The Saints are nearing the arrival of Mason Holgate from Everton
Prospects Tino Livramento and Romeo Lavia will both be remaining in the Premier League after Southampton’s relegation by penning moves to Newcastle United and Chelsea respectively.
They will be re-accompanied in the top-flight by former-Saints stalwart James Ward-Prowse, who has recently departed for West Ham United after spending the entirety of his career in Hampshire.
The likes of Ibrahima Diallo, Mohammed Salisu, Duje Caleta-Car and Mislav Orsic have all found new clubs too, and Southampton have adopted what feels very much like a ‘quality over quantity’ strategy to replace the core group of players that have moved on.
New boss Russell Martin tapped into his connections to bring Ryan Manning to the club on a free transfer in the wake of his Swansea City departure, whereas Shea Charles and Flynn Downes both represent equally-ambitious captures at this level.
Ambition is something that Southampton have most definitely showed across the summer to lay the groundwork for their promotion goals, and they are not letting up by closing in on the loan signing of Mason Holgate from Everton.
Southampton set to sign Everton’s Mason Holgate
As per The Athletic’s David Ornstein, Southampton are primed to sign the Everton defender.
Holgate is expected to travel down from Merseyside today and undertake a medical in order to finalise what will be a season-long loan to the promotion hopefuls.
The 26-year-old is firmly upon the Goodison Park periphery and has not featured in either of Everton’s opening matchday squads against Fulham and Everton, which comes after he played just eight times in the previous campaign.
Despite this, though, his move to the south coast will be a straight loan with no option or obligation to buy.
It arrives as a rapid development, with reports elsewhere citing that complications in Southampton’s pursuit of Swansea prospect Nathan Wood have made them set their sights elsewhere.
It is believed that Martin’s side had launched a £10m bid for the young defender after seeing an initial approach rejected.
Will Everton’s Mason Holgate be a good signing for Southampton?
It may take some time for Holgate to find his feet and rhythm once again after going so long without consistent action, but once he re-acclimatizes, he should prove a smart pick-up by the Saints.
He has made just north of 120 Premier League appearances and his experience is evidently a strong point that Martin will be hoping to optimize within a relatively young squad.
Holgate is also positionally flexible and while he is predominantly a central defender, he can also operate on the right-side which presents much-needed versatility across the backline that will no doubt come in handy as the season goes on.
The ex-England youth international has even proved his worth previously at Championship level and played a key role in West Bromwich Albion’s ascent to the play-offs in the 2018/19 season during a loan stay in the West Midlands from Everton.
Make no mistake about it, Holgate could well stand out in the second-tier and Southampton may just provide him the perfect platform to rebuild his career, too.