Southampton Opinion: Why Ritsu Doan would be a top fit for the Saints?
According to a report from Calciomercato, Southampton are interested in signing FC Groningen star Ritsu Doan in the summer transfer window.
At the age of just 20, the Japanese is already one of the Eredivisie’s most exciting midfielders, impressing with his skill-set and dynamism. He has scored five goals and supplied three assists in his second Eredivisie season and his performances have caught the attention of Southampton, who managed to beat the drop under Ralph Hasenhuttl.
Hasenhuttl has made a positive impact since replacing Mark Hughes at the St. Mary’s. He has made the Saints play a pressing brand of football, brought the best out of most of the players and gave the fans something to cheer about in a short space of time. The Austrian manager, however, knows he’ll need to take a dip in the market to strengthen his squad for avoiding another relegation battle.
The Southampton board must back Hasenhuttl significantly in the summer transfer window. Hasenhuttl has a glowing reputation of nurturing the young talents and he has already shown that at Southampton as well. His style of play involves young, quick and agile players that can interchange positions, press the opposition higher up the pitch and score goals.
Ritsu Doan is one such exciting player, who will be a brilliant fit under Hasenhuttl at the St. Mary’s Stadium. The Japanese is creative playmaker by trade, but his versatile nature allows him to play in different positions across the midfield. He can add a bit more firepower to a Southampton front-line that did so well in recent times, especially since the arrival of Hasenhuttl.
The 20-year-old is a speed bullet, renowned for his skill-set, dynamism and work-rate. He likes to dribble with the ball at his feet and carve open defences at will. Doan has excellent passing and crossing abilities and operates with a certain kind of flair which makes him such a delightful player to watch.
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Southampton have an attacking unit of Nathan Redmond, Shane Long, James Ward-Prowse and Danny Ings, but they could do with adding more quality to that area. Doan could help them in that cause from next season onwards, as the 11-cap Japan international is exactly the type of player Hasenhuttl likes to work with.
Verdict
Hasenhuttl has improved a lot of players at Southampton, most notably Nathan Redmond. The fans will hope that their manager can get the best out of Doan if he joins.
Doan has shown his ability in the Eredivisie and there is a certain belief he could take the Premier League by storm as well.