Will Still must surely now trust £8m winger for Southampton ahead of £40k-per-week star | OneFootball

Will Still must now regularly start new signing Tom Fellows ahead of Ryan Fraser on the right-wing at Southampton.

After a hectic summer transfer window that bled immediately into the September international break, Championship sides have been able to properly take stock in this stoppage of the October break and that should now lead to a lot more clarity about how teams look moving forward – which should certainly be the case for Southampton.

Southampton head into the next stage of the campaign on the back a very disjointed and underwhelming beginning, following the appointment of former Stade de Reims and Lens boss Will Still.

The Saints, like a lot of clubs when they suffer relegation from the Premier League, had to wait until very late into the window to be able to judge their transfer business with player trading continuing at apace right until the final day.

They managed to bring in several new faces in the end with plenty being shipped out and some players that hadn’t featured not getting moves away, providing further uncertainty but at least certainty that they will be at the club until January at least.

The last month continued to be hectic with a few things still up in the air for Still but the fact is that he must now finally show some backing to the business that was done with the regular inclusion of Tom Fellows ahead of Ryan Fraser.

Will Still must now make Tom Fellows a guaranteed starter

In the midst of a very busy close to the transfer window, Southampton brought in England U21

international winger Tom Fellows from West Bromwich Albion for an initial fee believed to be in the region of £8 million.

The 22-year-old Birmingham-born attacker has been one of the starlets of the EFL for quite some time now, with no player in the Championship providing more assists than him last season.

Fellows, who was a part of Lee Carsley’s England U21 squad that defended the UEFA U21 European Championships over the summer, joined late into the window and has not yet nailed down a spot as a guaranteed starter for Will Still’s side.

However, as time goes on and things naturally now become more settled, Still must surely now deploy Fellows on the right-hand side as an automatic regular without the concern of rest, rotation or being dropped after a game or two.

Fellows has the potential to be one of the most effective attackers in the EFL and is ideally suited to the 4-2-3-1 system that Still has now seemingly fallen upon, albeit the English-Belgian coach is prone to chopping and changing the system from game to game as an arch-pragmatist.

Either way, Fellows should now be trusted to find his rhythm and form in the three behind the attacker, with Still having to learn that a title-winning side is built upon proactivity, which requires fluency and consistent patterns of play; as opposed to teams that have attempted to punch above their weight in the past, such as Reims and Lens, that focus more on nullifying their opposition and pouncing on weaknesses.

Tom Fellows has to have moved ahead of Ryan Fraser in the pecking order

It could easily be argued that Southampton’s better performers this year have been members of the old guard such as Ryan Fraser, who reportedly earns £40,000 per week according to Capology, and Adam Armstrong.

However, the chaotic and unorganised nature of Southampton’s business over the summer is naturally going to lead to a slow start for big money young players who couldn’t develop with them over the course of a pre-season.

That has certainly been the case for Finn Azaz, as well as Leo Scienza, and Fellows, but the latter in particular now surely has to be someone that can be deemed as ahead of the likes of Fraser in the pecking order.

Still is a young coach and the reason for his appointment is because his ceiling is not yet known and so Southampton have taken the gamble that it is very high and he will propel them forward.

The same therefore has to be said about Fellows, who has shown proven quality in the second-tier as well, whereas the limitations of Fraser are also well known.

Southampton’s recruitment has sought to invest in good young players but they require their coach to provide them with a consistent platform to showcase their ability, rather than coming in for a game and then being dropped to the bench for the next – and Fellows must now be given a run.