Martin Can Unlock Armstrong With Swoop For 6 ft 2 Ace

Southampton completed off their pre-season preparations with a 1-0 loss to Dutch aspect AZ Alkmaar at St. Mary’s on Saturday forward of subsequent week’s Championship opener.

Who’ve Southampton signed this summer season?

Each of the membership’s summer season signings featured within the defeat as Ryan Manning and Shea Charles lined up on the again for Russell Martin’s crew.

Manning has been introduced in on a free switch from Swansea, the place he labored alongside the Saints head coach final season, and Charles has joined on a everlasting deal from Premier League champions Manchester Metropolis.

The recently-relegated membership nonetheless have loads of time left to make additional additions to their squad, although, and have been linked with interest in Sunderland centre-forward Ross Stewart.

He’s within the remaining 12 months of his contract on the Stadium of Mild and has rejected the Black Cats’ efforts to increase his deal, which has opened the door to a summer season switch.

What number of targets has Ross Stewart scored for Sunderland?

The Scotland worldwide has racked up a formidable 40 goals in 80 matches for his present membership and will arrive as a implausible addition to Martin’s squad.

His spectacular kind for Sunderland within the Championship final season, notably alongside one other striker in Ellis Simms, means that he has the standard to be a wonderful performer for Southampton who might unlock one of the best out of Adam Armstrong at St. Mary’s.

Stewart who was as soon as hailed as “unbelievable” and a “revelation” by teammate Alex Pritchard, racked up ten goals and three assists in 13 second-division matches.

He started six games with Simms as his strike associate and produced 5 targets together with three assists in that point, which reveals that the previous Ross County man thrived subsequent to a different quantity 9.

This might make him the proper signing to enhance Armstrong as the previous Blackburn Rovers ace excelled subsequent to six foot 4 titan Sam Gallagher within the Championship in the course of the 2020/21 marketing campaign.

The English dynamo scored 28 goals and assisted five in 40 league outings for his earlier crew that season however did not make the step as much as the Premier League with Southampton as he has solely plundered 5 targets in 67 appearances for the membership thus far.

Armstrong failed to seek out the again of the web greater than twice in every of his two top-flight campaigns with the Saints. Nonetheless, the ex-Newcastle United man is now again at a stage the place he has confirmed himself to be a dependable and prolific scorer.

The 26-year-old scored 44 Championship goals in his remaining two seasons with Blackburn mixed and this implies that the potential is there for him to be an excellent choice for Southampton, regardless of his Premier League struggles.

Martin might unlock one of the best out of his abilities by signing Stewart from Sunderland because the 6 foot 2 marksman, who won 49% of his aerial battles final time period, is a handful to take care of and a confirmed scorer who might take a number of the consideration away from Armstrong in the identical method that Gallagher did at Ewood Park.

This might then permit the 5 foot 8 dynamo, who lost 76% of his aerial contests throughout his final Championship marketing campaign, to go about his enterprise as an enormous purpose risk while not having to have interaction in bodily battles with opposition defenders.