Southampton could be about to lose one of the brightest talents in their academy.
The south coast club have a reputation for developing young players and boast the likes of Alan Shearer, Gareth Bale, Matt Le Tissier and Theo Walcott as academy graduates.
However, players from the Southampton youth set-up transitioning into first-team regulars has not been a frequent occurrence in recent years, with James Ward-Prowse the only recent example.
The Saints have instead opted to try and cherry pick young players from other elite academies with the promise of first-team football.
The likes of Romeo Lavia, Gavin Bazunu, Shea Charles and Samuel Edozie are all examples of this, with all four of the players making the move from Manchester City to Southampton over the past couple of years.
Lavia has since departed for Chelsea in a £58 million deal, whilst Southampton also sold Tino Livramento to Newcastle United last summer having signed him as an 18-year-old from Chelsea.
Kamari Doyle was anticipated to be one of the next players to make the step up to the Southampton senior side but surprisingly moved to Brighton in January despite only making one league appearance for the Saints.
Now, Southampton could be about to lose one of the most talked about talents in their academy for reasons out of their control.
Alejandro Gomes Rodriguez could move abroad due to transfer loophole
16-year-old Gomes Rodriguez is an exciting prospect.
The striker who can also play wide made his under-21 debut this season, despite being just 15 at the time, and has matured at a spectacular rate.
It helps that the youngster has developed physically much earlier than many of his peers, but to play under-21 football at such a young age – as well as join in with first-team training on occasion – is testament to his ability.
Southampton are keen to tie down Gomes Rodriguez down to a contract that secures the youngster’s next steps in his career, but there are complications associated with this.
According to The Athletic, Southampton have had to restructure their youth wage structure following relegation; meaning they are no longer able to agree the kind of terms they did as a Premier League club.
Arguably more crucially, though, is the fact that Gomes Rodriguez has dual nationality.
The England youth international also holds a Portuguese passport and this has potentially huge implications on his future.
Since Britain left the European Union in 2021, players are not allowed to leave the United Kingdom until the age of 18. However, the fact that Gomes Rodriguez is a Portuguese citizen means he is able to circumvent these rules.
Given his obvious talents, a number of clubs both at home and abroad are interested in stealing the striker from under Southampton’s noses and his dual nationality means he has his pick of European clubs.
Gomes Rodriguez has broken Southampton youth records
Just because he can move, it does not necessarily mean he will.
If Gomes Rodriguez believes that first-team football at Southampton is a possibility in the not too distant future then he may well consider the club the best place for his development.
Manager Russell Martin has the responsibility of showing Gomes Rodriguez and all the other talents in the Saints academy that there is a pathway to the first-team.
The likes of Sam Amo-Ameyaw, Jayden Meghoma, Tyler Dibling and Cameron Bragg have all featured this season but, due to the importance of securing promotion, Martin has been reluctant to provide too many opportunities in the league.
In his first year in the Southampton academy, Gomes Rodriguez broke the goalscoring record previously held by another departed talent, Jimmy-Jay Morgan, scoring 65 goals across a number of age groups.
Morgan left Southampton to join Chelsea, unhappy at the terms that the Saints were offering as he negotiated a new deal.
Southampton will have to do all they can to ensure the same does not happen with Gomes Rodriguez.