Writer: Adam Jones
When Southampton were first promoted to the Premier League, they had the quality of players needed to stay in the top flight for the long-term future.
Nathaniel Clyne, Morgan Schneiderlin, Rickie Lambert, Adam Lallana and Luke Shaw were the key players and all had played for their country. It makes you wonder how far Southampton could have gone if they had retained all of these players – could these players have carried the squad to the top half of the Premier League table if they had stayed longer? There’s a good chance they may have been able to achieve that.
The signing of Clyne in 2012 was especially impressive, with Southampton paying a nominal fee for the right back from Crystal Palace. Gaston Ramirez, Jay Rodriguez and Maya Yoshida also joined that summer and managed to finish above the relegation zone under Mauricio Pochettino. Looking back, Southampton could have been a side that finished higher the Premier League if they kept Pochettino as well, who’s now doing very well at Tottenham Hotspur.
Successful signings Dejan Lovren and Victor Wanyama joined in the 2013 summer window, after they managed to avoid the drop and managed to keep their key players. This was brilliant for the Saints, who had a world class manager in Pochettino as well as some top quality players at their disposal.
The summer transfer window after that, after finishing in an impressive seventh place in the league, saw Lambert, Lallana and Lovren move to Liverpool. Luke Shaw and Callum Chambers also departed St Mary’s, going to then-Champions League sides Manchester United and Arsenal respectively.
However, the signings of Sadio Mane and Ryan Bertrand in the same window turned out to be very good acquisitions and they finished in seventh spot in the 2014/15 season under Ronald Koeman, with Pochettino moving to Spurs.
Despite finishing in sixth spot in the 2015/16 campaign after the shrew signing of Virgil Van Dijk, Southampton decided to sell some of their best players in the summer of 2016, including Mane and Wanyama who hadn’t spent that long at the Premier League side. They finished eighth in the season after which was still a good achievement for a side who had only been promoted in 2012.
The 2016/17 campaign followed a similar trend, with the club selling some of their key players in the summer after finishing in the top half yet again. However, the sale of Virgil Van Dijk in the middle of the following season turned out to be a symbol of a dire season for the Saints, falling nine places from 8th to 17th. They finished just three points above relegated Swansea City.
That brings us to the last campaign, where Southampton had another poor season and ended up 16th in the Premier League. Although it’s impressive that the club have managed to stay in the league this long with the profits they’ve managed to make out of players, is it time to try and keep their best players and reinvest even more of the Van Dijk money into the squad to fire them up the table?
They could have solidified their place as a top half Premier League side for the long-term if they did keep their best players. It’s a question of what could have been for the Saints’ fans, who’ve suffered the loss of these brilliant players over the past few years.
Some of their signings that have remained loyal to the club, including Ryan Bertrand and Nathan Redmond, have proved to be very good pieces of business. Despite this, manager Ralph Hasenhuttl may need even more funds to make sure that they stay as a Premier League side beyond the end of the season.
Newly-promoted sides Sheffield United and Aston Villa have both invested heavily in the squad and if Southampton continue to flirt with relegation, it’s likely that they will fall through the trap door sooner rather than later.
It would be a shame for the Premier League because Southampton are a brilliantly run club who’ve deserved their long stay in the top division. Let’s hope they can improve on their position after defeats in both of their opening fixtures this season.
