Southampton made no long-winded search for a new manager, even after losing a talented manger as Ronald Koeman, surprisingly to Everton. The Saints named Claude Puel as their next man in charge and it continues their philosophy of bringing in managers who can get things done.
In fact, the club have always had a replacement ready for any manager that left the club for “greener” pastures. They had a replacement ready for Mauricio Pochettino and now they have done the same for Ronald Koeman with the 54-year-old Puel.
Saints fans would be a little worried about what is transpiring at the club as they lost one of the brightest managers and also lost out on Sadio Mane but the signing of Puel does continue their tradition of having young managers who could do well.
While Puel has not managed the biggest club in France, PSG, he has done a stellar job with the other stints he has had. The Frenchman did win Ligue 1 with Monaco both as a player and manager and even was the manager of Lyon.
The 54-year-old didn’t have the greatest time at Lyon but did take them to the Champions League semi-finals for the first time in their history as they defeated Real Madrid along the way in 2010, which just goes to show that he does know about managing at the highest level in Europe.
Probably one thing that Saints fans can look forward to is Puel’s interaction with the young players. He is often credited with helping Thierry Henry improve during their training sessions as the Frenchman started as the physical trainer for Monaco after his playing days and then took over as manager at the club.
Puel also did extremely well with the Nice team recently in Ligue 1. He was able to get the best out of the maverick that is Hatem Ben Arfa, so much so that the former Newcastle attacker was even ridiculously linked with a move to Barcelona this season.
He did even help the side finish fourth in the league, which surely is a great feat for a team that dost have the greatest of resources and is exactly what Southampton can be seen as. They have a lot of young, quality players coming through the ranks and what they need is someone who can keep the team in the same track, helping them grow bit by bit and not going down to the lower divisions.
Southampton have always made shrewd managerial signings during this latest time in the Premier League and Claude Puel seems the perfect man for the job at the moment. He knows how to work with limited funds and has a history of doing well with young players, the board knows what the Frenchman is about and he should be able to take Southampton to the next level, if not keeping them to where they are.
Source: Soccer Souls