WILL SMALLBONE HAS capped a breakthrough campaign at Southampton by winning the club’s Young Player of the Season award.
The 20-year-old made 10 first-team appearances and marked his debut with a goal in January’s 2-0 win against Huddersfield Town in the FA Cup third round.
Smallbone was recently rewarded with a new four-year contract by the Saints, with manager Ralph Hasenhüttl commenting: “Will is a young man who is part of the future of this football club. He has made some big steps this season, and he is someone who has a lot of potential to continue to grow as a player.”
The English-born midfielder has represented the Republic of Ireland on the international stage, earning U19 caps as recently as March of last year.
In June, he spoke of his desire to follow in the footsteps of clubmates Michael Obafemi and Shane Long by breaking into the Irish senior set-up.
“It’s a massive dream of mine to go on and become a full international,” he said. “To have people like Michael and Shane in the team who have both played for Ireland is really helpful.”
Southampton’s overall Player of the Season award went to striker Danny Ings.
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That’s exactly where he should be playing for Ireland with Stevens and Doherty as wing backs
@Nicholas Ryan: yup, nowhere near the standard in the position he has previously excelled at. But same accusation can be made of the lad playing in front of him for Ireland. Neither him or McClain have been anywhere near to International standard for well over a year….
@ℝ: In fairness, you could at least say that McClain was somewhat distracted with shooting those die hard movies
@Stephen Lyons: haha
@Nicholas Ryan: totally agree. With the players we have available to us that’s the formation we should be playing and personal also.
@Nicholas Ryan: I agree. Similar to Gary Nev when he switched from Right Back to Centre Back. With Doherty at RB, it’s a strong part of the Irish lineup
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