Llloyd Isgrove has put pen to paper on a new two year deal at St Mary's, a contract that will either see him make the breakthrough or move elsewhere.

Llloyd Isgrove is at a crossroads in his Saints career, having turned 22 in January he is no longer a promising youth player, but is now at a time when he really needs to make the breakthrough into the first team reckoning on a more permanent basis or move on.

Saints clearly have some faith in the player in that he has previously been offered only one year deals for his last two contracts and now they have shown some faith in him by giving him this deal that will take him past his 24th birthday.

Isgrove has looked good on his rare first team appearances but cant seem to thrust himself into true first team contention and at his age he should really be doing so, a spell at Peterborough on loan in the final two months of last season saw him used mainly as a sub for Posh.

Now it is going to be make or break time for the player and the difficulty that he will have is that although in the past Saints have given youth a good chance their position now means that a player coming through from the academy is going to have to be exceptional to get in the side and perhaps the feeling is that although Lloyd has the talent he hasnt quite got that something that will turn him from a Championship player into aPremier one.

That is nothing to be ashamed at, look at any Premier Club including Saints over the past 20 years and you will see that true first team regulars coming through the ranks are few and far between, even Saints in the past would have expected 1 every three years to be a good rate, however we have been blessed with an outstanding crop in recent years and that has perhaps put unfair expectations on that talented groups peers.

So Isgrove seems to have something, he just needs to find that mental toughness to bring it out, good luck to him over the next two years.

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