You always had the impression that when Jan Bednarek returned from the Euros last summer, he came back with an attitude that he had never previously shown, now it seems that is indeed the case.
When Jan Bednarek joined Saints in the summer of 2017 he was a young central defender who at 21 years old had only played a handful of games in his native Poland, he had to wait for his chance at St Mary's but came in at the end of a season of struggle and then established himself in the Saints first team, winning caps for Poland in the process.
He was a steady figure in the Saints defence and in December 2020 was happy enough at St Mary's to put pen to paper to a new five year deal and said at the time:
"I still see myself as a player who can improve a lot at this place, so there was only one decision for me to sign a new contract and help Southampton to become a better club.”
Yet 8 months later he returned from the Euros and something had changed, he was left out of the opening games of the Premier league season and his body language spoke of someone who had been told by his agent that he could get him into a bigger club.
In fairness he knuckled down for a while but by the end of last season he looked like he didn't want to be there and that seemed to be the case in pre season this and it was clear that he felt he was bigger and better than the club.
It seemed that he felt that a move to a big club was now inevitable, but as the weeks dragged by there seemed to be few bids with only Aston Villa & West Ham being linked, but the problem for the defender is that neither saw him as a long term option, both saw him only as a loan signing to cover medium to long term injuries in the centre of their defence, in short he was a stop gap.
It was Villa who won the race for his signature on a season long loan and now Bednarek has reacted and has spoken out as if he is their big money signing and he has hit the big time.
"I'm happy and excited," he said. "I'm looking forward to the new adventure. It's a great opportunity for me and another great step. That's a really important one for me, to move to a bigger club and improve as a player."
Asked what attracted him to Villa in the end, Bednarek said: "The manager, the facilities and the club. It's a massive club in England. Coming from Poland, I wasn't aware of how big Villa were.
"I'm really happy to be here. The fans are amazing, the stadium is amazing and so is the training ground. I'm really happy to be at this club."
This has annoyed some Saints supporters, it is clear that Bednarak has no respect for a club that gave him his big break in football and have paid his wages for the last 5 years and indeed who he will be contracted to for a further 2 years when he will return to be a Saints player next May after his loan spell ends.
Perhaps it is becoming clearer as to where the comments about Ralph Hasenhuttl losing the dressing room have come from, certainly since Bednarek's last Premier League action when he was pulled from the game in the 70th minute with Saints 2-0 down against Leeds, suddenly the team has shown a spirit that was lacking and they are clearly behind the manager,
Bedanrek, 160 minutes game time in the Premier League for Saints saw 6 goals conceded, in the 300 minutes since we have conceded just 3, coincidence, I think not !
But what really grates is the fact that he is waxing lyrical about a side that only finished a place above Saints last season and indeed have consistently finished below us in the past 10 seasons, despite spending big.
But they haven't spent big on Jan Bednarek, they don't rate him highly enough to actually buy him outright, this isn't a last minute deal, this has been going on for two weeks, if the player sees this as his next big step then certainly his employers for the next 8 months don't, they see him as a cheap stop gap till they get £26 million signing Diego Carlos back from his injury next season.
Most Saints fans will be hoping that Bednarek fails at Villa, I don't if he fails then we will be stuck with a player who doesn't want to play for us and will only have a low transfer fee, personally I hope he does well then perhaps Villa will actually want to buy him and then we can get a fee that matches his ego !
I actually like Aston Villa as a club, I don't think anyone would disagree they are a bigger club than us, but at the moment their standing in the Premier League is not a lot different than ours.