Harwood-Bellis: Saints suits me perfectly
Taylor Harwood-Bellis believes Southampton is the right place for him to take his game onto new levels, after he completed a season-long loan move to the club from Manchester City.
The 21-year-old centre-back made the switch to St Mary’s on deadline day, joining Russell Martin’s Men’s First Team squad for the remainder of the 2023/24 campaign.
Despite his young age, he brings with him a significant amount of experience in the Championship from a variety of loan spells, firstly at Blackburn, then Stoke, and most notably last season at Burnley, where he played a key role in the team that won the title.
Yet Harwood-Bellis is firm in his belief that there is a great deal more he can learn, and he is looking forward to doing that under the guidance of Saints boss Martin.
"Obviously I've played against his teams when he was at Swansea, and we spoke about the ambitions he's got," said Harwood-Bellis. "We touched on the style of play that he wants to put into the team and, for me, I think it suited me down to the ground and it's how I want to play football and I'm hoping I can repay him this season.
"I said to the manager ‘Obviously I'm experienced at this level, but I've still got loads to improve on’. I'm a 21-year-old centre half, so I'm still so young and I'm willing to improve and hopefully he knows that, that I'll obviously listen to him and the staff, and I think I can improve massively as well."
Harwood-Bellis was watching with a keen eye during Southampton’s most-recent televised matches, as they won at both Sheffield Wednesday and Plymouth, and he explained that, even before the move came about, he could picture himself in the side.
"I was really impressed," he said. "Obviously, first game of the season it was the start of the season in the EFL and I was very impressed with how they played and was thinking to myself I can see myself playing in that team 100 per cent.
"Obviously Plymouth was a different type of win, in the last minute, and away from home it's tough, and obviously the team showed they have that side to them as well and hopefully I can help that as well."
Finding ways to grind out victories, and the places that quality can take you to, is something Harwood-Bellis knows the value of already.
"Obviously, I know this league and I know what it takes," he said. "People will say we ran away with it [at Burnley] and we did it with ease, but it couldn't be further from the truth. We had to grind out some days and you have to be on it 24/7 and that's what I'm willing to do coming here.
"Once you've had it once you want it again and I want nothing more than to get Southampton back to where they belong, in the Premier League. That's where my ambitions are as a player as well, so I want nothing less than that."
