Aaron Martin has been given an extended contract now he needs to be given an extended run in the team.
Last season looked like it might be good for Aaron Martin, early in the season he looked to have established himself in the side having played three out of the first five games, then when Nigel Adkins arrived the youngster was immediately dropped and did not make another appearance between Swindon back in September and Colchester away some 27 games later, when he came on as a late sub even after this he would only appear rarely finsishing the season with only 4 starts and 4 off the bench, for those without a calculator that equates to 1 start and three sub in the last 14.
When he played though he let no one down, indeed in those first three games he was Echo man of the match in two of them with a solid 7 out of 10 in the other game, a 4-0 win at Bristol Rovers, that made it all the more surprising that he did not even get a run off the bench even at a time when Forte aside Seaborne & Jaidi werent setting the world alight with neither particularly impressing.
Of course as the season progressed Jaidi came to the fore and had a good run in the side, but to be blunt it could be a season too far far Jaidi, certainly even in the run in he was prone to an individual error or two as shown by goals conceded at Walsall, Brighton & Charlton where his mistakes cost goals.
That being the case Saints have put a big piece of faith in Martin by not only extending his contract for another 12 months as he was entitled too, but going a step further by making it a three year deal, however all this is a waste of time unless Nigel Adkins now shows faith in him on the pitch.
Ironically for a manager who fashioned his career at Scunthorpe on youth players and cast offs etc, at St mary's Adkins seems to prefer to bring in players than give youth a chance, hence the way he loaned out Joseph Mills and brought in N Guessan on loan, how he preferred to play loanee Dale Stephens than play Oscar Gobern and indeed play Jaidi and Seaborne before Martin.
Whilst with Oxox its a bit different it remains a fact that last seasons Saints side contained less home grown players than ever in the past, Lallana is now obviously very excperienced but him and Oxo apart the manager was very loathe to use any of our younger players unless it was a real emergency, after Mills left only Gobern and Martin ever got a look in, indeed of the 27 players used in total only four had come through our youth ranks, and perhaps even more astonishing is that out of those 27 only 7 were here at this time two years ago and one of them, in Paul Wotton went a long time back last season.
By signing Aaron Martin on these terms we have made a big statement, indeed a vote of confidence in him, that means we have four potential first team centre halves at present, put bluntly we dont need a fifth, we need to find out whether three of them have got it, if they have then play them, if they havent then lets move them on.