Southampton’s Jay Rodriguez continues to elevate his game

The Englishman's Southampton fortunes have paved the way for his national team debut as Rodriguez is just getting started, writes Richard Jolly.

Jay Rodriguez proved himself while at Southampton before the national team took notice. Chris Brunskill / Getty Images
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It may be the first game of the rest of Jay Rodriguez’s career. On Saturday, he faces Arsenal, perhaps as an former England international. Membership in the one-cap-wonder club is a dubious privilege.

Time will tell if the Southampton forward is the latest addition to the ranks of the men called up and swiftly discarded by their country.

And yet, chastening as his international debut against Chile was, it nevertheless marked a swift change in his fortunes. Twelve months ago, Rodriguez had one goal in 11 Premier League games.

There were questions if he had been elevated above his rightful level when promoted Southampton signed him from Burnley.

Then, he appeared an indictment of manager Nigel Adkins, who had pursued the forward for a year before signing him for £6.5 million (Dh38.5m), while the Southampton executive chairman Nicola Cortese had made the seemingly more ambitious deal to bring in the Uruguayan playmaker Gaston Ramirez.

Now, although Adkins was fired in January, Rodriguez is an automatic choice in the side, who sit third in the Premier League while Ramirez is on the bench.

Called up by Roy Hodgson to provide an alternative to Danny Welbeck as a striker who can also operate as a winger, Rodriguez has risen further than many expected.

Five years before facing Chile last Friday, he was on loan at Stirling Albion in Scotland’s second division. It was a move designed by Owen Coyle, Burnley’s manager at the time, to see if he was tough enough to succeed. Rodriguez supplied an answer in the affirmative.

It proved a change from the norm. Despite his Spanish surname and the American-style nickname – after Alex Rodriguez and Andy Roddick were branded “A-Rod”, he was called “Jay Rod” – Rodriguez was born in Burnley. His father, Enrique, had a trial at Deportivo La Coruna before emigrating to Lancashire. His son debuted at 18 and, after his spell in Scotland, returned to his hometown to make an impact. He ignited Burnley’s League Cup run in the 2008/09 season by coming off the bench to score the winner against Fulham.

“We believe in time he will be a real No 9,” Coyle said. Then, however, he was Burnley’s No 12, the resident super-sub. He came off the bench again to score the goal that took the semi-final against Tottenham to extra time.

Rodriguez struck five times that season, all as a replacement. Yet while Burnley’s promotion benefited them, it came at the wrong time for Rodriguez. He did not appear in their Premier League campaign and was loaned out to Barnsley.

Relegation, along with the sale of the first-choice striker Steven Fletcher, provided an opportunity. He struck 15 times in the 2010/11 season and 21 the following year.

A wiry teenager had developed into a more muscular forward with a presence and a composure in front of goal. His qualities were outlined by the former Burnley assistant manager Jason Tindall in 2011. “He is a fantastic athlete, terrific in the air and scores all types of goals as a centre-forward.”

Adkins, who finally got his man, felt a willingness to learn was just as important. “He has a hungry and enthusiastic attitude,” he said.

He needed it. Neither he nor Southampton, who lost eight of their first 10 games, took quickly to the Premier League. For Rodriguez, it was both a new division and a new position. After being the spearhead of the Burnley attack, he was reinvented as a left-sided attacker, cutting in to supplement the sole striker, Rickie Lambert.

It seemed to bode badly when Adkins, the reason he was recruited, was dismissed. Instead, he flourished under the new manager, Mauricio Pochettino. Southampton began to establish a reputation as giant killers and Rodriguez, who scored against Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea within two months, helped them punch above their weight.

He became an integral part of Pochettino’s pressing game, allying high energy levels with the fluidity to swap positions.

“He’s given me a bit of freedom to go and play and express myself,” said the Englishman. Factor in a fine start to the season and Welbeck’s knee injury and England came calling. His international debut was, he said “a learning curve”. Indeed, it was a steep one, but the evidence of Rodriguez’s career so far is that he learns quickly.

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