Since the departure of Virgil Van Dijk to Liverpool & Jose Fonte in January 2017 we have been crying out for a player with not only experience but quality in the centre of the defence, is Duje Caleta-Car that man ? Ralph Hasenhuttl things he is.
The Croatian has been at the club now for a little under two weeks and so far he has yet to pull on a Saints shirt let along get on the pitch, unlike the likes of Samue Edozie or Aysnslie Maitland Niles, his clearance did not come through in time for him to be involved at Wolverhampton Wanderers and then the Brentford game was cancelled last weekend in respect to the death of the Queen.
As I write whether the game at Aston Villa will be played is still up in the air as the Premier League dither, unlike the EFL who have been very prompt in keeping supporters informed and announcing the return of games vey quickly when it became clear they could be played.
If the Villa game is played then with an International break after this weekend it could be exactly a month since he signed before Caleta-Car before he gets to pull on the shirt let alone start a game.
But when he does start Ralph Hasenhuttl has no doubt he will be an asset to the squad:
"I wanted to sign him one time for Leipzig when I was manager there, and we decided to go for (Dayot) Upmecano. Sometimes in football your paths are crossing and you meet each other again. I’m very happy to have him here. He’s a super character, a fantastic player, and can give us a lot of stability in the future.”
Asked what his strengths were, Hasenhuttl added:
"With the heading he is not so bad, especially defensively. He has very good positioning on the pitch and knows how we want to play with ball-orientated defending and this is helpful.
"This is the perfect age for a centre-back. He’s played in more than two different countries and comes to the best league in the world which is a super big step but I think he is looking forward to helping this club and this is good.”
So with the Croatian turning 26 on Saturday could he finally be that mix of quality and experience that we have lacked at the back since the acrimonious departures of Virgil Van Dijk and Jose Fonte back in January 2017, when they were dragged from the club by wild horses according to some.
We perhaps thought that we had that back in the summer of 2018 when we signed Jannik Vestergaard, ironically almost exactly the same age to a week or so, that Caleta-Car was when he signed.
Vestergaard did not turn out to have any leadership qualities of such, indeed he didn't seem to really gel with any of the central defensive partners he played alongside, hardly surprising when you look who they where and aside from a Purple patch in 20/21 season for half a dozen games or so he rarely shone.
Vestergaard was never going to fit into a side under Ralph Hasenhuttl, the system relies on pace and ability on the ball in the defence and Vestergaard had neither, but it seems that, if Ralph Hasenhuttl is to be believed that Duje Caleta-Car may finally be that player that we have been lacking.
So it looks like things are looking up in our defence this season, we finally have at least three central defenders that can play, added to a number of full backs in the same mode, add to that the strengthening of the midfield and the Saints side under Hasenhuttl with the money of the new owners is now starting to evolve and it seems that is job is not finished yet.