Although he is only on loan from Newcastle United, Ryan Fraser has shown by example that he is as committed to the Southampton cause as anyone else in the Saints squad, now he has revealed what is on his wish list for the summer.
The Shields Gazette in the North East has confirmed that Ryan Fraser's loan from Newcastle United has been extended to cover the play offs, but they have also revealed just what he is hoping for this summer and it basically has two parts.
The Wee Man has been taken to the hearts of Saints supporters after his all action displays for the side as well as the odd goal or two and they will be pleased to hear that the first part of that is getting Southampton promoted to the Premier League and the second is to sign for Saints for as long as he can.
The Scot who turned 30 in February made his name with Bournemouth for whom he signed in 2013, still aged only 19, he prospered there under current Newcastle boss Eddie Howe, but the pair fell out when Fraser ran his contract down and made it clear that he wanted to sign for Newcastle as it ended in the summer of the Covid pandemic.
At that stage the relationship with Howe was merely cold, but with his contract up on July 1st and the season resuming in mid June, he declined to play for the last weeks of his time at the Cherries.
That enraged Howe, but the truth was that by playing essentially on a two month extended contract, Fraser was risking a lot, a bad injury would have seen him on the sidelines and without a club for a prolonged period, he was caught between a rock and a hard place.
He went to Newcastle for the 2020/21 season and despite an injury hit season still played in 18 Premier League games.
The following season saw him play 27 games and a key part of the squad although he pulled his hamstring with 7 games to go.
But his career changing moment came on 8th November 2021 when Eddie Howe was appointed manager of Newcastle, at that moment his time at the club was now a ticking clock, although initially he was getting picked by Howe, who after the Saudi backed takeover of the club had not yet flexed the new financial muscle
He played his last game for the club in October 2022 and his relationship with Howe was now zero as his manager with money to spend could now afford to replace him, although he did appear once on the Newcastle bench as an unused substitute in the league cup.
So it was obvious that his time at St James Park was over and Newcastle's loss was Southampton's gain, let us hope that he get's both of his objectives this summer and ends this season in a similar position at Wembley as he did after the victory at Swansea, on the shoulders of Che Adams.