This Southampton strike pairing has Eckert dreaming before Watford
Why Eckert rates the new number nine
Well, Tonda Eckert has clearly done his homework on Divin Mubama. Ask him about the loan signing and he skips the usual welcome-to-the-club waffle. He goes all the way back to a game he watched before he even had the senior job, City's under-21s against Saints. The kid who kept scoring that day stuck with him.
"A clear number nine, someone who knows how to score goals," is how he summed it up. That ambition impresses him too.
There's substance behind the praise. Ankle injury aside, Mubama still managed five Championship goals in 28 games on loan at Stoke last term, one of them a hat-trick in a 5-1 hammering of Bristol City. Not a bad shout for a 21-year-old finding his feet in the division.
Eckert let slip a smaller detail fans will enjoy. The pair sat down for a long meeting the day before, working through the squad name by name, and Mubama already knew most of his new teammates and how they play. Saints Marching reckoned he'd be raring to go the moment the paperwork cleared. Eckert's tone backed that up.
The father-and-son line that says plenty
Then came the quote of the afternoon. Asked whether Cyle Larin and Mubama could be the new axis up top after Ross Stewart's free move to Swansea, Eckert smiled and called it "more father and son than two players at the same age."
What a way to frame it. Larin, signed permanently in June after his January loan from Mallorca, is the streetwise 31-year-old who got Saints going with the first goal in the cup win at Colchester. Mubama is 21 and still learning the trade. And here's the bit that should please everyone: Eckert reckons Larin sees the newcomer not as a rival but as someone to bring on.
That reshapes the picture up front. Ben Brereton Diaz started at Colchester and struggled, so the manager suddenly has proper choices. He called it "a luxury," and pointed to how much Saints changed that cup tie from the bench.
Watford won't roll over, mind. Alessio Dionisi's side are quick in transition and dangerous through the wingers, much as his Sassuolo teams were, and Eckert admitted Saints will have to graft to break the game open at Vicarage Road.
With a four-point deduction hanging over the season, a bright start would settle a lot of nerves. Whichever of them fires it, though, the head coach fancies his attack. Saints Marching has already mapped where the Shea Charles money ought to go, and a settled front line frees it up elsewhere.
Sunday, at last, gives Saints fans their first proper look.
Today's best reads
This manager has declared that Southampton is Premier League ready before Watford
Morning roundup: Cowley hails Saints, Larin call looms, Thursday 13th August
The absence from Southampton’s opening training session that will unsettle Tonda Eckert
One obvious Watford weakness Saints can exploit at Vicarage Road
This Southampton forward could pay the price for the Mubama loan
