I didn't rate him at the time, so I and the Saints management perhaps got that wrong, but what we could have done was shown more patience and foresight and signed him and loaned him out. The problem these days is young players want a big contract and you can't offer that to someone that is not going to be in the first team for some time.
I guess the financial model of the club would need to be readjusted to spend more on youth development, and by that I mean finding the money to put young players on three, four and five year contracts. A gamble, but then so is signing a player for a million or more and then him not working out.