Nathan Wood

Wood's pace is the single attribute that shows up in every description of how he plays, quick enough to have been clocked at sprinter level as a schoolboy. He is quick enough now to recover from a mistimed step without a striker punishing him for it. That speed also lets him operate further up the pitch than a typical centre back, occasionally filling in on the left of midfield when a manager needs extra legs there.

The question with any young centre back this reliant on recovery speed is what happens as he learns to read situations earlier. Pace alone eventually stops being enough against smarter forwards who manipulate the run rather than simply outrunning it. He broke into first team football remarkably young at his previous club, which suggests the raw talent was obvious early. Southampton now need to see whether the positional sense catches up with the legs.