Manchester City are due to receive a cool £20million after academy product Taylor Harwood-Bellis helped Southampton earn promotion to the Premier League.
Harwood-Bellis, 22, won promotion from the Championship for the second season in a row, having done the same with Burnley last term. The City defender will now join Southampton permanently after their hard-fought 1-0 win against Leeds in the play-off final at Wembley triggered a clause for his loan move to be made permanent.
Adam Armstrong’s first-half strike was enough for Russell Martin’s side to overcome Leeds, who suffered their sixth play-off defeat in six and became the first team this century to accumulate 90 or more points in a Championship season and fail to go up. Harwood-Bellis played the full 90 minutes at centre-back, his 46th appearance of the campaign.
Speaking after Sunday’s triumph, he told Sky Sports : “I’m over the moon. It had a massive edge to it knowing that I’m staying here permanently. I love the club – it’s a special football club and the fans are amazing.
“They stuck with us through some tough times, and really good times as well. But we did it for them today. I can’t describe how I feel about this year.”
Southampton’s success boosts City’s summer transfer kitty and helps towards Financial Fair Play, as the £20m is considered pure profit thanks to Harwood-Bellis coming through their academy.
The 22-year-old has been a City player since the age of six and has made eight first-team appearances. He was loaned out to Blackburn, Anderlecht and Stoke before enjoying back-to-back promotions.
Harwood-Bellis is also a regular England youth international, captaining the under-21 side last summer as they won the European Championship. His performances prompted Southampton to sign him, knowing that a return to the Premier League at the first time of asking would see the youngster stay on the south coast.
“He’s been fantastic,” Martin said of Harwood-Bellis’ displays back in December. “Let’s get it right, we need to go up to keep a lot of our players.”
The Saints did just that on Sunday, beating Leeds for the third time this season. “We missed a few passes we would never normally miss, so I just wanted to tell them to stick to the game plan a little bit,” Martin explained post-match.
“We scored a really, really nice goal and it is something the guys work on a lot in terms of the way it built up. I didn’t want us to defend as long as we did in the last 25 minutes, but with the tension in the game, I understand that because it’s a big occasion.
“I felt when we had to defend, we defended so well and Alex when we needed him was brilliant.”
