Southampton supporters have been impressed with new central defensive signing Keven Schlotterbeck, but they wonder what how good the defence would now be if Taylor Harwood-Bellis had stayed, they also now wonder why Villa actually bought him.
saintsmarching.com have asked the question "Taylor Harwood-Bellis must regret leaving Southampton"
They point to the fact that since signing for Aston Villa for the not insubstantial fee of £30 million, the former Southampton defender is yet to feature in a single matchday squad for Uniah Emery's men, indeed he was not even named in their Champions League squad for the coming campaign, meaning that as it stands he will sit out their European adventures.
That is 3 games that he has not even got onto the bench for in the 2 weeks that he has been at the club, given Villa's other centre backs available you would have at least expected to see him make the bench.
As saintsmarching.com put it "He has gone from being a guaranteed first teamer at St. Mary's, to a £30m purchase that has quickly been shoved to one side in his new Premier League environment."
Uniah Emery has come out to state that the Stockport-born titan's time to shine in the first team ranks will come, with Pau Torres' injury perhaps opening the door for his first minutes in claret and blue, but there is another setback for THB, as it seems that Aston Villa have a shock transfer development in the pipeline to cover Torres.
They are looking to bring in ex-Real Madrid defender Sergio Ramos on a free transfer deal, with a medical even expected to take place shortly for the 40-year-old to relocate to English shores.
Ramos has spent the last two seasons playing for Monterrey in Mexico but even at 40 he is playing the bulk of the games and it seems that Villa see him as the experience that they need.
The real question is why THB has not made the match day squad in the Premier League, he had a full pre season with Southampton and also played in the opening 2 games of the season, theEFL Cup tie at Colchester United and the Championship opener at Watford on August 16th.
In the month since then he has not kicked a ball in anger, missing the final 3 games he could have played in for Saints, with the now common excuse of not having his head in the right place.
But when he arrived at Villa Park he should still have been fit to go, he would have had 2 or 3 days on the training field with the squad and would only have had a two week or so break from match action.
His omission from the first game he could have played in could be excused, but you would still have expected him to make the bench, his absent from the second was strange, but if he fails to make the cut for their trip to Tottenham Hotspur then there will be a big question mark over his future at Villa Park