Why Yari Verschaeren would be a tailor-made fit for Southampton
According to the Calciomercato, Southampton are interested in making a move for Belgian starlet Yari Verschaeren, with the report claiming that Saints boss Ralph Hasenhuttl is keen to bring the talented teenager to St. Mary’s.
Born in Antwerp, Belgium, Verschaeren played for Kruibeke and Waasland-Beveren before joining Anderlecht’s youth setup at the age of 9.
The highly-rated playmaker caught the eye with his rapid development and was handed his first professional contract in 2017, with his professional bow coming midway through the 2018-19 season.
Anderlecht have carved out a reputation for producing some top-quality youngsters over the years, many of whom have gone on to establish themselves in the Premier League, and Yari Verschaeren has been tipped by many to be the next poster boy of the club’s widely-revered academy.
Having only turned 18 a couple of months ago, Yari Verschaeren has already made a total of 28 first-team appearances for Anderlecht since his debut in November last year, scoring a couple of goals and assisting a further four in the process.
As well as his rapid rise at Anderlecht, the teenager playmaker has also enjoyed a meteoric rise in the national team ranks simultaneously, featuring for Belgium U-21s at the 2019 UEFA European U-21 Championship held in Italy and San Marino earlier in the summer.
He made his senior international debut as a late substitute against Scotland in the Euro 2020 qualifiers during the recent international break.
And Verschaeren’s obvious talent and vast potential have apparently not eluded the eyes of the Saints, who have reinstated the policy of nurturing young talents at the club since the arrival of Ralph Hasenhuttl at the helm of affairs and are constantly on the hunt to pluck out emerging starlets from all corners of the globe.to
To put things into perspective, Hasenhuttl’s emphasis on youth and the subsequent change in the club’s recruitment policy have already shown early signs of reaping rich rewards in the future and someone like Yari Verschaeren, who is also regarded as a top0quality young talent, certainly fits the bill at St. Mary’s.
Southampton splashed the cash to bring in talented youngsters like Moussa Djenepo and Che Adams this summer but Hasenhuttl still needs to a couple of more transfer windows to bring about a complete change in personnel in his ranks.
The manager’s change to a narrow 4-2-2-2 system from a back-three style has already looked like a step in the right direction, with Hasenhuttl attempting to replicate the system that brought him a lot of success during his tenure at RB Leipzig.
This kind of formation requires the presence of two inside forwards playing off the front two and in front of a double pivot in the central midfield.
While the likes of Djenepo, Sofiane Boufal, Michael Obafemi and James Ward-Prowse have all been tried out in that role, one can get the feeling that Verschaeren, with his ability to play on either flank and also through the centre, could be a tailor-made fit for Hasenhuttl’s new style at Southampton.
The Belgian starlet, though, still in the developmental phase of his career, has already showcased his ability to make an impact at the highest level and it is easy to see why he would be a real coup for the Saints.
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The 18-year-old isn’t likely to come cheap but Southampton should not hesitate to fork out a sizeable fee to complete a move for him in the near future.