Glowing reviews sold Saints to Rothwell

The 29-year-old makes the short trip along the south coast to bolster Russell Martin’s ranks, arriving until the end of the season.

Having previously played at Blackburn with Adam Armstrong and Taylor Harwood-Bellis, as well as knowing fellow loanee Mason Holgate, the midfielder was sold on the move to St Mary’s following some conversations.

“They said it's a privilege to come in to work every day. It’s not often where you wake up and you're excited to go into work and they say that's how it's been now. The results help that, the lads are flying at the minute.

“I can't wait to finally get going and put my boots on and hopefully we can get the club back to where it belongs.

“It's been a frustrating few months and I've not played or had the minutes that I would have liked. And now I’m thankful to Southampton for allowing me to come here.

“Hopefully, I can come in and show my experience in this league and help them get over the line and hopefully by the end of the season it's a positive outcome.”

Rothwell, who boasts over 150 Championship appearances to his name from spells at Rovers and Blackpool, hopes to add some know-how in the middle of the pitch.

I think [my experience] could be massive, especially going down the stretch. When it's just relentless, games Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday, Wednesday every week. And as footballers that's what you want. You want to be playing games all the time.

“So as I say, hopefully I can come in and use my experience of playing in this league and help out and get us over the line, that's the end goal. That's the only [reason] why the manager wants to bring me here is to hopefully help the team and get them back up to where they should be.”