Saints fans will be a little baffled why the club have let Josh Sims go out on loan for the rest of the season, but there is method in their madness.
Josh Sims will join Reading on loan for the rest of the 2018/19 season and judging by initial comments on social media some Saints supporters are not happy that the club have allowed him to go out on loan.
But they should perhaps look at the bigger picture, whilst there can be no doubt that Sims is a great talent, that talent has to be nurtured and not rushed.
Last season injury restricted his appearances, but even after his return from injury he could not push himself into the first team, he started just 1 Premier League game with another 5 appearances as a substitute.
His one start came in the home game against Stoke City a game that was perhaps a low point in the season a 0-0 draw at St Mary's in what would be Mauricio Pellegrino's penultimate game in charge, Sims played 76 minutes before making way for Sofiane Boufal.
His 5 sub appearances in the League totalled 85 minutes and in truth his only meaningful contribution came in the draw at Burnley where his last minute cross was slightly over hit and needed Guido Carrillo to somehow get on the end of it and from the dead ball line knock it back for Gabbiadini to fire home
Initially when Sims came on the scene he looked a breath of fresh air, but even in that first season he could never truly force his way into the side, he showed glimpses but for one reason or another in the last two seasons he started only two Premier league games, the first his debut and the 2nd the aforementioned Stoke game and has managed only 11 as sub.
But the perception of Sims is perhaps greater than the reality, at least at the moment !
There is no doubt he is a talent, but in that short period of time he has played under 3 managers and none have seen him do enough to make them consider him a starter in the team. The odd burst of pace, the odd decent run and the odd good cross excite the crowd, but the reality is that he needed to do it a little bit more often.
So his actual impact has been minimal in that time, some would say that they would prefer him to Nathan Redmond, but compare Redmond's contribution at the end of last season to Sims and it was more critical especially since he netted at Everton a vital goal for a vital point.
This season Sims finds himself down the pecking order, Mark Hughes has a lot of wide options, Redmond, Elyounousi, Armstrong even Ward Prowse not to mention playing Bertrand or Cedric as wing backs, if he had stayed in the squad he would perhaps have struggled to get a game and at the moment we need men not boys in the team to get us off to a good start this season.
So as much as I like Josh Sims and i truly believe he has the talent to succeed not just at St Mary's but in the Premier League, he needs a season out on loan to toughen up and find that mental attitude to take the game by the scruff of the neck more often than he has done so far.
Hopefully he will come back next season stronger and ready to really show us what he can do, I know it will disappoint some supporters that he has gone, but we have to trust Mark Hughes to do what he feels is best for the team and sometimes a loan move is doing just that and looking at the bigger picture.