Southampton are preparing to compete in the Championship for the first time in over a decade and Russell Martin will be tasked with the ambitious challenge to earn promotion back to the Premier League.

The Saints have already completed the signings of left-back Ryan Manning and former Manchester City youth prospect Shea Charles so far, but with so much speculation surrounding potential outgoings, there is still plenty of work to be done before they kick off their campaign in the second tier next month.

Romeo Lavia has been the subject of huge interest from Premier League giants like Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal over the past few weeks, whilst James Ward-Prowse's future also hangs in the balance at present, but the most concrete first-team departure so far is likely to be Brazilian centre-back Lyanco.

Italian journalist Fabrizio Romano revealed on Tuesday that an agreement has been reached for Lyanco to join Turkish club Besiktas:

Who could replace Lyanco?

Considering the 26-year-old was the seventh highest-rated player (6.81) in the entire Southampton squad last season, according to SofaScore, it will be important to replace his defensive contributions ahead of next season.

Not only that, Valentino Livramento and Kyle Walker-Peters have also been linked with an exit from St Mary's too, so Martin will need to make the signing of reinforcements in the back line a top priority.

One player who has been tipped for a move to the south coast is Everton's Mason Holgate, a versatile defender who has found himself falling out of favour in recent seasons at Goodison Park.

It was reported by Mail Sport last week that Saints were holding discussions with the Toffees titan, who is also attracting interest from newly-promoted Sheffield United.

How good is Mason Holgate?

Despite struggling to gain consistent game-time with Everton over the last 18 months, Holgate has a wealth of experience and the versatility to be a real asset to Southampton next season.

The 26-year-old has tallied up 149 appearances with the Merseyside club and whilst predominantly playing most of his football in a centre-back partnership, has also made 38 appearances over his career in the right-back role.

Holgate ranked in the top 21% of his positional peers across the top five European leagues per minutes played for shot-creating actions, successful take-ons, clearances and tackles, proving that he is both a progressive presence in the defensive third and a confident ball-winner.

Not only that, the £11m-rated ace tallied up an 86% pass completion rate in his own half, successfully completed 100% of his dribbles and won the majority of his ground and aerial duels combined (51%) over his eight Premier League appearances last season, showcasing his strength in a multitude of areas.

Holgate has had his struggles, notably when it comes to make individual errors at the highest level, but has earned high praise over his career so far, especially when he was featuring consistently for Everton in the past, with Liverpool Echo reporter Sam Carroll waxing lyrical about the defender back in 2020:

"He’s a leader in this team. How old is he? 23/24, absolutely superb.

"I think you can play him right-back, left-back, centre-back, centre-mid as he showed last season and he’ll be excellent."

With that being said, Holgate could now revive his career at Southampton and would provide Martin with some much-needed Premier League quality in the team to ensure they can comfortably compete for automatic promotion back to the top flight.