Manchester City took a step closer to potentially winning another Premier League title on Saturday.
For their ninth match of the 2024/25 campaign, City beat Southampton 1-0 at the Etihad Stadium thanks to a fifth-minute goal from Erling Haaland.
Despite seeing his side pick up another victory whilst having numerous players out injured, it was the performance of someone in the Southampton side who many City supporters will be familiar with that caught some attention.
In fact, it may have exposed a big mistake that Pep Guardiola and the Manchester club made some time ago.
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Taylor Harwood-Bellis delivered a strong performance against City
Included in the Southampton starting XI was former City youth academy graduate Taylor Harwood-Bellis.
The defender initially joined Southampton on a season-long loan in the 2023 summer transfer window, then the move was made permanent following the Saints’ promotion back to the Premier League.
Facing off against his old side, the Englishman showed how effective he can be on and off the ball.
For instance, in possession, Harwood-Bellis successfully completed 68 of the 71 passes he attempted, leaving him with the highest passing accuracy percentage (96%) out of Southampton players who made more than three passes on the day.
Then in terms of his defensive work off the ball, the 22-year-old made nine clearances, blocked four shots, made one tackle and won three out of the four duels he was involved in.
This display ultimately earned the defender a strong overall match rating of 8.1/10 from SofaScore, making him the joint third-highest-rated player on the day across both teams alongside Phil Foden and Matheus Nunes.
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Having come up against the highest-scoring side in the league and stopped them from scoring more than one goal, this highlights how much of a capable defender and overall player the former City youngster has now blossomed into.
In fact, back in January, Ipswich Town defender Leif Davis shared this praise for Harwood-Bellis.
He said: “So comfortable on the ball, he’ll go and fight for anything, header, tackle, anything. That’s what you need from a centre-half, you don’t want a centre-half that doesn’t want to do the dirty work and he’ll do all the dirty work.”
Moving forward, if Harwood-Bellis continues to deliver the sort of performances he did against his previous club throughout the remainder of the season, this would only raise the question of whether City should have kept hold of him.
