£7m Southampton Flop Needs to Leave With Russell Martin
Southampton have been stuck at the bottom of the Premier League standings since being promoted from the EFL Championship last season, with only four points from their first 11 games, one win, and four points outside of safety.
As a result, Saints manager Russell Martin is the most likely candidate to be fired next, following Erik ten Hag at Manchester United.
However, while the manager is held accountable for the club’s disastrous start to the 2024/25 season, some of his players have also failed to meet, if not exceed, expectations, and despite only arriving in the summer transfer window, striker Ben Brereton Diaz’s performances have been so poor that there is a case to be made that he should leave the club soon as well.
Brereton Diaz Has Been a Huge Disappointment for the Saints
The Chilean striker has not yet netted for his new club
Southampton paid Villarreal £6.5 million for the Chilean striker’s services after he spent last season with the Spanish club, where he was loaned out to Sheffield United and scored six times in 14 appearances. This was one of many deals they made to strengthen their squad ahead of the Premier League season.
In reality, Daily Echo reporter George Rees-Julian, via BBC Sport, stated back in the summer when the Saints finalized the transfer that he was the “closest Southampton can get” to a ‘experienced’ Premier League striker within their budget.
I think he’s a really good get. We knew they were in the market for a striker when it became clear Che Adams wasn’t going to stay. They were in for Liam Delap, but he went to Ipswich instead, and they were going to pay around £15-20m for him. They’ve managed to get Ben Brereton Diaz instead for half the price of that.
They have got a more experienced player who has played in the Premier League before… Diaz is still only 25. If you look at the profile of player he is, he’s 6ft 1in, he’s decent enough in the air, he can run in behind. He also likes to play out on the left and drifts in to meet some crosses to score goals or just smashes them in or runs through on goal.
However, despite averaging 2.44 shots per 90 minutes and hitting the target only 9.1 percent of the time, the 25-year-old has yet to contribute a single goal in his 457 minutes with the club.
This is a far cry from his days with Blackburn Rovers in the Championship, where he scored 47 goals and assisted 15 times in 177 appearances, averaging only 2.67 shooting attempts per 90 minutes. During his time at Blackburn, he also teamed Saints forward Adam Armstrong in attack, where the two developed a solid bond.
Ben Brereton Diaz’s Statistics Comparison
Statistic
Southampton
Blackburn Rovers
Appearances
9
177
Minutes Played
457
11,437
Goals/Assists
0/0
47/15
Shots Per 90
2.44
2.67
Shots on Target Per 90
0.22
1.05
Pass Completion Rate (%)
78.3
74.1
Unfortunately, neither has really hit the ground running this season, with Armstrong scoring only twice in ten appearances in all competitions, while Brereton Diaz’s full drop-off has been the main issue.
While he has only been at the club for a few months, his time there has not gone well, but at 25 years old, he still has time to find his feet, though he may be better suited elsewhere.
All statistics from TransferMarkt and FBRef are current as of November 17, 2024.
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