Who will lead the line for Southampton next season?
With Jay Rodriguez departing Southampton to sign for West Bromwich Albion last weekend, new manager Mauricio Pellegrino will be taking a long, hard look at his frontline options.
Despite their eighth-placed finish, only five teams scored fewer Premier League goals than the Saints last term, suggesting that Pellegrino has work to do to sharpen his troops’ teeth.
Sassuolo’s Gregoire Defrel and Caen starlet Yann Karamoh have both been linked with a move to St Mary’s but do Southampton already possess the players capable of plundering a plethora of goals next term?
We’ve taken a look at the candidates vying to lead the line.
Manolo Gabbiadini
For a short while, Italian frontman Manolo Gabbiadini looked like one of the signings of the season, such was his impact upon arrival from Serie A in January.
(Catherine Ivill – AMA/Getty Images)
After departing Napoli to join Southampton for a fee reported to be in the region of £15 million, the Italian notched six times in his first four appearances in a red and white shirt, including a brace in the Saints’ EFL Cup final defeat to Manchester United at Wembley.
The goals did dry up for Gabbiadini as he failed to score in his last eight run-outs of the season but having already shown a knack for deft, intelligent movement and a sharp finishing ability, the ex-Sampdoria and Atalanta man will surely be first-choice under Pellegrino in August.
Charlie Austin
Charlie Austin was supposed to pick up where he left off on his return to the south coast in January 2016, but his Southampton career has still yet to truly catch fire.
(Matthew Lewis/Getty Images)
He scored all those goals for non-league Poole Town many moons ago and, having returned to the Premier League in January 2016, six months after his impressive 18-goal top-flight campaign for Queens Park Rangers, the striker, who turned 27 today, has been hampered by injury problems.
He still managed to find the net nine times last season before a shoulder injury sidelined him for four months.
Austin, who was called up by England in 2015, has proved he belongs in the Premier League but can he stay fit enough to ram the point home?
Shane Long
Now heading into his fourth season at St Mary’s, pacy Republic of Ireland striker Shane Long needs to be ready to fight tooth and nail for a starting spot.
(Julian Finney/Getty Images)
Now 30 years old, Long was unable to build on his fine 2015-16 campaign, during which he scored 13 times for Southampton, last term as he found himself repeatedly rotated.
Long only managed five goals in all competitions and has a real scrap on his hands to convince Pellegrino that the natural order of last season should be re-jigged.
Sam Gallagher
Despite seemingly breaking into the Southampton first-team aeons ago, Sam Gallagher is still only 21 and he arrived back for pre-season with a fine season in the Championship under his belt.
(Jan Kruger/Getty Images
He was unable to prevent them from suffering relegation to League One but Gallagher scored 12 times during a loan spell at Blackburn Rovers.
Last week, he penned a new four-year contract with the Saints and while Birmingham City are credited with an interest in bringing him back to the second tier for another loan spell, Gallagher may just be ready to step up to the plate and add to the 18 Premier League appearances he racked up in the 2013-14 season.
