Southampton transfer action involving West Ham can be a promotion-winning decision | OneFootball

Southampton are reaping the rewards from rejecting a move from West Ham United for defender Taylor Harwood-Bellis.

Southampton have propelled themselves into an excellent position to potentially pinch second spot and automatic promotion back to the Premier League at the first attempt.

After a woeful start to the campaign that led to the departure of Will Still, Saints have transformed themselves into an extremely impressive outfit that has flown up the table.

From the bottom-half as recently as mid-January to becoming a play-off contender in the spring and now, with just a few games to go, pushing for the top two.

Southampton’s 3-0 hammering of Blackburn Rovers the other day extended their current winning streak to seven matches across all competitions and means they are unbeaten in 18 matches.

Plenty of players have made a major impact in that run of form but one in particular was the subject of Premier League interest just a few months ago – and Saints made the brave, bold but ultimately correct call to keep hold of key man, Taylor Harwood-Bellis.

Southampton made the right call on West Ham bid for Taylor Harwood-Bellis

Following their relegation from the Premier League in fairly humiliating circumstances last season, former Burnley man Taylor Harwood-Bellis was one of many players expected to depart St Mary’s.

Plenty of players did eventually leave the south coast outfit for hefty fees, such as Mateus Fernandes and Tyler Dibling to West Ham United and Everton respectively.

However, despite reported interest from Portuguese giants Porto, Southampton managed to keep hold of Harwood-Bellis for at least a few months.

The winter then came and West Ham again sought to raid Saints as the relegation-battling Irons came in for Harwood-Bellis as they looked for defensive reinforcements under the management of Nuno Espirito Santo.

The clearly highly-rated Harwood-Bellis, viewed as a potential saviour from Premier League relegation for the Hammers, eventually stayed put at Saints.

There may have been temptation to again cash in, as they did so often last summer, especially with their league position seemingly drifting towards a mid-table finish in the second-half of the campaign.

Their decision to instead keep hold of the now 24-year-old centre-back has proven to be the right one as he helps lay a brilliant platform for Southampton to attack from, both literally on the pitch and figuratively in the table.

Taylor Harwood-Bellis is helping drive Southampton to the Premier League

That interest from the Premier League, as well as a club the size of Porto, indicates the pedigree and quality of Harwood-Bellis – and he is beginning to show just how good he is.

Having been capped by England, the Manchester City academy graduate will be attempting to get back into the national team reckoning next season and being a key figure in this Southampton side will do him no harm.

It was suggested that Harwood-Bellis was even open to the move in January but he will be extremely pleased to have stayed put now, especially as the Saints march on.

His form since his move didn’t come to fruition has been excellent, even chipping in with a couple of crucial goals of late against Sheffield Wednesday and Derby County; the latter being a winner to complete a turnaround against a Rams side threatening to move above Saints in the table.

Southampton have been excellent defensively throughout their unbeaten run, with Harwood-Bellis playing all 90 minutes in all of those games.

As dependable as ever in terms of minutes played, Harwood-Bellis, even with the evolution in the style to Tonda Eckert, remains the metronome at the heart of Southampton with the most accurate passes per 90 of any Saints player.

Defensively, he has the most defensive contributions per 90 of any Southampton player with ten per 90 – which is impressive for a side that tend to dominate possession.

Southampton resisted the temptation to cash in and they are reaping the rewards of their decision as they push back towards the Premier League with Harwood-Bellis once again fundamental to their efforts.