Southampton have confirmed that defender Jake Vokins has agreed a new deal with the club.
The Saints announced via their official website and official Twitter account on Wednesday that the 18-year-old has signed a two-year extension to his contract at St Mary’s, with his previous agreement due to expire at the end of next season.
???#SaintsFC can confirm that young defender Jake Vokins has secured a two-year contract extension! Full details: https://t.co/2zbffRwvQd
— Southampton FC (@SouthamptonFC) September 19, 2018
Vokins has been a long-serving member of Southampton’s youth squads, having originally joined the south coast club 10 years ago when he was eight years old.
OPINION
Southampton have a great pedigree for nurturing young talent and Vokins’ recent call up to the England Under-19s squad and his increasingly key role in Radhi Jaïdi’s Under-23s means that giving him a new deal was a no-brainer. Vokins’ deal was due to expire at the end of this season and it would have been daft to allow him to leave for a compensation fee next summer considering how good his progress has been lately. It has been a while since the Saints nurtured a young player into their first team and it is about time that the fans were given what they wanted. The nature of the Premier League no longer allows clubs like Southampton to develop youngsters in their first team so the loan system is crucial. Vokins could do with a spell away from the club to earn senior experience in the near future, but for now, he is playing well in the Under-23s and hopefully that continues.