After arriving in English football with critical acclaim, Will Still’s first few matches in charge of Southampton have been rather indifferent. The Saints sit in 10th place in the Championship, having won one, drawn one and lost one of their opening three games.
Perhaps this is because the Belgian manager has been unable to fully mould his squad in the way that he would like. Only three players have arrived at St. Mary’s thus far, though the Saints look set to make a high-profile fourth addition of the summer from West Bromwich Albion.
Southampton Agree Deal To Sign Tom Fellows
According to Gregg Evans, Southampton have agreed a deal with West Brom to sign winger Tom Fellows for a fee of around £10 million.
The deal should be seen as somewhat of a coup for the Saints, as Darren Witcoop has reported that Premier League sides, mainly Everton, have shown interest in the 22-year-old this summer.
Fellows is a product of the West Brom academy, having made his first team debut for the Baggies in the 2021/22 season.
After eight fairly brief appearances, he went on loan to Crawley Town during the following campaign. Fellows had a reasonably solid campaign in the third tier, playing 40 times for the Red Devils, but failing to score a goal.
West Brom decided to reintegrate him into the first team fold in the 2023/24 season, and he began to impress. Featuring largely from the bench in the league, the Englishman scored four goals and created three assists for the Baggies.
Last campaign, Fellows thrived despite West Brom having a poor season that saw them have four different managers. The now 22-year-old was one of the most dangerous attacking players in the second tier, making 14 assists as well as scoring four goals in 45 league games. This saw him get named as the Baggies’ Young Player of the Season.
The Solihull-born man finished the 2024/25 campaign with the joint-most assists in the Championship. He also created more chances than 93.8% of Championship wingers and completed more dribbles than 84.5% of his peers.
During the summer, Fellows was called into Lee Carsley’s England under-21 squad, which won the European Championships in Slovakia.
How Could Southampton Utilise Fellows?
The youngster is incredibly versatile, as he could easily be used as a winger or wing-back down either flank. This is an obvious area for improvement in the Saints‘ squad.
Yukinari Sugawara, who started Southampton’s first two games at right wing-back, has moved to Werder Bremen on loan. This has meant that Ryan Fraser has started the last two games at wing-back. Fellows should be able to offer more creativity and energy than the Scotsman, given that he is seemingly past his prime.
He will have to compete with new signing Mads Roerslev for that position, but there may also be a spot up for grabs on the opposite flank as Welington has recently picked up an injury. Fellows would be competing with Ryan Manning, who has proved his quality in the Championship, but not the Premier League.
Additionally, Fellows’ creativity could be utilised from a more advanced role, meaning he will certainly add value to Southampton’s side.
In the long run, he may also be able to be sold for a healthy profit.