Southampton plans to retain 4 essential players Saints fans feared leaving

Southampton plans to retain James Bree, Ross Stewart, Daniel Peretz and Cyle Larin for the 2026/27 Championship season whom Saints fans feared leaving.

After a pin-drop silence for 2 weeks, Southampton have finally communicated the club’s thoughts on the whole ‘Spygate’ saga. Owner and chairman Dragan Solak has heavily backed Saints boss Tonda Eckert in his statements.

Eckert himself has apologised to Southampton fans on the matter. Barring an FA ban, it’s plain and clear that Tonda Eckert will remain as the head coach to lead the 2026/27 Premier League promotion charge. All in all, the club apology and clarity fans had wanted for so long has now come.

As expected, Solak and Eckert’s comments have been met with supportive reactions from the Southampton fanbase. Hopefully, Eckert soon gets the clean sheet from FA. That would bring Southampton to the second priority at the moment, holding on to as many essential starters as possible.

Southampton plans to retain 4 essential players Saints fans feared leaving

Players like Leo Scienza, Shea Charles and Taylor Harwood-Bellis are bound to generate transfer interest throughout the summer but atleast their contracts aren’t expiring. Therefore, most of those names can be convinced to stick around for one more season.

However, the situation is difficult with on-loan players and free agents. These include the quartet of James Bree, Ross Stewart, Daniel Peretz and Cyle Larin. Fans have feared their departures the most throughout the ‘Spygate’ scandal.

Now, with Southampton about to see the end of this whole affair there is a relieving update to look forward to. According to Daily Echo reporter Alfie House: “Saints will try to keep James Bree and Ross Stewart, who are on expiring deals, and they will also pursue loanees Cyle Larin and Daniel Peretz again.”

Southampton quartet were unexpected heroes from 2025/26 season

Starting with James Bree, he falls in the category of above-average Championship players who just can’t seem to cut it in the Premier League. This time last summer, Southampton had almost made up their mind about selling him and brought in the Danish pair of Mads Roerslev from Brentford and loaned Elias Jelert from Galatasaray to replace him.

However, none of them consistently suited Will Still’s and Tonda Eckert’s tactical setup. When Bree came, Tonda turned him into a versatile fullback capable of covering ground across both ends of the pitch. And scoring goals, of course.

Ross Stewart was in a similar disadvantaged situation as Bree 12 months ago. It was initially a big surprise when Southampton retained him but over time, the “Loch Ness Drogba” stepped up with 11 goals spread across the Championship and FA Cup. One of them even came in the 2-1 Middlesbrough playoff semifinal win, a result which was later discarded due to the ‘Spygate’ affair.

Moving on to Daniel Peretz, it’s wise to admit Johannes Spors just hit the jackpot with his loan signing. Ever since the Fraser Forster days, Southampton never really had a goalkeeper who could pull breath-taking saves to bail out the defence.

Now, the Saints do have a safety net in goal in Peretz and he needs to be signed permanently at all costs. Unlike Bree and Stewart, Peretz is still a young player at 25 and can continue being useful even after Southampton reaches the Premier League.

Lastly, Cyle Larin is the fourth essential player on this list. Similar to Ross Stewart, he is the only other Southampton player heading to the upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup. He arrived at the club with a rather terrible reputation, owing to just 1 goal in the first 6 months of the season.

Despite that, Eckert used Larin as an aerial threat in the attack just like Ross Stewart and that paid off handsomely. Larin acted as the target man whom Ryan Manning, Leo Scienza and Tom Fellows would deliver a cross and the Canadian routinely scored.

In 22 games for Southampton, Larin bagged 9 goals and picked up an assist to hit 10 goal contributions in his loan stint. The mere idea of having Bree, Stewart, Peretz and Larin altogether for the 2026/27 season is exciting. Fingers crossed, let’s hope Southampton actually pulls this off.