Southampton manager Russell Martin believes the club have made a really good appointment ahead of the new season.
Southampton are looking forward to a Premier League return after securing promotion via the Championship play-offs at the first attempt.
That has seen a number of players brought in to bolster the ranks ahead of the campaign, including Adam Lallana, Ronnie Edwards and Yukinari Sugawara.
It is not just on the pitch that Southampton have welcomed new arrivals, though, with the club appointing a new under-21 manager following the departure of Adam Asghar earlier this summer.
That man is Simon Rusk and Russell Martin has spoken on the new youth coach after the oversaw his first game in Saturday’s under-21 friendly against AFC Totton.
Russell Martin believes Simon Rusk one of the country’s ‘top developers’
Rusk was victorious in his first game overseeing the under-21 side, beating Totton 3-2.
However, the result does not really matter – particularly in the first game of pre-season – but Rusk’s priority will be helping Southampton’s talented youngsters develop to be ready for first-team football.
Rusk help a similar role at Brighton between 2015 and 2021, with the likes of Ben White and Solly March notable graduates from his under-23 side at the Seagulls showing he has a record of preparing young players for the top level.
Most recently, Rusk had a short stint as the England under-19 manager before joining Nottingham Forest as a specialist set-piece coach last season.
Now, the 42-year-old is tasked with handling the development of Southampton’s next generation of talent and Martin believes he is the perfect man for the job.
Martin said after the Totton friendly at which he was present: “We have some really talented young players. In Simon Rusk, we have one of the top developers in the country.
“He did a brilliant job at Brighton for a long time in a similar role. It’s a really good group of players.”
Rusk could help Southampton improve academy presence in first-team
Southampton are renowned for their academy, with the likes of Matt Le Tissier, Alan Shearer, Gareth Bale and Luke Shaw all graduates.
However, more recently there have been few players make the progression from the youth set-up to the first-team to become a regular.
Some of that may owe to Southampton’s decision to recruit young talents from England’s elite academies by providing a first-team pathway, with the likes of Romeo Lavia and Tino Livramento evidence of the success of this approach.
Will Smallbone is the only recent academy graduate who is a regular in the Saints side and the club have seen a number of their young talents leave the club in recent seasons, with Alejandro Gomes Rodriguez’ imminent move to Lyon set to be the latest.
Therefore, it will be down to Rusk to increase the amount of players who manage to crack the first-team in the coming seasons and Martin clearly thinks he is the right man to do just that.