Exclusive: Ross Stewart offered advice on Southampton situation - "The problem he's had" | OneFootball

Sky Sports pundit Lee Hendrie spoke exclusively to Football League World about Ross Stewart's current situation at Southampton

Southampton have made an indifferent start to the 2025/26 Championship campaign, in which they are plotting an immediate Premier League return under the tuition of new head coach Will Still.

The Saints, who finished the previous season as one of the worst sides in Premier League history, have returned to life in the Championship in a mixed manner, winning once, drawing twice and losing at home to Stoke City across their opening four second-tier encounters.

All eyes, of course, are on next Sunday's south coast derby showdown with Portsmouth, which will represent the first league meeting between the two bitter rivals in more than 13 years.

And some players, it must be said, are yet to really get going at Southampton this term. It has been a somewhat frustrating start for Ross Stewart, who has played just 38 minutes of Championship football across three matches and is now perhaps fourth-choice in Still's pecking order behind £7 million summer signing Damion Downs, Adam Armstrong and Cameron Archer.

The Scotsman, signed from Sunderland in a reported deadline day deal totaling £10 million back in September 2023, has been dealt wretched injury luck in recent years. He featured on only four occasions in his debut campaign as Southampton achieved promotion back to the Premier League under Russell Martin, and started just four top-flight games last time out - though he did find the back of the net against Mikel Arteta's Arsenal on the final day.

Stewart put pen to paper on a three-year deal to join from Sunderland, and the striker has now entered the final twelve months of his current deal with the club, meaning his fortunes will have to experience some form of uptick if he intends on staying on.

Lee Hendrie offers advice to Southampton's Ross Stewart

Speaking exclusively to Football League World, Sky Sports pundit and former Aston Villa midfielder has advised Stewart to bide his time, fight for his place and hope for more regular minutes on the south coast instead of pining for a move elsewhere.

Indeed, Hendrie believes that the 29-year-old will have to be patient as he fights his way into Still's thinking after missing so many games through injury.

"Ross Stewart is a very, very good player, and the problem he's had is he's had a lot of time where he's had to sit and watch, obviously down to injuries," Hendrie explained to FLW.

"So now, he's got to get in the manager's eye, he's got to start getting back to what we saw when he was at Sunderland, where he got his move.

"I always felt he could make that step up, there was quality all over him. But unfortunately, he's been injury-bound and hasn't been able to get back to that calibre of player.

"It's down to him to force that situation and get himself back in the loop of things. The only way he does that is by biding his time and getting himself some game-time, I think being around better players is going to suit him as well.

"I think he's a great player, but he's going to have to be patient in his approach after being out for some time."

Ross Stewart has to prove himself in more than one way at Southampton

With his contract set to expire next summer, Stewart is facing two key calls of duty in what he must prove to Southampton in order to win over the club's faith and earn himself an extended stay.

The first of those, of course, is that he can prove a prolific scorer of goals, which he most certainly was at Sunderland, but through little fault of his own, he has not been able to translate such prowess to St Mary's Stadium.

Overarchingly, Stewart needs to prove that he can stay fit and match-ready for a sustained period of time. The two-cap Scottish international has, rather astonishingly, missed more than 100 fixtures through injury in the last three years, and while he cannot be knocked for that, he will be keeping his fingers firmly crossed for a clean bill of health in what is now his third - and potentially final - season with Southampton.