As football fans, we’ve all been in this situation. Going into the summer transfer window with a sense of inevitability around your team’s star player. As a Spurs fan I’ve seen it plenty of times. We knew that Modrić would go, we knew that Bale would go. We hoped against hope, but we knew. Southampton fans have that same knowing in the pit of their stomach at the moment, that feeling of helpless despair. However, they have that feeling multiplied by five...and counting.
There are a few things that go into an inevitable transfer. The first and most important thing, and this is with no disrespect to Southampton, the selling club have to be of a certain standard. Clubs like Man United and Chelsea don’t have to deal with their best players being poached over and over, because there are so few ways to go up from there.
Southampton have just enjoyed their second successive Premier League season after a long spell in the football league where they fell as low as League One. They are not a club that you would expect to be challenging at the top end of the league. Unfortunately for them, this cannot be said of the teams interested in their best players.
The other thing that these inevitable transfers must have is players who have enjoyed stand out seasons and look capable of playing for a bigger club. Southampton are blessed with a number of players who fit this description.
They overachieved last season by finishing 8th in the league, just 8 points behind Man United. This was the result of key players all over the pitch who performed sensationally. It was thought that if manager Mauricio Pochettino could keep this hugely talented side together he could build on this great season. Instead, he was the first out the door when Spurs came calling with their managerial vacancy.
Pochettino was hugely popular with his players and when he left the flood gates seemed to open. A similar exodus had happened years earlier on the south coast at neighbouring Portsmouth, but this was different. Enormous financial difficulties had forced Pompey’s hand but Southampton are a stable club without a financial need to sell these players. But as we have seen so many times before, if a player wants to leave there is not a great deal you can do to stop him.
Ricky Lambert had enjoyed a great spell with the Saints, signing from Bristol Rovers while Southampton were in League One, and had gone all the way from there to the Premier League and the World Cup. He had seemed incredibly settled with Southampton. But when Liverpool, who Lambert is a lifelong supporter of, came calling there was only going to be one outcome. Adam Lallana followed Lambert to Liverpool in a £25million deal. And after fierce negotiations, Dejan Lovren moved to Anfield in a deal worth £20million.
Elsewhere, impressive teenage left back Luke Shaw moved to Manchester United for a whopping £27million. A huge sum for a player who at present time has essentially been labelled ‘a bit of a porker’ by United manager Louis van Gaal (not his exact words admittedly!).
Southampton had seemed like an assembly line of world class talent long before this, after they sold Theo Walcott, Alex Oxlaide-Chamberlain and Gareth Bale. Meanwhile, their other promising full-back, Callum Chambers, is currently the most recent player to leave having sealed a £16million move to Arsenal.
All of these transfers fit with the two rules I outlined earlier. We have seen bigger clubs than Southampton with better prospects than the Saints taking a liking to some of their stand-out players.
The Southampton hierarchy seemed to signal a change in the transfer policy from this point, suggesting this week that reported Spurs targets Jay Rodriguez and Morgan Schneiderlin were not for sale. This has simply drawn the ire of Schneiderlin who followed the discontented player textbook by taking to Twitter to voice his displeasure and then hand in a formal transfer request.
As we said before, if a player wants to leave then it’s pretty hard to stop him. We’ve seen these situations plenty of times over the years and know that ultimately, when push comes to shove, the player will normally get the move he wants.
At the risk of sounding stupid, this hasn’t been a bad summer for the Saints. Mass exodus of absolutely key players aside, of course. Pochettino was replaced by well-respected Dutch coach Ronald Koeman, quite a coup for the south coast club. He has already been joined by the £11million signing of Dušan Tadić from FC Twente and the £8million signing of Graziano Pellè from Feyenoord. Both decent signings on paper for relatively large sums of money.
But it’s often the case that no amount of money will replace solid, proven, Premier League players. A whole host of expensive foreign stars couldn’t do for Spurs last season what Gareth Bale had done the year before.
Schneiderlin could still go, Rodriguez could still go. And there is fresh transfer buzz around Nathaniel Clyne, José Fonte, Dani Osvaldo and Jack Cork.
It’s a shame to see one of last season’s most likeable teams systematically dissected in this manner. And without wanting to write off Southampton before a ball has even been kicked, the outlook is bleak. Relegation odds have been slashed and it’s easy to see why. The heart of Southampton’s team has been ripped out and won’t be replaced. Sorry Saints fans, this season may not be another step forward but rather, a giant leap back.