With Kyle Walker Peters due to leave the club in July at the end of his contract, the big question is who will replace him ! There are several options still at the club, but the answer may well lay elsewhere.

When KWP departs it will leave a big gap in the Southampton team, for the past 5 years he was a stalwart in the side and whilst he was sometimes prone to the odd error defensively and he was far from alone in that respect, his surging runs forward will be the most difficult thing to replace.

He leaves with the best wishes of most Saints supporters and with 182 League games for the club including last season's play offs and 20 in Cup competitions, plus being capped for England whilst at St Mary's, he deserves to be referred to as a Southampton legend.

If we replace from within, then we have Yuri Sugawara who is in a similar vein to KWP in the fact that going forward he looks good, but defensively is a little less impressive, however that was the Premier League and in the Championship he could well be the answer.

There is also James Bree who is perhaps the polar opposite, big and strong defensively, but not so good going forward.

Either could do a job for Southampton next season and with Will Still known to adapt his side to suit the opposition, it could well be that he may feel that with both in his squad he has right back covered.

But according to Daily Echo Saints are looking at a replacement for the departing Walker Peters.

They say that man is Sturm Graz's Max Johnston.

That will be a name that most Southampton fans will not be familiar with unless they are also Scotland supporters as Johnston recently made his debut for the full Scotland side back in March.

Johnston has had a good season with the Austrian club, he has just won his second Austrian Bundesliga title and although not 22 until December, he has extensive experience both in Scotland where he has played in the Premiership for his previous club Motherwell and Sturm Graz where he has become a regular starter this season and weighed in with 1 goal and 5 assists in the League and also played in the Champions League.

At the age of only 21 he has 131 games under his belt, so has that blend of experience and youth.

It's reported that Southampton have been watching Johnston, but they face competition from Atalanta, Augsburg and Hamburg for the player who is valued at around £3 million.

He has two years left on his contract and does not seem to be in a hurry to leave being quoted as saying :

“For me, just now, I’m contracted in Austria for another two years. I’m looking forward to going back for pre-season, and we will see where it takes me.”

On the face of it, this seems to be the type of signing that Saints could be looking for this season, it is not about signing Premier League quality players, but those who are above Championship level and have the potential to succeed in the Premier League.

That won't please some Saints supporters who say we should already be building a side that can compete in the Premier League.

But we have to be realistic, persuading proven Premier League quality to join a Championship club isn't going to be easy and will be costly, we have to build a squad to win promotion again, as we did in 2023/24 and then we have to build on that and not repeat the mistakes of the season just gone where we had a manager who ran his own agenda and not one that benefited the club.

All Photos Via Reuters

Ali_Diarea added 10:28 - May 30 Don’t buy another average full-back, we need to learn the lessons from the last two seasons. We need to move away from having a bloated squad of players who are below-par for the prem (to put it kindly) and either buy real quality, use what we have, or use the loan market.
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davidargyll added 13:26 - May 30 Am I alone in thinking that KWP may have been a good servant for the Saints. But a legend? I don’t think so. Yes, not unlike Tyler Dibling, when their name first appeared on the teamsheet, some bursting runs had everybody cheering from the roof tops. But that was a good few years ago and I can barely remember a game in the last couple when KWP really impressed - and Dibling similarly. Now Inam well aware that the style of play of Russell Martin actively discouraged bursts forward because that could involve losing the ball. But all the same, though he will go with my good wishes, I sincerely hope that any replacement is reminiscent of the KWP of four or five years ago rather than more recently.

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Bowlercow added 13:50 - May 30 Suguwara and Bree are adequate for a season in the Championship but if we are looking good come Jan then buy a prem full back. Keep the better of those two as a squad played
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Block8 added 16:51 - May 30 Lets strengthen where we really need to, and then look at the peripheral!
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underweststand added 16:56 - May 30 Primarily we want a defender.. who can defend, but so often there is talk of having good wingbacks, and KWP was as good an attacking winger as you could find, but when tracking back.... to do the FB's job, he was often lacking when coming up against a speedy winger. For someone who is " light of stature" he was responsible for several goals when trying to mark taller strikers at the far post when the opposition had corners. Sugawara was good early season, showing attacking prowess and centering, but he too was lacking somewhat against stronger wingers, and sadly some of his errors were costly, but it was his first season in the Prem. and he wasn't alone in making mistakes. Bree has a long career as a defender, and DAJFU in that role, but rarely got into the final third - if that is what we expected, yet managed two very respectable goals in Cup games. It's hard to judge Charlie Taylor on so few apps. but he looked good at the back against Arsenal and likewise is a defender who can defend, with so much chopping and changing few defenders at the back ever managed to show their best.

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