In That Number Podcast

𝙅𝙖𝙮 𝙍𝙤𝙗𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙤𝙣 🔎 Shearer, Walcott, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Shaw, Lallana, Ward-Prowse, Dibling. Southampton have an excellent history of producing English talent, and their latest prodigy is enjoying his football in Northern Italy this season, where he has already become an important player for AC Monza. A right-footed attacking player playing on the left wing, Robinson is comfortable in tight spaces, excels at receiving the ball on the half-turn and absolutely loves driving past opposing defenders. His dribbling ability, knack for drawing fouls and threat on the counter-attack make him a dangerous attacking outlet, while his off-the-ball work rate and willingness to track back and press highlight the defensive qualities he also offers. Jay's football story started in Hounslow with Bedfont Sports FC before he was snapped up by QPR. However, at just 12 years old, he moved down to the South Coast. At Southampton's academy, he found himself being fast-tracked through the age groups until he was playing for their U21s at 15. Just a month after turning 18, he made his first-team debut in the Premier League and featured in three more games towards the end of Southampton's 2024/25 relegation season. At the start of last season, he hoped to establish himself in the first team in the Championship, and made a good start scoring his first senior goal vs Ipswich, but he struggled to sustain that momentum following a quad injury. This season, the 19yo took the bold step of moving to newly-promoted Serie A club Monza on a season-long loan. He made his debut vs Inter Milan at the San Siro, has started six of their last seven games and already has two goals and an assist to his name. He’s showing signs of a versatile attacking skillset that could allow him to operate in plenty of different attacking roles, within different tactical systems. Will Still had him playing as one of two 10s in a 3-4-2-1 at Southampton, while at Monza he plays wider on the left. He’s Monza’s second biggest goal-threat, their most effective dribbler and is creating chances as well. On top of that, he’s handled moving out of his comfort zone, to a different county, a different league, a different style of football, for a newly-promoted team. All of that makes us think that Robinson is a terrific prospect, and potentially a little under the radar compared to some of his England youth peers. For England, as with the Southampton academy, he's flown through the age groups and now finds himself in Darren Moore's U20s team. He recently started on the left wing vs France, in a talented team, playing alongside Trey Nyoni, Mikey Moore, Shea Lacey and Sim Mheuka. Could Saints be tempted to recall him in January to help support their promotion effort? And given his versatility and current form, could Lee Carsley see him as a potential solution and want to take a closer look before next summer's U21s Euros?