Whilst Russell Martin’s primary focus this summer will be incomings at Southampton he will know that departures are also needed.
Eight players have made the move to Southampton this summer, with Russell Martin looking to build a side capable of staying in the Premier League.
Of those, striker Ben Brereton Diaz is the latest, but further attacking reinforcements will be vital this month.
Despite that, £18 million striker Paul Onuachu is expected to leave for Turkey this summer and will go down as an expensive mistake as the threat of relegation in January 2023 caused Saints to sign a forward who has not scored a single goal for the club.
Another striker now looks set to follow him out the exit door.
However, this will only be temporarily, as Martin has sanctioned a loan move for a player the club hope will have a long and successful future at St Mary’s.
Russell Martin confirms Dom Ballard will leave Southampton on loan this summer
Southampton currently have some really talented young players at the club.
Sam Amo-Ameyaw and Tyler Dibling have both seized their chance in pre-season and now look set to stay with the first-team when many anticipated they would head out on loan this summer.
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Whilst that 18-year-old duo will likely remain at St Mary’s, Martin has now confirmed that fellow academy star Dom Ballard will be allowed to leave on loan to continue his development.
Martin said on Ballard: “He’s beyond under-21s football, he scores every time he plays for them. For his development and for us, he needs to go out and play football every week.”
The 19-year-old striker endured a frustrating campaign last season as his bright start on loan at League One Reading was curtailed by a Patella injury that saw him return to Southampton after three goals in ten games.
Ballard should have Southampton future following loan
Whilst injury snatching Ballard’s opportunity to get invaluable senior experience under his belt was frustrating, he showed in his brief spell a Reading that he is capable of scoring at first-team level.
The youngster has also already scored for Southampton, netting in a win over Cambridge United in his first-team debut in the Carabao Cup in 2022.
Speaking on the talented forward in October 2022, Saints’ B team coach at the time Dave Horseman was full of praise for Ballard, saying: “He adds such an energy around the place, which is just fantastic and there’s a few things we have seen tonight that we definitely have to go after for development reasons, but we forget, because he has been with the B team for so long, he is 17 years old.
“He is playing against big, strong players, but the kid loves to score goals, he is desperate to score goals, he is always in the box and because of that, he took his goal fantastically well and you expect him to score when he is in and around the box, when he starts wriggling, you expect him to score and that’s probably the biggest compliment I can pay him.”
Southampton must pick Ballard’s loan club wisely as they want to ensure he gets regular game time away from the club, but if it goes well he could return next summer ready to try and break into Martin’s squad.