This article is part of Football FanCast’s In Numbers series, which takes a statistical look at performances, season-long form and reported transfer targets…
The signing of Che Adams looks to be a good piece of business by Southampton.
At 23 years of age, he is young enough to increase in value and become even better, whilst he is also English which will help the Saints in terms of meeting their homegrown quota.
Aside from those factors, the £15m arrival from Birmingham also looks to be a good purchase due to his form in pre-season.
Adams netted three goals in friendly matches for Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side, showcasing his ruthless finishing and positional awareness.
However, against Burnley on the opening weekend of the new Premier League season, a familiar trend reared its ugly head.
As you can see, Adams didn’t play too well on his Premier League debut, and his teammates couldn’t carry him through the game either as the Saints were on the end of a 3-0 thumping.
Irregardless of the scoreline, the familiar trend that I had adhered to earlier was that Adams seems to be involved in a significant moment early on in a match, before going on to do very little in the time remaining.
For example, on his debut against SCR Altach, Adams netted inside the first two minutes before going on to do nothing else of note throughout the game.
In the next friendly after that, the 5 foot 9 striker scored again, this time even faster than his previous strike with this one coming inside the first minute – no more key involvements followed again, however.
In the next game against Feyenoord, Adams netted inside the first six minutes before again going on to be quiet.
Against Burnley, Adams had a decent chance within the first three minutes which hit the side netting, and from then on he was a mere spectator for what turned out to be the Ashley Barnes show.
His four fouls committed against the Clarets hint at signs of frustration due his lack of involvement, and he was arguably lucky not to see red for his ill-timed challenge on Ben Mee.
The former Birmingham City man must now amend this worrying pattern for himself, and for his new employers.