Ings’ potential as a budget FPL forward evident in Saints’ debut

With the summer transfer window closing just over 24 hours before the start of the 2018/19 Premier League campaign, the frenetic pre-season preparations left us little time to assess any of the moves in closer detail.

Amid all the big-money transfers, our first Moving Target piece scrutinises a player who didn’t cost a penny – at least not yet.

Danny Ings‘ (£5.5m) loan move to Southampton from Liverpool was one of the last transfers to be completed on Thursday and not announced until three-and-a-half hours after the deadline had passed.

Though Ings’ move to his boyhood club is in name a temporary one, the Saints have an obligation to buy the 26-year-old striker at the end of this season for a reported £18m.

Ings made his Southampton debut on Sunday afternoon in the 0-0 draw with Burnley, coming on as a 56th-minute substitute for the injured Stuart Armstrong and impressing alongside first Charlie Austin (£6.0m) and then Manolo Gabbiadini (£6.0m).

Speaking after the match, Ings said:

At the moment, I’m getting used to the way the team play – I wanted to come on and get a feel for the football they play. We play good football here and there are some really, really good players. It’s a pleasure to work with them.

There were a lot of spaces coming deep, so I drifted into those pockets, got on the ball and tried to play people in. I want to show people it’s not all about running in behind for me – I can come short and play too.

I’ve had two or three years of terrible luck and frustration really, so to come here, be free and play my football – I couldn’t be happier, or have a better club for me right now in my career.

Manager Mark Hughes was quick to dismiss worries about Ings’ fitness issues, which contributed to him only playing 14 league fixtures in three seasons at Liverpool:

He’s proved his fitness, it’s not as if we have to get him rehabbed, he’s a fit young man – he’s had the injury in his younger years. So, you always get a better response and outcome when that happens. We don’t have any worries about his injury.

He ended strongly at the end of last season. He’s fit, he’s well, and he’s ready to go. He’s at a point in his career where he wants to start making an impression again. He came back strongly for Liverpool at the end of last year and showed his worth to them. You’ll note Jurgen’s comments about him, as a character and as a guy. That was an important factor in being able to bring him here as well because we want to enhance the dressing room and the personnel, so that’s an added bonus for us.

The History

Born in Winchester in July 1992, Ings actually spent time with the Saints’ youth set-up before joining the academy at Bournemouth, then in League Two.

Making his debut as a 17-year-old in the Football League Trophy match against Northampton Town in October 2009, Ings spent two months on loan at non-league Dorchester Town before Eddie Howe handed the teenage striker his first league start in the 2-0 defeat to MK Dons in November 2010.

Ings went on to score seven league goals in 26 League One appearances for the Cherries in 2010/11, also grabbing a goal in the south coast club’s unsuccessful play-off campaign.

Ings made just a single start for Bournemouth in the 2011/12 campaign before Howe, who had jumped ship months earlier, snapped up Ings for his new club Burnley in the summer 2011 transfer window.

The young forward had to wait several months for his league bow, only featuring on 15 occasions for the Clarets in his first season in the Championship.

Howe returned to Bournemouth not long after the start of the 2012/13 season, a campaign in which Ings scored just three league goals in 32 Championship appearances – though only 15 were starts.

The 2013/14 season could be considered Ings’ breakthrough year, with his 21 league strikes and seven assists helping Burnley to promotion to the Premier League for the second time.

Ings took the step up to the English top flight in his stride, scoring on 11 occasions and setting up a further four goals despite Burnley’s relegation back to the Football League.

Joining Liverpool in the summer of 2015, Ings was to feature in just five Premier League matches for the Reds – scoring two goals – before a knee ligament injury effectively cut short his season.

Returning to action on the final day of the 2015/16 season, Ings was to damage his other knee in October 2016, ruling him out for the rest of that campaign too without the striker having kicked a ball in the Premier League.

Though returning to fitness in time for the season just gone, Ings was to be a peripheral figure as Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane tore up the league: Ings did, however, register his first league goal in three years with a strike in the 2-2 draw with West Bromwich Albion in April of this year.

Ings left Anfield after just 14 league appearances and three Premier League goals.

The Prospects

Ings’ promising debut in the draw at St. Mary’s on Sunday hinted at possibly greater things to come – providing the injury-plagued striker can stay fit, of course.

There is a real dearth of exciting budget forward options in FPL this season, with Raul Jimenez and Bobby Reid (both £5.5m) about as good as it gets in the sub-£6.0m bracket.

Priced at £5.5m himself, Ings’ move to Southampton could be a game-changer if he can recapture some of the form that saw him hit 11 league goals in his final season at Burnley.

Ings managed more in 34 minutes of his Saints bow than Charlie Austin did in more than twice that time, registering three attempts on goal and four penalty box touches. Ings also created twice as many chances (four) as any other Premier League forward at the weekend, one of which almost led to an assist as Jack Stephens forced Joe Hart into a near-post save.

The spark that Ings provided upon his introduction surely stands him in good stead ahead of the trip to Everton, with Austin and Gabbiadini offering little in the 0-0 stalemate with Burnley.

Although Southampton started with just one forward – Austin – on Sunday, Hughes frequently rolled out a two-man attack in pre-season and switched to a 4-4-2 upon Ings’ introduction at the weekend.

A two-pronged frontline would, of course, increase Ings’ chances of a start, but on current form the former Liverpool man may even lead the line himself.

That Ings often dropped deep to link up play in that draw with the Clarets suggests he would be more comfortable playing alongside another striker, however, so it remains to be seen how Hughes will adjust his tactics to accommodate his loan signing.

Ings’ ability to create as well as score adds to his appeal. In the 2014/15 season with Burnley, Ings carved out six big chances for the Clarets: just four other forwards could better that tally.

Only five forwards had more attempts on goal than Ings (97) in that season, with the striker registering a shot on goal every 34 minutes.

It should be said that all of this was accomplished playing in a relegated Burnley side who scored a league-low 28 goals as they slipped back into the Championship.

With a trip to Crystal Palace sandwiching home fixtures against Leicester and Brighton after this weekend, Ings could be a handy, budget-freeing differential: the ex-Burnley striker is currently only owned by 2.0% of FPL managers.