Wright-Phillips, with his famous dad Ian Wright, has made just the one Premiership start, but a staggering 31 substitute appearances, scoring two goals. At 21, he needs to be establishing his career and resurgent Saints will provide him with the opportunity to do so.
Like so many of Saints' youth strikers he has been prolific in the reserves scoring 32 goals in 46 goals. However, as Blackstock and Best have shown, form in the reserves doesn't necessarily translate into form in the first team.
Bradley will have a fight on his hands to get past first choice pairing Gregorz Rasiak and Ricardo Fuller, as well as Jones, Blackstock, Best and last season's goal king McGoldrick.
Clearly Burley has seen enough in him to believe him worthy of the gamble and hopes that outside the pressure cooker of the Premiership he will fulfill his potential and go on to emulate his dad's prolific goal record.
His manager at the time, Kevin Keegan, said of his debut: "He has that ability to score goals and is probably a better finisher than his brother, Shaun. The beauty of him is that he doesn't need to be taught how to finish. He is a real predator, a natural goalscorer and he reminds me of his dad, Ian. He still needs to learn but he is going in the right way."
The move is good news for the new board showing that they can deliver signings so soon into the reign, although there is still more rebuilding of the squad that is required before Saints can be considered potential automatic promotion contenders.
Welcome to the club Bradley.