Steve Grant has raised concerns over Southampton loanee Kyle Walker-Peters in the latest episode of the Total Saints Podcast published on Sunday night.
What did he say?
Well, following the departure of Cedric Soares to Arsenal during the January transfer window, Saints fans may well have assumed that Walker-Peters was going to be their first-choice right-back following his temporary move from Tottenham Hotspur.
However, it hasn’t quite worked out like that with the 22-year-old making one appearance so far, and being an unused substitute in the previous two Premier League fixtures.
Speaking about Yan Valery’s mistake that led to Newcastle United’s winner at St Mary’s at the weekend, Grant said (18:00): “It’s kind of a damning indictment of Kyle Walker-Peters that the lad’s been fit and back in the squad for the past two games, and Ralph’s decided against West Ham he’d rather play James Ward-Prowse there.
“And against Newcastle, he’d rather put Valery in who’s played even less football in the last five months than he has.”
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Where does KWP go from here?
It’s hardly a glowing endorsement of his ability.
The Spurs youngster would surely have been hoping to make a big impression at St Mary’s in order to try and prove himself to his parent club, or do enough to earn a move to another Premier League club if he does leave the north London outfit in the summer.
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However, his sole outing to date came in a home defeat against Burnley, and he has seen a midfielder and a man who hadn’t played since the 9-0 loss against Leicester City back in October preferred ahead of him in recent weeks.
Walker-Peters clearly has a lot of work to do on the training ground to prove he deserves a regular spot in the starting XI for the south coast outfit, and he may well get his chance against Norwich City given Valery’s error last time out.
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