This won't please many of Saints fanbase, but Josh Sims has given the first indication directly from his own mouth that his future lies away from St Mary's.
Josh Sims has been an enigma at St Mary's he initially burst on the scene with a scintillating home debut against Everton exactly four year to the day in a weeks time aged only 19, he played a part in that season and his run and subsequent pass in the dying minutes of the EFL Cup semi final 2nd leg at Anfield suggested there was a lot of good things to come from him.
But a serious knee injury at the tail end of that season kept him out until January 2018 and by then Saints were dropping down the table like a stone and he found it hard to break into the side in the second half of the season, he only got one start plus 6 appearances of the bench.
Mark Hughes didn't seem to rate him and he was sent out on loan to Reading for the season, a loan that was terminated in the January with the winger not being able to break into the Championship sides team either.
Although he had a small burst at the tail end of that season under Ralph Hasenhuttl, a run of games that suggested that he might have a future at the club, it seems that Ralph didn't see it that way and the club were unsure of what to do with him, two ill advised loan spells at New York Red Bulls meant that last season was a wash out and he has now not played for Saints since May 2019.
This season he was sent out to Doncaster Rovers on loan, some would say a surprising move in that the Yorkshire club are a League One side and you would have thought that Championship clubs would have been interested.
Sims like ex team mate Harrison Reed seems to have a reputation amongst Saints fans that is higher than the one he has with other football clubs, Reed spent time on loan with three separate Championship clubs, but Sims does not seem to have succeeded at that level, that in itself is surprising given some of his displays for Saints, is it a question of motivation or application on his part, or is he genuinely not good enough even at Championship Level.
Sims himself has had this to say at to the Doncaster Free Press:
"I’m at the stage of my career where I need to be playing regular football.
"I had a taste of that when I first broke through at Southampton but various circumstances and injuries, I’ve not been able to carry on there.
"I’ve really enjoyed my time there, I broke through and did well but now I need to get regular football.”
Sims added: "I broke through and was really enjoying myself playing in the Premier League. The injury happened at a horrible time for me but that’s just football and life.
"You’ve got to just find a way to get through those tough times.
"Luckily for me the injury didn’t happen again like you see happening to a lot of players with knee injuries. I had good people around me.
"Now I just need to push on and build from those years and play regular football.”
To be honest Sims is spot on with what he is saying, he will be 24 by the end of this season, he has started only 3 other games for Saints since his debut plus another 16 as sub.
His use of words indicate that he accepts his future is not at St Mary's going forward, that a fine run of games will not propel him back into first team contention and a new contract.
He needs to be playing now and like Harrison Reed find a club where he can feel wanted and benefit from that, over the years Sims has played a grand total of 573 minutes of Premier League football for Saints, that is barely six full games, he has not scored and has just 2 assists to his name.
In his short career at Doncaster so far he has played 399 minutes, there is a chance that by Tuesday of next week he could have exceeded that total in just 8 League games for the Yorkshire club, that stat tells you how little Sims has played at Saints in the last four years, that he has now scored his first ever League goal plus 4 assists, emphasises that he needs regular football now.
Perhaps he will eventually become a regular Premier League player, but like Harrison Reed he needs games under his belt and he needs to be able to show the rest of football what he can do, he hasn't been able to do that at Saints.
He has had some great moments, his explosive debut, that run & pass at Liverpool and a great display against Wolves, but they are in the past and those in charge at Saints don't seem to feel that he can do those things on a regular basis.
Good luck to Josh Sims I truly hope we see him in the Premier League at St Mary's again, it just won't be in a Saints shirt and I think he now knows and accepts that