da luck： Before the start of this season, £20m came out of Southampton’s bank account as their obligation to buy Danny Ings from Liverpool came into play.
da pixbet： The one-cap England international had spent the previous campaign on loan at St Mary’s from Anfield, scoring just seven goals for the club – in that respect, there may have been concerns regarding whether the Saints were getting value for money or not.
However, this term, Ings has shone – let’s take a look at three things we’ve learned about the striker this season…
He can keep himself fit
There were worries over Ings’ fitness during his Liverpool days. Serious worries.
The former Burnley man had suffered cruciate damage in his left knee under Jurgen Klopp, and then suffered serious cartilage damage in his other knee shortly after returning, which led to a lengthy lay off.
One injury of that severity is worrying, let alone two, although this season, he has appeared in all 29 Premier League games, which is really good to see.
Still has an England career
After his injury-stricken time at Anfield, in which he missed a total of 85 games, it looked like Ings faced an uphill battle to add to his one England cap.
However, after hitting 15 Premier League goals this season, Gareth Southgate was preparing to hand the striker an audition ahead of EURO 2020 with Harry Kane battling against injury.
The tournament has since been postponed until 2021, although the Saints star clearly hasn’t fallen out of Three Lions contention entirely.
Partnerships are key
At Burnley, Ings often played in a two-man attack alongside Sam Vokes under Sean Dyche, working well with the physical frontman to net 43 goals in 130 games for the Clarets.
This season, while the Southampton No.9 is no longer next to a towering forward, he has spoken openly about his love of playing alongside Shane Long, believing that the Irishman’s selfless running and work off the ball has helped him score more regularly.
Can you remember how much each of these transfer icons cost? Only experts will get 100% on our quiz…
Partnerships are clearly key to Ings.
In other news, this Southampton man has been rinsing Gao’s bank account for 88 weeks…