Ipswich Town defender Leif David has heaped praised on Manchester City loanee Taylor Harwood-Bellis.
The centre-back joined Southampton on loan during the previous summer transfer window, making it his fifth loan spell away from the Manchester club.
Since then, the 21-year-old has been a key figure for the Saints, starting 22 of the 23 Championship games he’s appeared in.
Now though, another one of the Championship’s defenders has been sharing his thoughts on the City loanee.
Davis praises Harwood-Bellis
Speaking in a recent video from Football Daily where he was tasked with coming up with a Championship XI filled with players aged 21 and under, Davis had this to say about Harwood-Bellis after picking him as one of the defensive options in his team.
He said: “He had a good year last year, had an unbelievable season and this year you can see why he’s a top, top player for such a young age.
“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.”
In the Championship this season, the Englishman has racked up the second-highest total of clearances (69) and blocks (25) at Southampton, as well as winning more aerial duels (39) than any other player at the club prior to their recent 3-1 win over Swansea City.
This backs up Davis’ point about Harwood-Bellis not being reluctant to do the defensive work his side needs him to do.
His overall performances this season have earned the City loanee a WhoScored rating of 6.97/10, making him the fourth-highest-rated player currently at Southampton.
With all of that in mind, it’s easy to see why Davis has been so complimentary about Harwood-Bellis.
Moving forward, if Southampton end up winning promotion back to the Premier League at the end of the season, they will be obliged to sign Harwood-Bellis on a permanent basis for a fee of around £20m.
If that were to happen, there could be a situation where City end up regretting putting this obligation into the defender’s loan deal at Southampton.
