Southampton’s Road To Success

The Saints have had a turbulent time over the past decade: from being relegated into The Championship and then sinking down to League One, to last season when they qualified for European football for the first time since 2004. They’ve gone from seventh in League One to seventh in the Premier League in just five remarkable seasons. What has helped them accomplish such a feat is their shrewd transfer dealings, coupled with their outstanding player development. On current evidence they have clearly hit upon a successful model for any club to gain promotion to the top flight and retain Premier League status.

A DECADE OF TRANSFERS and DEVELOPMENT

During the summer of 2005, Southampton were preparing themselves for a return to The Championship – they had been playing top-flight football since 1979. Peter Crouch was sold to Liverpool for a fee of £7.35m, having joined the club the previous year from Aston Villa for just £2.1m. Crouch caught the eye of Liverpool after notching 12 goals in 26 league games in Southampton’s fight for Premier League survival. During the winter transfer window, Theo Walcott made his £7.35m move to Arsenal – but unlike Peter Crouch, Walcott was an academy product.

Three players left prior to the start of the 07/08 season for a combined fee of £19.74m, who cost Southampton £0 in transfer fees. Gareth Bale left for Tottenham for £10.29m, Kenwyne Jones left for Sunderland for £6.3m and Chris Baird moved to Fulham for £3.15m. Gareth Bale and Chris Baird were both Southampton youth academy players. Chris Baird ended up making 153 Premier League appearances in his career, and he now plays for Championship side Derby. Gareth Bale, of course, needs no explanation with regard to how his career panned out. Kenwyne Jones joined Southampton on a free transfer in the summer of 04/05 and eventually went on to play 193 Premier League games for three other clubs, scoring 40 goals and assisting 21.

The Saints finished the 08/09 season 23rd, and thus were relegated to League One. Striker Rickie Lambert and attack-minded midfielder Jason Puncheon joined the club during the their first season in League One, the former joining in the summer and the latter in the winter. Puncheon arrived from Plymouth for just £158k and joined Crystal Palace for £1.54m during the winter of 13/14. Rickie Lambert was a club hero for Southampton, helping them in their struggles from League One to Premier League football. Lambert played 229 games for The Saints, creating 68 goals and finding the back of the net 115 times. He then made his dream move to Liverpool in 2014 for £3.85m, after costing Southampton £840k from Bristol Rovers.

Southampton ended the 10/11 season in League One in second place, resulting in them being promoted back into The Championship. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain left the club in the summer to join Arsenal for £9.66m – he was another youth player from Southampton’s academy. Jack Cork was purchased for £588k from Chelsea, having previously had a loan spell at the south coast club for half a season in 08/09. Jack Cork now plays for Swansea City, making a £2.80m move in the winter of 14/15.

Nathaniel Clyne has recently made a £12.39m move to Liverpool. The right-back played 104 times for Southampton after making a £2.24m transfer from Crystal Palace in 12/13.

A mass exodus of first team players occurred during the summer of 2014: Luke Shaw, Adam Lallana, Dejan Lovren, Calum Chambers and Rickie Lambert (previously mentioned) all left the club in this transfer window. Dejan Lovren had joined The Saints the previous season from Olympique Lyon for a fee of £7m. It ended up costing Liverpool another £10m more to prise him away. Shaw, Lallana and Chambers all came through the Southampton youth system and departed the club for a combined fee of £62.11m.

Morgan Schneiderlin has been attracting many big clubs recently, and it looks like he may be leaving the south coast club for either Manchester United or Arsenal for a fee of around £25m. Schneiderlin was bought for £1.05m from Strasbourg in 08/09, and has been on the journey with Southampton from League One to the Premier League. Another player still in the team is Jose Fonte. He arrived in the winter of 09/10 for a fee of £980k from Crystal Palace. Jose Fonte, the club captain, was pivotal in Southampton’s defence last season, which led to them keeping the third highest number of clean sheets in the league. is contribution was recognised with two awards at the club’s end-of-season awards ceremony, being named Fans’ Player of the Season and Players’ Player of the Season.

These are only the most notable transfers that The Saints have made over the past decade, and of course there has also been the odd wrong signing made, most notably Gaston Ramirez and Pablo Osvaldo.

STAPLEWOOD TRAINING GROUND

Southampton’s long-term philosophy currently looks to be paying off, and they are truly trying to cement themselves in the top half of the Premier League with their player development, exemplified by the launch of their new £30m state-of-the-art training ground last year at Staplewood. This philosophy is very important in their efforts to make the next step up and is also important for the England national team, with many Southampton players and former academy products now in the national side.

Les Reed, Southampton’s executive director of football, explains how important development is to the club

I think it’s definitely the best kind of investment. One player has a shelf life. What happens when he goes? You have to buy another player. You’re continually spending that kind of money and turning it over on importing players, where the investment here could be for the next 50 years. Instead of buying one player, we produce five players.

We had this great history of young players but at that point everything had been run down. The club was selling off all the prized assets because it was going bankrupt, so it was a matter of taking all that history as a foundation and then building on it so we’re never in that position again.

TRANSFER GAINS

Southampton’s excellent transfer business can also be highlighted by looking at the Premier League’s top 50 transfer gains. This looks into how much profit a club has made on a player who previously joined the club via a transfer or was part of their youth academy.

Arsenal have eight players in the top 50, followed by Southampton with six. The clubs who have the third highest number of players in this list are Chelsea and Blackburn with five. Next is Liverpool with four players and then finally Tottenham and Man United make up the top five with three players each.

The south coast club have the second highest number of players within the top 50 transfer gains with six – three within the top 25.

NEW RECRUITS AND CURRENT ACADEMY PLAYERS

Southampton have a great set of opening fixtures: new, EVE, wat, NOR, wba, MUN, which makes them of particular interest to Fantasy managers on the look out for reliable points scorers and value players.

The Saints’ defence has been decimated again for the upcoming season, due to players leaving the club or being sidelined through injury for the start of the season. Manager Ronald Koeman is no stranger to having the first choice defence being changed pre-season, as when he took charge of the club two of the previous season’s first choice defenders had left the club – Luke Shaw and Dejan Lovren – and he also had a new goalkeeper.

This season is again quite similar, with Nathaniel Clyne completing a move to Liverpool, last season’s on-loan centre-back Toby Alderweireld signing for Tottenham, Ryan Bertrand and keeper Fraser Forster being sidelined through injury and the possible loss of defensive midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin to Manchester United.

Cedric Soares has already joined the club this transfer window from Sporting Lisbon and looks to be Clyne’s replacement. He looks like the ideal player to pick out of The Saints’ defence, as the other players look like they’ll have a rise in price after last season’s efforts. The 23-year old fits Southampton’s profile as an attacking wing-back, scoring twice and assisting 12 goals in his 94 games for the Portuguese club. Southampton’s defence may not be up to scratch like last season’s, but if Soares comes in at 5.5 or less, as predicted, then he looks a worthy punt over their opening fixtures. Earlier this week, Cuco Martina joined the club from FC Twente, who looks like he’ll only be back-up for the club this campaign. Maarten Stekelenburg has also joined from Fulham on loan to cover for the injured Fraser Forster.

Harrison Reed and James Ward-Prowse are the two main players in midfield to have come from Southampton’s youth academy who look set for a boost in starts in the coming season. Reed is a defensive midfielder who played 472 minutes in the league last season, 117 in the League Cup and 97 in the FA Cup. He’s a strong tackler and good at intercepting the ball. For Southampton’s U21’s he scored three goals and provided an assist last season. Reed remains a rotation risk, but if Schneiderlin leaves he is set to at least see a boost in minutes. James Ward-Prowse had his best season under Ronald Koeman in terms of output. Last year, he played 140 fewer minutes than the season before, but assisted seven goals and scored his first Premier League goal. His fewer minutes were down to fracturing his foot, which put him out for seven games, and he then didn’t feature for the next three. Being on free-kicks and corners means that he’ll be appealing to Fantasy managers, and no doubt the cheapest route into the Saints attack. He should be a regular first-teamer, but with European football being played at St. Mary’s this year, he may be prone to some rotation.

Juanmi made his move from the south coast of Spain to the south coast of England at the beginning of July for £5m. The 22-year-old striker, who’s versatility means he can play on either flank as well, came through Malaga’s youth system. He has played each season at Malaga, bar the 12/13 season when he went on loan to Racing Santander. Juanmi has 18 La Liga goals to his name in 4,184 minutes, eight of those coming in the previous season. It is yet to be seen whether Juanmi can oust Graziano Pelle as the first choice striker, so it’d be for the best to have a ‘wait and see’ approach before including him in your Fantasy football squad.

*Transfer fees and stats are from TransferMarkt.