According to a recent report from the Daily Mail, Southampton are in the market for a new left-back in the January transfer window and they have set their sights on the Championship.

The report claims the Saints are interested in Fulham's 26-year-old ace, Joe Bryan, as they look to beat Serie A high flyers Atalanta and Watford to his signature.

Bryan moved to Craven Cottage in the summer of 2018 for £6m following an impressive season under Lee Johnson at Bristol City, but suffered immediate relegation with the club.

He was a regular fixture at left-back in the Premier League - making 27 starts throughout the season - and his experience should hold him in good stead if the south coast outfit do eventually secure his services.

This season, Bryan has kept his place in Fulham's starting XI, tallying 26 appearances in the Championship and even scoring once and assisting three times in the process as well.

With Southampton's need of a new defender, the 26-year-old could definitely fit the bill and even represent an improvement on their current personnel.

This becomes even more evident when we compare his stats those of their 30-year-old left-back, Ryan Bertrand.

It has to be noted, however, that Bryan has mustered much more game time this season, playing 2096 minutes as opposed to his counterpart's 1394 in the Premier League.

All the stats have also been taken prior to Fulham's clash with Middlesbrough on Friday and Southampton's game with Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday.

With all of that being said, we can immediately see that the 26-year-old left-back could very well be an immediate improvement on the former Chelsea man.

In terms of pure defensive contribution, Bryan is averaging significantly more tackles with 2.8 per game, while Bertrand is lagging behind with 1.2 per game to his name. Granted, the latter player is somewhat better at intercepting the ball with 1.3 per game as opposed to Bryan's 1.2, but even that difference is marginal at best.

Still, even though tackles don't necessarily guarantee defensive quality, from a Southampton perspective it is reassuring to know the club are targeting someone who's rather good at stopping the opposition when the situation arises.

Interestingly enough, only Cedric Soares - with 2.9 per game from the whole Southampton squad - has a better average than Bryan, which is definitely a sign they have chosen well.

But Fulham's ace is also much better than Bertrand in clearances - with 1.8 vs 0.6 per game - and is more difficult to dribble past with 0.7 per game vs 1.1 per game.

Overall, it feels that the Saints would be getting a long-term successor for their 30-year-old full-back with this reported deal.