Transcript
DailySaintsPod: Good morning. Good afternoon. Good evening. Welcome to the Daily Saints pod with a host on his lonesome today. It's me Zach Unfortunately, Gregory has been struck down by illness, a nasty case of food poisoning.
DailySaintsPod: Won't need to go into any more detail than that, but, you know, it does mean that, unfortunately, we we're going to postpone our proper sort of transfer roundup episode.
DailySaintsPod: Because it just didn't feel right. recording it sort of on on my own. And sort of just. So it's worthy of a discussion, I think. And, you know, we want to share our thoughts to one another as well. So we're going to probably put that off until he's back.
DailySaintsPod: maybe it'll be an extra episode this week. If not, it will be probably early next week. As we know, we've got. the matches come in thick and fast. But yeah, it just didn't feel didn't feel right analysing the entire window on my own. So instead, in classic Zack episode fashion... I'm going to do a player profile. because those are one of the ones that, you know... So I've spent a bit of time doing some research, and today we're going to be discussing Zach Abbott.
DailySaintsPod: our new centre -back to replace the unfortunate outgoing Taylor Harwood -Bellis. So I've put as much information as I possibly can together on him. It's been... More difficult. Obviously, with him being, you know, not making as many senior appearances as I think...
DailySaintsPod: A lot of the fan base would have liked. But more so, there just doesn't seem to be a lot of like scout reporting, at least, available to the general public. But I've put together as much information as I possibly can, and I'll share all of it. with you today including all my sources and all my bits and pieces so shall we should we crack on So Zach Abbott was born on the 13th of May. 2006 and he is with us on loan from Nottingham Forest for the entirety of this campaign.
DailySaintsPod: There was a lot happening when he departed. There was supposedly an option to buy. That didn't materialize and instead it's now a straight loan.
DailySaintsPod: And in fact, before he left, he extended his contract with Nottingham Forest until 2030. He said And this is a direct quote. I had memorable experiences last year that have given me even more hunger to improve and continue my development.
DailySaintsPod: It's a great feeling to extend my contract further and now it's about continuing to work hard every day and gaining as much experience as possible to put me in the best position to represent this club for the years ahead.
DailySaintsPod: So often we talk about not falling in love with a lone player. This is very much that scenario, right? This is the perfect example. Unless... there is some crazy money deal or he falls in love with the club and wants to stay very much by the looks of it is going to be returning to forest at the end of this campaign with any luck with a promotion under his belt So as I alluded to, he was signed as a replacement for Taylor Harwood -Bellis, who has now completed his move to Aston Villa.
DailySaintsPod: and you know with k quasi out on loan as well we we look a little bit light. You know, Schlotterbeck's been great. He's played... Two games in very quick succession since his transfer. There's Stephens and Wood, but outside of that, not really a lot.
DailySaintsPod: He's a right -footed centre -back, primarily. And a lot of Nottingham Forest fans and, you know... reporters and stuff are quite looking forward to him actually playing at centre -back because he's also spent a lot of time deputising in right -back. And even in the past, he's he you know stepped in as defensive midfielder, so... When we talk about coverage that we've lost, right back.
DailySaintsPod: Worst comes to worst, we have a loan player that can cover there, right? He's been with Nottingham Forest since he was 11 years old and joined in 2017. He was a member of their Academy.
DailySaintsPod: and managed to make the final of the FA Youth Cup in 2022, finishing as runners -up to Manchester United So, you know, not... too bad to to sort of have that level of pedigree when you start.
DailySaintsPod: He properly debuted for Forest in 2022 in a 3 -0 win over Grimsby Town in the EFL Cup. I can't remember well if that's when we went out against them. I don't think so. I think it might have been the year after.
DailySaintsPod: But he has played in an FA Cup semi -final at Wembley last year in April 2025, where they ultimately lost 2 -0, but he did manage a whole 83 minutes of the game. Just remembered, originally, the FA Youth Cup, I think, actually took place at Old Trafford. So, hey -ho.
DailySaintsPod: But yeah, my point is that he's he's been in some sort of quite important games considering and some quite competitive games, right? Regardless of whether they're youth cups or not. you know That was an actual FA Cup semi -final.
DailySaintsPod: And then he's also been in the youth cup final. I think you gain a lot of experience in any sort of big competition, right? And I think there's a bit of disrespect to say that you know,
DailySaintsPod: Some of the... the competitions at youth level aren't as competitive right especially when we talk about his international experiences later on. There have been a lot of question marks about... his lack of appearances at a senior level.
DailySaintsPod: which is understandable. But to be to clear things up. He's played a lot of football. He's not just been... sort of sat on the sidelines waiting. he He's been playing a lot of sort of Premier League too and playing a lot of youth football up until this point.
DailySaintsPod: Uh... he has managed to rack up. 34 appearances for their under -18s, significantly more in the under -21s, where he managed 88 appearances, which included four goals and two assists, and since then has gone on to make 11 appearances in total for their senior squad.
DailySaintsPod: And we've outlined some of the sort of more important ones early on. This includes over 166 minutes in three appearances in the Premier League.
DailySaintsPod: 505 minutes over seven appearances in the Europa League. which, you know, whilst isn't a huge amount, it's still more football than I think he's being given credit for, as if he's barely played a senior game. He's played, you know, directly in Europe. And you'll remember when we had... Fun. He barely got a sniff in in the Europa League. So, you know, he's he's played... some quite high level games.
DailySaintsPod: uh In total, 135 appearances, four goals, two assists and over 11 ,000 minutes of recorded football played since the 2021 -2022 season. And I think if you kind of outline it like that.
DailySaintsPod: there is far more experience than we give him credit for and We have brought in other players who have had less, in my opinion. Not just my opinion. Some of that's like factual, depending on which leagues people have played in. like He's played a lot, and there's a reason he's touted as being almost...
DailySaintsPod: Almost like a natural replacement for Taylor Harwood -Bellis And we'll get on to his illustrious use... international career. Also, He made his debut for the under -16s against Netherlands in 2022.
DailySaintsPod: and has had caps for pretty much all of the youth squads right up until the under -20s, and even scored. whilst playing for the under -19s. He capped into the England squad in the under -19 Euros, scoring a goal in a 5 -5 draw with Germany, which...
DailySaintsPod: Feels like it kind of must have been a mad game, quite frankly. I've not seen Jai scoring draw in a long time. Uh... During that... like campaign especially in the build -up in the qualifiers he was actually noticed by a scout from Gateshead.
DailySaintsPod: as a standout performance in a 2 -0 winning qualifying. And the reason that I make that point is that it's like the nearest I could find to... proper scouts kind of talking about him.
DailySaintsPod: Online, there might be resources that maybe I don't have access to. but a lot of the information that you can find are a lot of players kind of goes like this. Stats.
DailySaintsPod: from from various different websites that most of the time match up but maybe might have some additional competitions, et cetera, followed by football manager stats, followed by FIFA stats. Followed by...
DailySaintsPod: news articles that actually mention and talk about them and this is in one of the aforementioned news articles and aforementioned news article will be attached The article was from March in 2025.
DailySaintsPod: uh and they kind of expected him. You know, they used it as a jumping on off point to talk about him going out on loan. And obviously he didn't and instead spent a bit of time around the first team. not a huge amount of time, but did obviously make an impact in the European campaign.
DailySaintsPod: But in regards to England internationals in the youth level, he's made 27 international appearances, the most of which, as I said, came in the under -19s where he scored that one goal.
DailySaintsPod: And his last international appearance for the under -21s was actually against Italy. in March this year. where he capped in the side and played the full 90 in a 3 -3 draw.
DailySaintsPod: which was you Pretty good, considering he also played alongside... some, you know, ex -Saints players, Jayden Meghoma who I think has recently just joined Pompey on loan. from Brentford after going to Brentford from
DailySaintsPod: But either way, he you know, he would have been at least...
DailySaintsPod: been aware of the Saints squad and is one of those connections to Southampton another which is a former Saint Jimmy Jay- Morgan who has had a great lot start to life in the championship with the Baggies. Already started to score a couple of goals. these are the kind of players that he's been in and around. And whilst Magoma's career has taken, you know, a bit bit bit of a...
DailySaintsPod: I've had a bit of turmoil. Jimmy Jay- Morgan's also with his obviously transfer to Chelsea. But you know he has jumped into a championship team and is now scoring goals. So ultimately...
DailySaintsPod: yu yougo These are the kind of players that he's he's kind of on the level with, which is why we should probably have a bit more trust in him. He is now with us and hopefully will have a role to play in another promotion season. Tonda is really impressed with him, praising his character and mentality, which with what... we're trying to do
DailySaintsPod: where we're at is very, very important. And I know that there's a lot of controversy around transfers and... Me and Greg will... probably have a conversation and most likely some differing opinions because whilst I know we're quite light up the top. I actually think it's been a very good window. We got some of our really, really important business done.
DailySaintsPod: very very early. And whilst you know we'd have loved to have been able to you know have an option to buy, fortunately that just wasn't the case because all of it was being done on the last day. all of it being done on the last day, because again, we didn't know if Taylor was going to be gone or not.
DailySaintsPod: we wouldn't you know there was lots of negotiating going on left right and center But... I think it's a bit more of an exciting transfer. than people have given it credit for because there's a lot of that sort of taylor harwood bellis when Burnley got promoted.
DailySaintsPod: And. the large right. And on top of that, he adds a bit more depth and we kind of quite first realised because worse comes to worse he can cover it right back because that was also a a position that I think looked a bit light right the forward stuff. yeah, I can kind of get it.
DailySaintsPod: but arguably with what's going on with Ross Stewart's injury. even if we'd managed to keep Ross Stewart. I... it would be difficult right because we probably would have ended up keeping archer And Edozie so far hasn't got the move that he's wanted, but there's still windows open elsewhere. We also weren't able to ship Ramsdale.
DailySaintsPod: So I think the... He's almost suffered a little bit from the circumstances of because people are annoyed at. the business done at the end of the window. And the fact that, you know,
DailySaintsPod: Our first choice went to Fulham. we didn't quite have the pull because again, probably a league.
DailySaintsPod: I don't think that's a reason to kind of write it off and and you know write him off as well. And he was also very thrilled to be here. He was rumoured to have the choice between basically us and Millwall. Millwall were the other club that supposedly came in for a loan for him. And he chose us. And he said, obviously, to the media. So there's probably going to be a bit of media training in there. As soon as I heard Southampton were coming in, I wanted to be here. Since I've been a young young... This club has been a massive club. I've watched it for so many years in the Premier League and I think that's where it deserves to be. I want to be a winner. I want to win games as much as I can. And my promise is that I'll try my best in everything I can do and work hard every single day so that I can be a benefit to the club and myself. And like...
DailySaintsPod: All of the correct words will hopefully see that level of attitude on the pitch. as I said before, like having to step into those quite... serious roles and quite important games in the first team.
DailySaintsPod: Uh, very, very early on and sort of without really having a lot of build up. shows a level of maturity and ability to kind of take that stuff on. Regardless of whether it's you know under...
DailySaintsPod: 21. or under 20 internationals who capped in a side rule. shows that you need some level of maturity, right? and And I think for... it has the opportunity to be Something really great.
DailySaintsPod: but hopefully not too great enough that we get absolutely devastated when he leaves. but I think it's far more... exciting prospect than... a lot of people have given it credit for. Again,
DailySaintsPod: part of me is just going to put that down to what felt like almost a very a very disappointing end to a window. where actually we did most of our business so early on that you know we didn't really want to panic buy people towards the end.
DailySaintsPod: And I think that he adds a level of depth. the... you know, we were worried about with Sugawara going and Rorislav being kind of injury prone at the moment. but That's that. That's kind of how he will be settling into the side. As we all like to know, I also like to take take a look at the agency.
DailySaintsPod: that a player is involved in and i always just find i just think it's just something i find fascinating because sometimes you can look at agency and see how conversations have happened how people when they sort of settle into teams, how they how they work with other players because they might already know them, potentially through the agency. And unlike quite a lot of the recent players that we've talked about that are kind of parts of...
DailySaintsPod: agencies with maybe like four or five players or almost in some sense says family run agencies Zack is not. he is a part of the caa stellar agency which are a massive football agency they have they have names like elliot anderson kobe mainu i remember Ezri Konzer.
DailySaintsPod: players at both Barca and Real Madrid. One of the things that I did notice, though, which I thought was kind of fascinating, especially with some forest links in James Ward -Prowse, is that there are lots of Saints players too.
DailySaintsPod: On that list is James Ward -Prowse, Jay Robinson, former Saints striker Adam Armstrong. former winger Nathan Tella and former centre -back Mohamed Salisu
DailySaintsPod: the agency said they proudly boast on their website. that They have £2 billion pounds market value of football clients. And yeah, having a look at some of the names on that list, check out, you know.
DailySaintsPod: jordan Pickfords on there Ivan Toney there's there's significantly more but you know At that point, all I would be doing is is listing a bunch of players from elsewhere.
DailySaintsPod: That's it for the episode today. That's all the information that I've been able to muster on Zach Abbott. Very strange to have a player with much sharing my name. Not spelt like mine. Spelt the CH way. but I look forward to seeing him in action in a Saint shirt.
DailySaintsPod: I think that he's got definitely the right attitude. I think that he's played in some very important moments for both club and country. Yes, he might be a youth player.
DailySaintsPod: Yes, we'd have loved to have probably you know brought in somebody with more experience. We'd have loved, honestly, probably to keep Taylor Harwood -Bellis, but such is the life of football. It would have been lovely if he had an option to buy because what's inevitably going to happen now is he's going to absolutely rip up the rest of the season and then we're going to be absolutely devastated when he goes back to his parent club. but that is the business that has been done.
DailySaintsPod: do not judge too harshly until we've seen him play. There's a lot of people saying that because he's played... you know youth football we might not be good enough Dippling became good enough Jay Robinson.
DailySaintsPod: became good enough you know Bragg is playing And it's good enough. So let's, you know, let's back the lad and i hope that it turns out to be a successful loan spell for our sake too. we are chasing promotion.
DailySaintsPod: He is aware of that. the club is aware of that. and whilst a lot of people are dubious about the transfer window We did most of our best business at the beginning. Remember that.
DailySaintsPod: we've We've signed Lara now. We've signed, you know... parets. Weave. got James Brie on a contract, and now we've brought in a young, exciting centre -back who you know has the same sort of pedigree as James. as Sorry.
DailySaintsPod: tyler taylor harwood bellis especially captaining the international one of his you know hit the under 19 international side so yeah Let's back him. Let's see what happens.
DailySaintsPod: I think that as I always kind of do when I finish these episodes, I come out with a a bit more of an appreciation for the players we get. and a bit more of the appreciation. for the future So that's that. We should be back, hopefully, tomorrow. with a match preview greg should hopefully be back with me hopefully he's feeling better I wish him all the best. I know he'll be listening in.
DailySaintsPod: Thank you to all of our wonderful listeners. Obviously, we're back into full swing of the season now. so we got So we've got games coming thick and fast. We're doing late night recordings and hopefully these technical gremlins we keep having to deal with will go away soon. We are on all of the social medias. We are on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram. tick tock All of them.
DailySaintsPod: If there's a social media, we're probably there. If we've not posted a lot recently... just because making clips has become a bit of a pain with the the issues that we've got. But until next time, have a... wonderful morning, afternoon or evening, whatever you're up to and we'll see you in the next one.
