Most Saints supporters assumed that Everton would be recalling Mason Holgate in January due to a lack of game time and then they would loan him out elsewhere, but it seems that this may not happen due to the Toffee's financial demands.

Reports in the Liverpool Echo have suggested that Mason Holgate may be stuck at St Mary's for the rest of the season.

Their seems to be no love lost between Sean Dyche & Holgate himself and it looks like that because of that Everton are not prepared to recall the player and then loan him out to a club just so he can get gametime elsewhere, but that any deal has to match that which Southampton are paying.

The Liverpool Echo say that Southampton are paying a substantial part of the players wages ( Note it doesn't say "all") and are committed to doing so until the end of the season.

Everton are not willing to give that up, unless any club is willing to take the player on the same terms as Southampton and that may be beyond the finances of many of the clubs who would be willing to take a punt on signing a player who not only has made just 4 starts plus 1 minute sub appearance for Saints in the Championship, but started only 5 games for Everton plus 3 as sub in 2022/23, the bulk of which were in the first games of the season.

Indeed since August 2022, Holgate has managed just 479 minutes of League action for either club.

So with Everton holding out for parity in what any club they would loan him to with his current deal, the options are limited, it is believed that Rangers in Scotland have been in talks, but they have baulked at paying the same as Southampton and therefore there are only two options left, either Saints cut their losses and agree to make up the difference in wages for a player who will not be at the club any more, or Holgate stays where he is.

Everton look set to remain inflexible in this as Sean Dyche has clearly fallen out with the player and does not care whether he plays or not whoever he is with.

In fairness I feel Holgate has a reason to feel aggrieved with Russell Martin, although he did not start the season well, in his last two full appearances for the Club, Preston Away on 25th October and West Brom on 11th November he played well, in fact against West Brom he was most peoples man of the match.

Although he would have expected to drop back again after that game due to the Bednarek/Harwood-Bellis partnership in the centre of the defence being so strong, he would have expected to get some game time in the games afterwards.

He would have also expected to get minutes over the busy December period as Martin rotated his squad, but this did not prove to be the case and he found himself dropping down the pecking order further when Jack Stephens came back and came on for the final five minutes at QPR ahead of Holgate, that was risky given our precarious 1-0 lead at the time and Stephens coming on raised a few eyebrows amongst Saints supporters.

But a bigger snub came in the next game, against Swansea on Boxing Day, Russell Martin rotated his squad and even changed to a back three, but it was Stephens who started and it was Stephens who came on against Plymouth and who started at Norwich.

Clearly Stephens is the managers favourite, but players know when they deserve to be in the team ahead of others and so do fans, most sympathised with Holgate.

The problem was for Saints was that Mason Holgate had been shown that he had no future under Russell Martin and therefore would need to leave to get game time.

This was not particularly good news for Saints either, the truth is that we would struggle to get another player of the quality of Holgate in to replace him, even if we agreed terms with a club, would that player be willing to come to St Mary's and find himself in the same position as Holgate, unable to get in ahead of Bednarek & THB & also behind Jack Stephens in the pecking order.

This makes it difficult to attract players whether they are youngsters from Premier League clubs looking for game time or out of favour older pro's.

If Russell martin had shown Holgate that the side was selected on merit then perhaps Holgate would have been prepared to sit tight and battle for his place.

Everton hold the nap hand on this and unless they are prepared to let Holgate go elsewhere and they take a cut in the money received from a new club compared to Saints contribution, then to be blunt Sean Dyche will not sanction the deal.

That means that we will then seemingly have a player who is de-motivated and discontented and going through the motions in training every week, knowing a major injury crisis aside he is not going to play.

Photo: Action Images

TELB added 13:58 - Jan 5 Holgate is a far better player than Stephens, and should be ahead of Stephens in the pecking order. Can't understand what Martin sees in Stephens, he shouldn't even be skipper, Adam Armstrong should be!
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highfield49 added 15:29 - Jan 5 I suspect most of us feel that Holgate has a right to be miffed when he sees Stephens preferred as a starter. Is this a question of attitude, ability or using the excuse of playing a contracted player rather than a loanee? Seeing as we have other players on loan who are either regular starters or first choice off the bench it can't be the latter. I'm biased because I believe Holgate is a decent player and Stephens an enthusiastic journeyman, but surely RM's job is to select the strongest team on merit and not pick his favourites.

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mushinexile added 16:09 - Jan 5 Maybe he has fallen out with Russell the same way he fell out with Dyche?
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Bowlercow added 16:57 - Jan 5 In line with most Saints fans I believe Holgate is preferable to Stevens Did you see the highlights of the u/21 game were JS made a typical (for him)gaff I have supported RM from the off but I could argue with him on this
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felly1 added 17:23 - Jan 5 As Nick says the manager will have his favourites, as all managers do. This applies to Ryan Manning , not popular with a big chunk of the fanbase but rated by Martin. Personally I tend to go with the view that I may have my opinion on players but I suspect the manager knows more about them and how they fit into the style of play and their character than we will ever know.

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SaintPaulVW added 23:11 - Jan 5 Maybe, perhaps his lack of game time is not down to either club but it's down to him?
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