Charlie Taylor arrived at St Mary's in the summer with just the pedigree that the Southampton squad lacked, Premier League experience ! But he soon found himself an outcast with Saints manager Russell Martin.

One of the strange things about the summer transfer window is how many players were signed and how many that Russell Martin decided very quickly that he didn't want them and ostracised them

One of those was Big Les Ugochukwu another Charlie Taylor, on paper Taylor was just the man that Saints needed, with almost 400 games played in his career behind him, 161 of those in the Premier League, at 30 years old he had both the experience of age as well as games played in the Premier League, something that most of the rest of the squad lacked.

But before a ball was kicked in the Premier League he found himself on the fringes, an unused sub on the opening day at Newcastle, he got 14 minutes as sub in the following game at home to Nottingham Forest.

A decent game in the Carabao Cup game at Everton saw him in the starting line up for the 1-1 draw at home to Ipswich and then for the trip to Bournemouth, but after that he would be back on the bench but rarely used, Martin would employ him for just 3 sub appearances between 30th September and his sacking, totalling just 24 minutes.

Initially with Ivan Juric he would again be on the bench, but he was given an opportunity at half time against Brentford and although the result went to pot, Taylor showed that he was better than Russell Martin had rated him.

Now the former Burnley defender has been speaking to The Daily Echo of his frustration and his desire to leave in January under Russell Martin, but with the slate wiped clean under Ivan Juric, his hopes that he might well be a success at St Mary's:

"It's not been easy. Like any footballer, I just want to play matches. And yes, I've struggled for minutes this season," Taylor continued.

"It was good to get a good chunk of minutes on Saturday and if I can get more, then brilliant. It's down to me to play well and try to secure a place in the team.

"I think everyone is down and disappointed. I feel as though in the previous three games since the new manager we looked good, we looked solid.

"We've always looked in games right until the last minute. Fulham was a good point. West Ham could have been different on another day.

"Even at Crystal Palace, we were alright. Okay, we didn't play too well, but we were always in it right until the last minute.

"To then come to the Brentford game and for that to end how it did was massively disappointing. We felt as though it was a step backwards."

Martin claimed that Taylor did not factor into his plans due to "tactical reasons" after recovering from a niggle sustained while playing for the under-21s.

"There was no reason really, I respect the old manager and his decisions. He only had the team's best interests at heart.

"Whatever decisions he made, you've got to respect that as a player and you've got to understand you need to train hard and fight for your position.

"If you do enough to get yourself back in the team then great and if not, you've got to respect his decision. And that's what I did.

"When I arrived in the summer, I'd like to have played more than what I have done so far at this point but you can never predict the future.

"We've got a new manager and it's down to me to prove that I'm good enough to be playing

"Look, the competition for places is there and it's all about just trying to pick up results now and change the run that we're on.

"Football changes so quickly. Under the last manager, I wasn't getting a look in. So January was probably something I would have had to think about.

"But, the new manager has come in and it's a clean slate for everyone. Everyone is fighting for their spots. That's only going to breed good, healthy competition."

Hopefully Taylor will bring his experience to the side, certainly we have lacked cool heads and the experience that comes with playing at the top level at vital moments this season, but for some reason Russell Martin didn't seem to think that way and too often we did not have the leadership on or off the pitch, needed to close out games in the final stages.

All Photos Via Reuters

Jesus_02 added 16:52 - Jan 9 I'm afraid that we are likely to find out that he is just not good enough. As with Tall Paul , Leslie Ugochukwu , Sulemana and Maxwell Cornet . Add to that he is a very defensive LB suited to a back 4 and we don't have an equivalent RB and you get to why he wasn't selected. Juric also favours a 5 at the back with advanced "wing backs" but I've personally had enough of 3 CBs, Our midfield is too lightweight to support that system and the full backs we have are not good enough defensively for the premier league. I would prefer to see u play a 4, but this isnt going to happen as we dont have a decent defensive RB at this level honestly who plays RB in a flat back 4? Sugawara? He is terrible even with a covering defender. Maybe KWP but then you are not playing to his strengths either only other option is Bree

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Bowlercow added 18:11 - Jan 9 We should never have signed a newly relegated player anyway The PL is littered with players who have been relegated in successive seasons. Only one question Can we get a fee
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