Will Still Appears To Have Decided Loanee Has No Future At St Mary's Tuesday, 14th Oct 2025 09:25 Saints made a raft of signing not just in the summer window but in the final week, but none of those late signings appear to have impressed Will Still so far and that has let to speculation that one of them has no future at the club. In the final week or so of the transfer window Southampton brought in 7 new signings, one of them, goalkeeper George Long on loan from Norwich appears to have come to cover the 3rd choice spot, but the rest came in with expectations that they would be challenging for first team spots, Finn Azaz, Tom Fellows, Caspar Jander, Mads Roerslev, Leo Scienza & Elias Jelert were all experienced players who Saints fans hoped would plug the gaps in the squad.
So eyebrows were raised in our last game at Derby County when 4 of that half dozen were only on the bench at Pride Park, indeed when you also consider that a 7th summer signing Damion Downs was also names as a substitute, it perhaps rang alarm bells about who had the final say on these signings. To be fair Tom Fellows who came on after 30 minutes for the injured Ross Stewart, has looked good since arriving from West Brom, but this does not seem to be a view that Will Still shares with the supporters. Whilst it is early days on most of the signings and their failure to make an impact could be as much down to Still's continual chopping and changing of the team both in starting line ups and also substitutions, the media is speculating that one of those signings Elias Jelert does not have a future under Will Still at the club. footballleagueworld,co,uk are one of those outlets and they are saying that sources in Turkey from where Jelert arrived on loan from Galatasaray are claiming that the Dane's career at St Mary's is as good as over before its started. In truth Jelert was a strange signing, a right back signed just after Still had signed a right back from Brentford in Mads Roerslev and with other players able to cover this position including the likes of Jack Stephens, Taylor Harwood-Bellis and the current incumbent in the last few games Ronnie Edwards, adding Jelert to the squad seemed odd, unless he was truly a quality player available cheaply.
First impressions don't seem back that up, although in fairness 7 minutes in the debacle at Hull City & 4 minutes against Middlesbrough are not enough to judge him on, his only other action has been 88 minutes in the Carabao Cup at Liverpool, all of these games have been played at left back. A lack of height in what is a physical division against teams who like to pump the balls into the box was another clue that he might not be the player for the task ahead, full backs are generally small, but when he came on at Hull he looked a lot more diminutive than the man he replaced in Ryan Manning. footballleagueworld,co,uk go on to say that those close to Galatasaray in Turkey claim that Southampton have paid £260,000 in the form of a loan fee for the season and also have a £7.4 million option to convert it into a permanent move at the end of the season. They also report that Saints will be covering his wages in full, perhaps £30k per week as part of the deal. On the face of it, that looks good business for a player who has top flight experience in both Denmark & Turkey and also had broken into the Danish international team. But there were warning signs, although injury had interrupted his season, in the second half of the season he was only used as a substitute. The Turkish media who seem to being briefed on the situation make the bold claim that Will Still & Southampton have already made their mind up that Jelert is surplus to requirements and they will not be exercising the option to buy and have already made that feeling known to Galatasaray. That is perhaps in the hope that the Turkish club will agree to the loan being terminated in January, that though is unlikely to happen unless they can sell the player and that is perhaps why Saints would have got in touch, to try and put the player in the shop window. To be blunt Jelert has not been impressive so far, but 11 minutes in the Championship is not enough to judge a player. The case for the defence would also argue that Jelert is far from the only player who is failing to impress under Will Still, that he has been no worse than most of his team mates, they would pose the question why so many players are failing to shine under Still, some of them players who have been excellent in the Championship previously.
The likes of Taylor Harwood-Bellis, Flynn Downes, Joe Aribo & Sam Edozie were stalwarts of the last promotion campaign in this division, yet can't get in the starting line up at present, likewise Tom Fellows & Finn Azaz have built impressive CV's in the Championship and both were on the bench at Derby. Even players who have impressed when in the starting XI such as Jay Robinson, Ryan Fraser & Cameron Archer, have found themselves chopped and changed and the same could be said about Adam Armstrong who until recently was himself in and out of the side, but has shown what he can do when getting a run in the side. I have said before that Will Still's problem is he has too many players and doesn't know who his best options are, it is easier to try someone else than keep faith and hope that the player will play his way into form. This is not a bad squad, it is just being badly managed at present and that is becoming more and more apparent, Will Still is a good coach, but he is learning his trade at management. In the meantime Elias Jelert's future is far from certain at St Mary's, he has not been impressive, but then again 11 minutes was not enough either to say he was awful either, but if these reports are right, Will Still has already made his mind up. All Photos Via Reuters Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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