Jason Puncheon is out of contract in the summer, a few months ago it looked inevitable that he would be gone, but now its not so clear cut.
Whatever happens Puncheon has performed one of the most amazing turnarounds in a Saints career we have ever seen and in some respects could be compared to Kelvin Davis who himself was the target of the fans wrath in his first two seasons at the club, only coming good in his third.
For Puncheon though its taken longer for his comeback and he will celebrate his third anniversary of joining the club at the end of January, although knowing the way controversy follows him around thats far from certain.
He joined with a good reputation in League One on the field but with hints of an attitude off of it and was one of several major signings funded in that January window meant to propel us at least into a play off spot, initially although Saints would fall a little short Puncheon showed signs that he had what it took although tellingly his three goals for us that season all came when we hit five goals in victories over Walsall, Huddersfield and away to Bristol Rovers, some supporters felt that when Saints were on top Jason could perform, but when the chips were down he lacked the bottle to dig in an work for the team.
With Saints big favourites for promotion the start to 2010/11 didnt go well for either the team or Jason, he played in 17 consecutive games in all competitions at the start of the season, but couldnt seem to get his game together and with Alex Oxlade Chamberlain breathing down his neck that didnt seem to inspire him in fact the opposite, after the 3-1 win at Notts County when he was replaced by Chamberlain in the 69th minute just as Saints had equalised he threw his toys out of the pram and within a couple of weeks was off to Millwall on loan where he would score on his debut.
He wouldnt stay long at Millwall and returned to St Mary's were he was reluctanly forced to play a couple of games, one in the FA Cup against Blackpool when effectively a reserve side was played and the second ironically enough the home game against Notts County.
He was then off to the Premier and Blackpool where again he scored on his debut, although he would score three times for the Lancashire club he would only start 6 games plus a further 5 as sub, only around 2/3 of the games he could have played in.
Last season it was clear that his future didnt lay at St Mary's, Chamberlain was gone but replaced by relatively expensive signing Steve De Ridder who was heralded as the next best thing, Puncheon was expected to go to lackpool but Ian Holloway didnt want him and he went to QPR on loan where he managed 2 sub appearances before returning to Saints in the January where including a cup game he managed 9 appearances in the second half of the season usually being subbed if he started or from the bench, the summer saw him in limbo and again most Saints supporters had their sights higher than him for the wide position.
However this season for some reason he has been motivated in a way that he hasnt been in the last two years the bright lights of the Premiership are perhaps where he feels he should be and he has an attitude that means that he needs to feel that he is a top player and valued by his manager and the fans, anything less and he loses that motivation.
Thats perhaps been shown in the fact that again his first three goals as mentioned all came in big wins and his three goals this season hve again all came in wins in which we have dominated sides, Villa at home 4-1, QP away 3-1 and Reading at home where we were in total control although the 1-0 scoreline doesnt reflect that.
In cricketing terms Jason is something of a flat track bully when it comes to scoring and putting in his best performances, some would say that is harsh and although statistics support that theory I would agree with them Jason has put in some good performances this season in other games, he clearly has that motivation, but we as a club have to ask ourselves two things, just what is that motivation and secondly should we be setting our sights higher than Jason in the transfer window.
On a plus side his performances have helped the team and hopefully will continue to do so, but is his sole motivation to be playing for a contract, as we have seen with other players in the past, once they have that signed they lose the drive they had, certainly Jason's 14 appearances this season have in the main been good and on a par with any other member of the team, but in the little under three years he has been here, a time when he could have played something in the region of 115 -120 games, he has so far managed 51 starts plus 4 as sub thats not a great return.
My worry would be that whilst he is under no pressure for his position he can perform well and is interested, however if we sign a winger in the January window, could the attitude in Jason resurface and rather than wanting to compete in games he sulks as he did two years ago.
We would all hope that Jason's good form continues and that he signs a new contract and establishes himself at the club in a way that he hasnt done yet, but its not that simple, ideally he would not be out of contract next summer then we could see where that drive is really coming from at present, but we dont have that luxury and we have to make a decision soon whether Jason Puncheon has a long term future at St Mary's or not.
Im sorry if some would feel that this article is a little negative and even biased against Jason, I havent intended it to be so, what I have tried to do is paint the full picture of the situation rather than just taking perhaps 8 good games out of the 14 he has played in isolation, Jason PUncheon is a complicated character and whatever happens in the future a look back at his career so far suggests it wont be a smooth ride, can a leopard change its spots ? we are about to find out !