Pellegrino must work to repair Southampton’s model

Saints say the profitable transfer strategy is still sound but the manager faces a slump in form

Ralph Krueger, the Southampton chairman, hinted at it last week when he talked about the “cloud” under which the club had found themselves while the protracted departure of Virgil van Dijk dragged on in the first half of the season, a consequence of a stand they felt they had to take in the summer.

Having sold Van Dijk, the Premier League’s model trading club are £75 million better off, ending a period Krueger said threw them “emotionally off balance”, but they also have to address a league position that is growing worrying.

The visit to Watford today is pivotal for Mauricio Pellegrino and his team, who are outside the relegation zone on goal difference and have not won in the league since November.

The Van Dijk saga has dominated the club since the arrival of Pellegrino, who initially moved the player out of the first-team squad before he was reintroduced and then sold this month, when Liverpool met Southampton’s asking price. Having stood firm in the summer, the club now acknowledge they underestimated the effect keeping Van Dijk would have on a squad who have been built on extracting maximum commitment from players.

No one is pointing the finger at any bad behaviour by Van Dijk, simply that his presence after the stand-off made it more difficult for Pellegrino to generate the spirit that has helped Saints to top-10 finishes for four consecutive seasons. Their model of trading has served them well under the years when owned by the Liebherrs and it has the full backing of new Chinese majority shareholder Gao Jisheng, but five defeats and four draws since the last league win cannot be ignored.

Pellegrino is under scrutiny. There were enough chances in home draws against Arsenal and Huddersfield Town to ensure wins, and two goals at St Mary’s for Crystal Palace in the last 20 minutes on Jan 2 meant another three points lost. Claude Puel, the former manager, reached an EFL Cup final this time last year and yet, by May, there was a mood that the players would not progress under the Frenchman, who is now thriving at Leicester City.

With Pellegrino, there is not the disconnect between players and manager that was felt so strongly at the end of the Puel era and, for the time being, it is that bond which gives the club most reason for optimism. Even so, Pellegrino is under pressure to get results and acknowledged that the Watford game could dictate his future.

“It is part of our job,” he said. “The biggest risk in football is to work in football. We need results. Results are everything.”

The Argentine ticked the boxes

The club now acknowledge they underestimated the effect keeping Van Dijk would have

of Southampton’s rigorous criteria for a manager, although he has at times over the season cut quite a withdrawn, contemplative figure.

Saints’ two best managers of the recent Premier League era – Mauricio Pochettino and Ronald Koeman – had different strengths. One was a developer of young talent, the other a big name with the authority to match. Where Pellegrino fits in is not yet obvious.

Asked about losing his job, he said: “I don’t think about this because it is part of our life. I try to do my best. In football, there are three results possible and everything can pass but every single week, history can change.”

The club are confident they have a good chance of bringing back Theo Walcott from Arsenal this month, despite Everton’s interest. Southampton, who are also in the market for a wide player, hope there will be some resolution on Walcott’s future next week.

Despite a remarkable roll-call of players sold, Southampton reported a net spend of

£20.1 million on transfers in their most recent financial results last year and predicted that to rise to around £23 million by the end of last season. Combined with a wage bill that has risen by £48 million in the four seasons up to the last one, the club would reject the notion

they are simply profiteering on the back of shrewd acquisitions. They would argue that each time they have sold, they have reinvested in fees and wages at a higher level of the market.

Who is Southampton’s next star? The club knock back regular inquiries about Sofiane Boufal, their outrageously talented, if erratic, Moroccan attacker. They are pleased with the progress of Pierre-emile Hojbjerg and Wesley Hoedt, the replacement for Van Dijk. Cedric Soares, as well as Manolo Gabbiadini, Ryan Bertrand and Jack Stephens have all performed well at times.

There is faith in the quality of the squad, even if results have been poor. The impact of Mario Lemina, bought for a club record £15.5 million from Juventus, has been affected by injuries.

Generally, the biggest underperformers have been goalkeeper Fraser Forster, currently dropped in favour of Alex Mccarthy, and England winger Nathan Redmond. After four seasons of being lauded, the club were mindful there might be a time when they found themselves under pressure and then the approach they have adopted would be called into question.

They are resistant to being dragged into the kind of shorttermism that others, like Swansea City, have succumbed to and are not going to abandon the strategy that has made them successful. That will mean a test of nerve over the next few weeks.

They walk a fine line with the constant pressure to get the right players to replace those who inevitably leave, and the right manager, all against a backdrop of steadily rising expectations – a consequence of their own success.

They are proud of a record that, for instance, at centre-back has seen a sequence of Dejan Lovren, Toby Alderweireld and then Van Dijk occupy the position, with high hopes now for Hoedt.

There is faith in the system – and it is up to the manager to deliver.