkeeper.

In defence Ronnie Edwards is being touted as QPR's player of the season despite only being there since January & Charlie Taylor is proven at Premier League level, let alone the Championship.

Likewise Shea Charles has excelled at Sheffield Wednesday and has been linked with Premier League clubs, he could be the strong mobile player we need next season.

Ryan Fraser might be past his best in the Premier League but he and Sam Edozie both played a big part last season and could well do again next.

Finally there is the long term injured two, let's be honest it is not their fault that they keep picking up injuries and I am sure they would much rather have been playing for the past two years or so.

The good news in the past month, is that both have returned to action and so far have not been showing ill effects.

Ross Stewart returned to the first team at Spurs and continued that short cameo with over half an hour on the pitch against Aston Villa, a proven scorer at Championship level, if he has finally put his injury woes behind him then I think he could be a big asset next term.

Lastly there is Juan Larios who out of all these forgotten men is perhaps the one that is the most erased from the memory.

But those who remember his displays in the Premier League saw a genuine raw talent, if he can overcome his injuries of the past 2 1/2 years or so, then he more than any could become the big star of next season.

He has quietly been returning to action with the U21 side and at the weekend completed his first 90 minutes at any level since October 2022.

Simon Rusk know Larios well from running the U21 side at St Mary's and he had this to say to The Daily Echo.

"I've known Juan for a long time because he was in my team at Manchester City. He's a great kid and a great competitor.

"He's a talented player who's been really unlucky with injuries, but he's in a really good place now. You can see it.

"He's getting more and more confident. He's feeling more and more like himself. He's diving into tackles, throwing himself in them.

"Hopefully we can just help get him up to speed, and then hopefully he can get back up with the first team and compete to get minutes as well."

That is good to hear and the return of Larios & Ross Stewart along with the other players mentioned in this article, show those that are predicting doom & gloom for next season, that there is still life at the club.

Perhaps not to premier League standard, but we are not playing in that League last season.

The bulk of the side that played in our Promotion season in 2023/24 are still at the club, add those like Larios & Stewart who missed most of it injured, plus some of those who either joined afterwards or will arrive in the summer either utilising the loan system or permanently and we will have a very strong squad to challenge for automatic promotion.

There is a lot of negativity surrounding Southampton FC at present, some of it justified, but the future is unwritten and we should not judge our current squad on their ability to perform at Premier League level anymore, but whether they are proven in the Championship and from that perspective the bulk of our squad have done just that.

This season is almost done, we can either drag ourselves down further or we can look for the positives and look forward to the future with some optimism

All Photos Via Reuters

PatfromPoole added 10:08 - Apr 16 There is more chance of me having a threesome with Kylie and Dannii Minogue, filmed by their Mum, than of Juan Larios being the big star of next season.
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PatfromPoole added 10:37 - Apr 16 There are a couple of key players who were instrumental in getting us promoted and who we are absolutely going to have to replace:- 1. KWP - one of the best players in the Championship last year 2. David Brooks - we have singularly failed to replace him through the whole of this season. He didn't score a huge amount of goals for us, but he was a class act and was the best player on the pitch by a mile in the play-off semi against West Brom at home. The likes of James Bree and Sam Edozie are fairly solid performers in the Championship, but are not of a sufficiently high quality to make the difference between play-off chasers and league winners. So we need to recruit, and for a change, recruit well.

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Bowlercow added 11:36 - Apr 16 Before deciding on the players to keep or bring in we must appoint the new coach If Stewart stays fit him and AA (big man little man) could prove to be a formidable partnership Both have a good championship track record Larios is IMO to small to be a defender but looks quick enough to be a box to box player Will ABK pass a medical this time If so he will be gone along with Jan B So a new,preferably experienced CB will be a priority

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Frank_Xerox added 11:43 - Apr 16 Good to think positively about next season, at this stage before the summer transfer business is done at least. I think you're right, we should "have a very strong squad to challenge for automatic promotion." This just emphasizes the gulf between the best teams in the Championship and 17th in the Premier League. The plan must be to get promoted and then overhaul. The only players good enough to play in the PL in 2026/27, that we stand a chance of signing this summer will be young and unproven - the next Fernandes if we're lucky. A few like that, added to some smart loans would give us the base to rebuild from in 12 months time, if we get promoted. Building a Premier League ready squad for the Championship is never going to happen.

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kingolaf added 15:18 - Apr 16 Bazunu is not proven at Championship level. Please stop saying he is. He is garbage and moves as quickly as an OAP.
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Toussaint added 15:57 - Apr 16 We have to keep and recruit players that will keep improving if we get promoted.
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Block8 added 16:07 - Apr 16 We need a striker that can win and hold the ball like Adams used to, even in the Championship we can't have the ball keep coming back at us when trying to form attacks. We tend to forget his contribution to our promotion! Larios will probably be gone as he still has potential and is attracting interest. Edozie will have learnt from his time at Anderlecht, although he missed quite a few games with a hip injury. Edwards looked to me the most promising of all our signings and personally I would have kept him here. We have Matsuki at Goztepe, who has had a good season and hopefully can maybe swap Onuachu for Romolu from Goztepe as well? Never rated Frazer and wouldn't have re-signed him. Baz, Charles & Edwards will be like decent new signings and once we see who comes in to manage we will see who goes and work out what we need. COYR

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underweststand added 19:10 - Apr 16 Those players you mentioned (NIck) are just the overflow that Russell Martin ignored after deciding they didn't " fit his style" . Strange after his love affair with Ryan Fraser and persuading him leave his unfinished contract with Newcastle, he then totally ignored him. Can't believe that Charlie Taylor was so much worse than Manning (another RM regular) and ABK had little or no game time to show up, and rarely even making the bench. With a fit Larios, and the return of loan players like Shea Charles, Edwards and Sam Edozie we have the makings of a good Championship squad after the obvious candidates leave. I don't expect either Adam A. or BBD to stay longer term and with the likely departure of Onuachu, then we have only Archer and (a fit) Ross Stewart as a strike force (!) Definitely a need for 2 or 3 established strikers with a good goal tally behind them, or we will fail at the first hurdle.

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Monksway added 13:59 - Apr 18 I really hope Sport Republic and Johannes Spors are working hard on next season behind the scenes and not waiting for the new manager. Spors will appoint the manager and should know both the preferred style of play, those players that will be here and those that will leave to balance the cost of relegation end of contract etc. One thing that helped Saints after the last relegation was that Wilcox and Martin were clearly on the same page.

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