In the eyes of Southampton manager Russell Martin, Manchester City have just sold a player who will go on to play for England ‘many, many times’.
The Saints achieved promotion back to the Premier League after beating Leeds United 1-0 at Wembley.
Striker Adam Armstrong got the game’s only goal, and the south coast club are now back in the top-flight at the first time of asking after their relegation in 2023.
Southampton beating Leeds had significance for Manchester City. As a result of their win and subsequent promotion, it meant that they are now obliged to sign Taylor Harwood-Bellis.
Harwood-Bellis has been on a season-long loan at Southampton from City, and a clause was negotiated that would see City bank £20 million if Southampton got promoted.
Martin is delighted he gets to continue working with Harwood-Bellis – and believes he has a future England regular on his hands…
Taylor Harwood-Bellis tipped to break into England squad soon, amid Man City exit
Harwood-Bellis played a big role in Southampton’s promotion, having made 40 appearances in the Championship.
The 22-year-old impressed, as he did previously at Burnley, Stoke City and Blackburn, and he will now finally have a chance to prove himself in the Premier League.
He’s clocked up over 100 appearances in the Championship and so, he has been well prepared for life in the top-flight.
It will be really interesting to see how he gets on, and one man who’s probably going to be taking a closer look at him from next season onwards is England manager Gareth Southgate. Harwood-Bellis is the captain of the U21s and has actually trained with the seniors before.
He is on Southgate’s radar, but he will now be much more visible to the Three Lions boss.
For Martin, there’s no doubt he’ll be in the senior squad soon. He said (Daily Echo): “I don’t know how much we paid for him but whatever it was, it’ll be worth it for sure.
“I joked to him this before the game, I said that the biggest motivation for me was to win so he can carry on working with me and will be stuck with me.
“I genuinely mean it. One of the reasons why I was so desperate to win was to continue working with him.
“I really believe he’ll go and play for his country many, many times and I hope we can help him on his journey to get there.”
Good luck, Taylor
So Harwood-Bellis will now complete a £20 million permanent move to Southampton – and City fans will hope that it all works out for him.
He’s done brilliantly well in the Championship for a few years now, and he is definitely ready for a crack at the Premier League having developed nicely.
Harwood-Bellis only played for City’s first-team eight times, with the competition for places having obviously been extremely fierce.
It is right that he makes a permanent move away from the club now at the age of 22, so that he can carve out his career at the top level. Few will doubt that he can become an England regular, given he’s already been captain of the U21s.
Now that he’s in the Premier League, it will in theory be much easier for him to break into the squad.