Charlie Austin hoping to shine under Claude Puel after the departure of Graziano Pelle

The 27-year-old is set for his first major tests under Claude Puel when Saints head out to Holland for a triple header of pre-season friendlies.

With just one post-Holland game on the schedule before the big Premier League kick-off, the trip to the Netherlands is going to be vital for Austin to try and cement his place up front in the face of competition from Shane Long and Jay Rodriguez.

Austin is expected to be given the chance to prove himself in Holland, having been bought in January for £4m as a long-term replacement for Pelle.

Due to Austin’s signing, Saints have decided they do not need another striker following Pelle’s move to China.

However, that does assume that Puel is convinced that he has the goals he requires in his squad.

Austin arrived at Saints suffering from injury but has now had an acceptable amount of time to get himself into prime shape in order to hit the ground running.

It will be a welcome sight for Saints fans who were so excited over Austin’s signing, but barely saw him in action in the opening months of his time at the club.

Austin announced his arrival in dramatic fashion as he came off the bench to score the winner against Manchester United at Old Trafford on his debut.

However, he didn’t get a lot more game time from then on, finishing the campaign with two starts and five sub appearances for Saints.

Injuries contributed to that, as did the form of Long after he replaced Pelle as the main striker in Ronald Koeman’s side.

Austin has always been a goalscorer of some note, and has done it at the top level as well.

In 2014/15 when he led the line for QPR, he scored 18 Premier League goals in 35 starts, averaging a goal every 170.5 minutes.

To put that into context, in the same season Pelle averaged a goal 273.6 minutes in a team who performed far better. Last term he managed a slightly better average of a goal every 197.6 minutes.

Puel will be hoping that the players he has will step up and deliver the goals he needs for Saints.

Sadio Mane and Pelle contributed 22 league goals for Saints between them last season, but have both moved on this summer.

Saints travel to Holland on Friday, ahead of three friendly matches.

They take on PEC Zwolle on Saturday before facing FC Twente and FC Groningen.

Once they return there is one home friendly against Athletic Bilbao at St Mary’s before the big kick-off against Watford on August 13.