Southampton Linked To Surman Return

Twelve months ago we sold a young Andrew Surman to Wolverhampton Wanderers as a means of paying wages.

Drew has now spent a season at Wolves with just three starts in the league and four appearances as a substitute.

Added to that he has played once in the FA Cup and once in the League Cup for the Wolves. To date there has been no goals.

Drew was a reluctant sale as he is a local lad who loves his hometown club. This will obviously lead to different interpretations on what Mick McCarthy has said this week to the Wolves OS.

Mick has admitted that Surman is a good player. He is quoted as saying that he(Surman) doesn’t want to be third or fourth in the pecking order.

He also added that such players who don’t want that might want to move on.

His actual words being, ‘Andrew Surman is a good player, he had a couple of games then didn’t get his chance.’

‘He doesn’t want to be third or fourth choice. If that’s going to be the case they might want to move on.’

‘If they come back and are seen to be fighting for a place then I guess that (them leaving) won’t happen.’

‘If it turns out that some players aren’t fighting for a place then it does happen. It’s natural progression.’

Nothing in there that gives a definite Surman can go as of yet. But there is a big clue as to the fact that Mick is prepared to write him off.

Where does that leave Drew? Does he come home and face the taunts of opponents saying he is a failure? Does he fancy coming home?

Some people would take him back with open arms but whose place would he take?

For me Morgan Schneiderlin is far and away a better player now and he is still improving. Morgan has grown in stature and just needs to control his temper more, which I feel Alan Pardew will be stressing to him.

Adam Lallana also strikes me as being both better in his ball control and stronger now than Drew. He also still has growth and improvement left to come and is quicker than Drew without being quick.

Jason Puncheon is quicker and will score more and make more than Drew. Jason has done well since joining Saints and though I don’t expect a lot of improvement, I can’t see Drew doing much improvement either.

As for our captain Dean Hammond, I see no comparison. Dean makes a lot of bone crunching tackles though he doesn’t always do so fairly. He is stronger than Drew without being a real hardnut but would eat someone like our Drew for breakfast.

So where will Andrew Surman end up? Will he start doing a shuttle service between CCC clubs and gradually slide down to our present level?

I don’t have the answer and though I was sorry when the lad had to go, I don’t see him fitting in here with the players that we now have.

A shame maybe but a simple fact of life. The club has moved on and has come a long way since young Drew left. If he was to return it would be as a squad player and not as a guarenteed first choice player.

As mentioned at the top, this is the silly season and several names will now be quoted as being lined up or chased by the club.

Roll on the next news bulletin from our OS as we learn of new acquisitions in reality.