Ralph Hasenhuttl has enjoyed a fairly successful period as Southampton manager since arriving at the club in December 2018.

He has helped to keep the Saints in the Premier League in three separate seasons and is hoping to make it four this term.

In that time, he has helped to sign and develop some impressive talent at St. Mary's. One player who he has helped thrive in England is Polish centre-back Jan Bednarek, who was one of the players he inherited upon taking over in 2018.

The season before Hasenhuttl's arrival, the centre-back played five Premier League matches and struggled to maintain his place in the side. He is now up to 103 career appearances in the English top-flight, showing how he has become a regular under the Austrian head coach.

Southampton paid a reported £5.4m to Lech Poznan in 2017 to sign Bednarek. Transfermarkt now values the Poland international at £22.5m. This means that his price has soared 317% in the intervening period between his signing and today.

Hasenhuttl has made Bednarek a key cog in his defensive unit and the defender has been able to help his side remain in the division each year. The Austrian head coach has pulled off a masterstroke with the defender as he has been able to develop a player, who was out of the first-team picture when he arrived, into one who is now worth over £20m.

Last season, Bednarek started 36 of Southampton's 38 Premier League matches and averaged a WhoScored rating of 6.7. He made 3.3 tackles and interceptions per game in the division, showing off his defensive qualities at centre-back as he regularly cut out opposition attacks.

Hasenhuttl has shown that he has the ability, as a coach, to help his players progress and this is a valuable asset to have in a manager. It means that Martin Semmens can bring young players to the club in the transfer market with faith that the ex-Leipzig man will be able to get the best out of them and potentially get the player to a point where he can be sold on for a huge profit further down the line.

AND in other news, Ralph masterstroke: Southampton flop has seen value plummet 64% since St. Mary's exit...