Following the departure of Danny Ings, who scored 46 goals in 100 appearances across all competitions for Southampton, Che Adams has had to take the mantle of being their main goalscorer, alongside summer arrival Adam Armstrong.

Adams, however, has only managed to score one goal for the Saints in the Premier League so far this season which came in their 1-0 win over Watford last month.

Despite this, the 25-year-old, who is currently valued at £18m according to Transfermarkt, has played in eight of their 11 league games, showing that he is a fairly important figure for Ralph Hasenhuttl.

Looking ahead to the future, we feel that Southampton could have their ideal next version of Adams in their youth ranks with 17-year-old attacker Luke Pearce.

Southampton added Pearce to their U18 side back in August 2020 from Walsall's U18 team. Upon his arrival at the south coast club, the teenager was labelled as a "very promising" young player by Southampton's academy director Matt Hale, showing how much potential they saw in Pearce, which should be very exciting for the Saints fans to have such an exciting attacking prospect in their club's youth ranks.

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Since then, Pearce has made 24 appearances for Southampton's U18 side, managing to score six goals as well as making one appearance for their B team where's netted one goal in the process, showing how capable he is of playing at that level despite such a very young age.

So far this season, Pearce has also shown how versatile he can be in attack, having played as a centre-forward and a right-winger, similarly to Adams who has played as a centre-forward and on both wings during his time at St. Mary's.

In addition to this, Pearce has also been described as a player that is "full of energy" and a "well-liked figure" at the club in a report from Hampshire Live. That draws up another similarity to Adams who has been labelled by the PFSA as an "imposing presence who’s extremely strong and quick," which highlights the athleticism of the two forwards.

While Pearce may not be close to breaking into Ralph Hasenhuttl's side anytime soon, we feel that the teenager has shown already that he has what it takes to go on and make a name for himself as a regular performer in their B team. If he continues to do that then he'll be knocking on the door to get himself some first-team minutes and become a player that the Southampton fans will love.

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