Southampton might have been safer a lot sooner than they were last season if they had wrapped up a January deal for Che Adams.
Saints pushed to sign the striker, fighting tooth and nail with other potential suitors as they aimed to lure Birmingham City’s prized asset away from the Midlands halfway through the season.
Adams had scored 11 Championship goals before the turn of the year, and his performances for the Blues were attracting attention from the circling vultures of England’s top flight.
Southampton were among the fiercest of the competitors but were unable to strike a deal with Birmingham as Adams continued to emerge as one of the most sought-after attackers in the lower tiers.
In January alone, the 23-year-old scored in each of his four Championship outings, further tempting Premier League clubs into lucrative pursuits. Birmingham held firm, though, and with a points deduction edging alarmingly closer, insisted that clinging onto their star man for at least the rest of the season would be necessary.
Southampton refrained from moving for another striker despite Ralph Hasenhuttl’s clear desire to strengthen the attacking options, and proceeded with Michael Obafemi injured, Danny Ings still easing back into the swing of things and Shane Long failing to convince anyone of his credentials as a Premier League goalscorer.
It seemed indicative of Saints’ misfortunes, then, that on the weekend that followed the January transfer window’s close, Adams found the back of the net against Nottingham Forest. Rather more pertinently, on the same day, Ings succumbed to a hamstring injury at Burnley that would rule him out for months, and leave Hasenhuttl with a paltry number of natural forward options in a decisive period of the season.
On the following weekend, the near-miss of signing Adams hit home to an even greater extent. He scored for the sixth Championship game on the bounce, and this time it was a hat-trick, as he helped Birmingham to a 4-3 win against Queens Park Rangers. Meanwhile, bereft of the cutting edge that had so long eluded them, Southampton’s survival hopes were dealt a crushing blow as toothlessness and defensive mishaps cost them a 2-1 loss at home to Cardiff City.
Ultimately, Saints got by. Hasenhuttl’s commendable work at St Mary’s steered them to safety, and after Adams had notched 22 goals for the season at Birmingham, he would seek pastures new in the Premier League.
Winning the race for a player of his pedigree and potential would never prove straightforward. Bids were rejected, games were played, and other clubs were touted as potential destinations, but Hasenhuttl and Saints got their man, as Adams signed for £15 million. It was a deal widely regarded as a bargain, given the exorbitant funds spent on other players of a similar, if not lesser, quality across the world.
A change in approach at Southampton coincided with more intelligent moves in the market: the new emphasis on signing players to suit the manager’s style, rather than a more general picture of what would represent a Saints-like signing, has helped those such as Adams, Kevin Danso and Moussa Djenepo to adjust to Hasenhuttl’s demands quickly.
On paper, it seemed a perfect match. Adams, known for his physical qualities and determination to create chances from seemingly unthreatening positions, married with the value by which Hasenhuttl places upon intensity and tactical intelligence, looked to be a match made in heaven.
Pre-season told a similar story. Adams scored three goals – one just minutes into his first game against Austrian side SCR Altach – and proceeded to find the back of the net against Guangzhou R&F and Feyenoord. Each of these saw the 23-year-old profit from either pressing well or distributing the ball early, a fundamental trait that helps players thrive in Hasenhuttl’s teams.
No such luck has been discovered in the Premier League so far, though, and Adams has yet to find the back of the net in his opening four matches. He nearly opened his account against Burnley after just two minutes, as he narrowly put Yan Valery’s exceptional ball across goal wide; it came as a shock, not necessarily a disappointment, to see him miss the target after firing in the opening exchanges with such frequency in pre-season.
Adams proceeded to have a quiet game, marshalled well by James Tarkowski and Ben Mee as Burnley won 3-0. He retained his place against Liverpool, and played well, drifting between the lines and finding pockets of space behind some of European football’s best defenders. The Reds came out on top with a 2-1 win, and Adams was left to rue a golden chance to open the scoring having nodded a free header over Adrian’s bar.
His performances continued to encourage, and there has been no sign of Hasenhuttl dropping him from his starting line-up yet. He was shut out by Brighton and Hove Albion well in the following week, with Dan Burn denying him a good chance in front of goal, while he put himself about with poise and purpose against Manchester United at the weekend.
What became apparent, though, was that his confidence in front of goal is not quite akin to that of his final season in Birmingham colours. Heralded for unleashing early, well-placed shots towards the corners of opposition goalkeepers’ nets, Adams has seemed somewhat rushed in his actions this season, hurrying to make a quick decision and, in turn, fluffing his lines, and missing the target.
Hasenhuttl is still attempting to find the right balance between his attackers, with a front two, a front three, and a front four all experimented. Adams has been the fulcrum of each attacking setup, and it is clear to see that the boss values his ability to drop back and add another body in Saints’ build-up play.
However, he is currently stuck somewhat in a rut, and patience will be required if he is to get himself off the mark in the near future. Going four games without a goal at a new club in a higher division shouldn’t ever be a concern, let alone for a 23-year-old striker. Although, he scored just once in his last 13 outings for Birmingham, and is currently on a barren run of 10 games competitively.
What should encourage Hasenhuttl, though, is the striker’s movement. He already appears to have adapted to the style of football that has been developed since the Austrian took charge, and is pressing intelligently to cut off passing lanes and force opponents into mistakes.
Another source of optimism will be that, despite missing good chances to score goals, Adams is finding space away from Premier League defenders to carve out openings for himself. Not one of his shots this season have hit the target, and he is taking 2.46 on average per game, but his knack of moving into space and ghosting in on the blind-side of defenders – evidenced by his chances against Burnley, Liverpool and United – will enable him more opportunities to find the net.
With just under four touches in the opposition box on average per game this season, it will be a case of reverting back to basics for Adams. What set him aside from other Championship strikers wasn’t raw pace, nor was it technical ability. And it certainly wasn’t his quality in the air – he scored no headers for Birmingham last season – either.
What was so impressive about Adams was his instinctive nature, and his propensity to identify a goalscoring opportunity when few – namely goalkeepers – could not. Trusting in his own ability and capitalising on even the smallest of gaps between bodies bore fruit to an incredible extent last term, and it is this unique facet of his style that must be rediscovered in a Southampton shirt.
Hasenhuttl is doing the right thing by persisting with him despite his slightly more profligate start to life at Southampton than what was expected. Perhaps it’s written in the stars for Adams to open his account when Saints – against whom he made his professional debut – travel to his former stomping ground, Bramall Lane, to face Sheffield United after the international break.
If he doesn’t find the back of the net, though, fretting is unnecessary. Adams has historically scored his goals in phases, rather than over stretches of the season, and time is necessary for the 23-year-old striker to deal with the burden of becoming a regular Premier League goalscorer.
