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When Southampton centre-back Wesley Hoedt arrived at St Mary’s in 2017, fans would have been hoping that they were getting another defender who had the quality to go on and become one of their best players, as the likes of Dejan Lovren, Toby Alderweireld and Virgil van Dijk had done before.
The Netherlands international certainly joined as a highly-rated player despite not being a regular for previous club Lazio, but after a tough start to the 2017/18 campaign under Mauricio Pellegrino, the 24-year-old then had to face the second-half of the season without compatriot Van Dijk as he left for Liverpool during the January transfer window.
It was quickly evident that the Dutchman certainly wasn’t the most reliable when it came to not concentration, giving possession away or failing to win the ball in the air against physical strikers, and his partnership with Jack Stephens left a lot to be desired as the south coast outfit found themselves in a relegation battle.
However, the much-maligned Hoedt did step up and was counted when it mattered in the closing weeks of the season under Mark Hughes, and to this day he has started every Premier League match under the tutelage of the Welshman.
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Despite that fact, the St Mary’s faithful certainly don’t seem to be on board with the 24-year-old just yet, as shown by some of their criticism of him on Twitter already this term.
However, recent clean sheets against Burnley and Crystal Palace may be swaying the supporters we asked to vote on our poll to see whether they thought Hughes should keep the faith with him, as 66% said they want the Dutchman to stay in the starting XI – as you can see from the results below.
