With so many attacking options available to him Ronald Koeman faces a dilemma in how to employ Dusan Tadic this coming season.
There can be no doubt that Dusan Tadic was a talent, he started last season like a train but tailed off after Christmas although he still made some vital contributions including the winner at Old Trafford.
The reason why his form dipped can't be pinpointed as being down to one thing but a combination, the first was possibly when he switched sides he never quite looked to have the same impact after that.
Then there was a niggling injury that he was carrying and with Saints themselves having an extraordinary amount of injuries to the rest of the squad, he had no choice but to soldier on, but this did little for his form.
Those injuries through the squad did little for Saints form itself and Tadic was not the only player in the team struggling for form.
Finally there is perhaps the physical aspect of the Premier league, there are those who would point to that and suggest that this alone might stop him from becoming a legend for Saints, I would disagree, he is no shrinking violet and I think the first three possibilities are far more of a factor than the fact that he might not be up to it physically, especially when you consider he was carrying an injury that clearly restricted him to a degree.
But just where will Ronald Koeman use him ?
Last season it was a little easier for the manager at least early on, Pelle up front with Tadic and Mane as the ewide attackers backed up with Shane Long, but the return of Jay Rodriguez from his year long injury adds a whole new dimension.
This means that Koeman has options to change formation that especially in the second half of the season due to those injuries he did not have and with everyone fit it will be hard to give everyone a game.
In the first half of the season Ronald Koeman tended to switch his midfield depending on the opposition and whether it was home and away, for the tougher games he would anchor the midfield with Schneiderlin and Wanyama, but in the easier games he would switch Jack Cork in for the Kenyan to offer a quicker attacking option especially on the break.
The arrival of Jordy Clasie suggests that he along with Wanyama will be the base the midfield will build on, but Clasie is much better at using the ball and turning defence into attack than Schneiderlin was, so the option to switch there perhaps wont be used so much.
Assuming Pelle continues as the spearhead, that leaves Tadic along with Mane, Long & Rodriguez battling for the two wide roles in the team and we havent even mentioned Juanmi, add him into the equation and we effectively have six attacking players for the three roles.
When it comes to previous form and again assuming Pelle is the central striker you would put in Mane and Rodriguez as the two wide attackers and it could be said that in the second half of the season Shane Long would push both very close for a place.
This means that perhaps Koeman will look at other options and it could be that he will consider moving Tadic into the centre to play in front of the two central midfielders, certainly it is something to consider although of course we still have Steven Davis and James Ward Prowse as options there plus Harrison Reed.
All of this highlights just how Ronald Koeman has carefully built up his squad over the past year and now with so many options we will start to see him utilise it and different formations used according to the game, he did this in the first half of the season, but less so in the second half due to at any given time so many being injured/suspended etc.
So perhaps the most important job for RoKo is to get the best out of Dusan Tadic, turn him into the prestigious talent that he showed he has the ability to become in the first half of last season, that is why I feel that Tadic might well be used in a more central role, with Wanyama and Clasie behind him to watch his back he might well be best used in that number 10 role as it is now called, picking up the ball in the cnentre and picking passes to either Pelle or the two wide men, with less emphasis on getting up and down the line it could be a role that is very suited to him.
Ronald Koeman is an experienced manager and a great footballing brain, he will know how to get the best out of not only Tadic but the whole squad, in the midfield and attack we are now very strong and that can be seen from the number of options we now have, not only numerically but in the fact that most can play at least two roles, last season we dropped out of the top four due to a lack of depth in the squad, already it is looking like we won't have that problem in the coming season.