Gavin Bazunu spent 9 months on the sidelines after injuring himself in the warm up against Preston North End back in April, he returned to play for the U21 side earlier this month and will now take the next steps in his recovery.

There are those who were critical of Gavin Bazunu last season, but the truth is that you dont go on a 21 game unbeaten run in the Championship if you have a dodgy keeper and Bazunu played a big part in our promotion.

But football is a ruthless game and it must have played on Bazunu's mind as he struggled through his recovery both physically and mentally from his ruptured Achilles injury, when the club spent a record fee on Aaron Ramsdale in August.

So it was good to see Bazunu return to action, but it seems that the club don't want to throw him back into Premier League action this season.

That is good thinking, it is likely that Ramsdale will leave in the summer and Bazunu will be between the sticks in the Championship next season, so there is no point in throwing him into the car crash that is the Saints side for the remainder of what is surely going to end in relegation and shatter what must be a fragile confidence after so long out.

Better to send him out to a good Championship team where he can not only rebuild his fitness but also his confidence, he can then return in the summer fresh for the challenge next season.

Speaking to The Daily Echo Ivan Juric had this to say about the situation:

"I think that the idea of the club is to give him a loan after his injury, I think he's a great goalkeeper and now we will see in these seven days what will happen."

I agree that is a good idea, aside from Ramsdale, Saints also have Alex McCarthy & Joe Lumley on the books, both are experienced keepers, although in truth neither are Premier League quality these days, although I don't think that matters much any more this season.

All Photos Via Reuters

kingolaf added 09:26 - Jan 24 You’re talking rubbish Nick. He is a terrible keeper, never seen such a poor shot stopper at professional level, and I watched Ian Andrews at The Dell.
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Flamingbankers added 09:46 - Jan 24 Bazunu was a poor keeper and was pretty much guaranteed to make an error or two in any game where the opposition had concentrated pressure on his goal. He was not good enough, in reality, for either The Championship or The Premier and unless there are miraculous improvements, I can't see that changing. In the previous Championship campaign teams were rarely good enough to be that much of a threat in front of goal. Ramsdale sets the bench mark (even though he hasn't been very good lately) and Bazunu is nowhere near that. He may be a decent young man, and I genuinely wish him all the best, but if blunt honesty and being a stalwart Saints fan excludes niceties; I agree with former commenter, Bazunu is one of the worst keepers I've seen at Saints in 50 years.

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City_boy added 09:56 - Jan 24 His stats over the last 2 years, do not suggest he is.a decent keeper.
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dirk_doone added 10:05 - Jan 24 Who would take him?
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Block8 added 10:07 - Jan 24 it's a good idea, he is a very young keeper with lots of promise. However there are very many players with promise that never fulfil that promise. So a loan to get him match fit and also monitor his progress is a great plan, we all know there is little chance of Ramsdale playing in the championship, so in effect we have nothing to lose!
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mattlegod added 11:37 - Jan 24 I actually thought he showed signs of a very promising keeper who was put in an inevitable position of having to play tippy happy with a shite defence who landed him in no end of impossible positions. With a solid defence and playing jurics way I think he could become a great keeper.
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underweststand added 11:38 - Jan 24 A chance for us to see how he might fare in a lower league before making serious decisions about a player who is contracted to us for ..a while longer (2027 eller ?) He did at least look mobile in two recent U21 outings, but even if we are playing in the Championship next season it will be good to monitor his progress until the summer.
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