There is much wringing of hands on Saints social media about the state of the squad after the so called star players have departed for pastures anew, but I believe that even after they have gone, we will still have a good foundation for next season.
The Southampton squad was very bloated last season and I have said before that we can afford to lose at least a third of that squad and potentially this will bring in over £200 million, if current transfer fees cited in the media reach their conservative estimates, of course there may be some agent fees and sell on clauses to be deducted from this amount.
Going through the squad and for the purposes of this review I am assuming all would go, if we keep even 1 of those listed it would be good, if we kept 2-3 fantastic.
So I would suggest that we will lose Tino Livramento (£25 m), Kyle Walker Peters (£25m) Lyanco (£5M) Caleta-Car (£5m) Salisu (£25m) Bella-Kotchap (£25m) Lavia(£40m) Ward Prowse (£40m) Sulemana (£20m) Alcaraz (£25m) Adams (£15 M) Orsic (£3m) Tella (£15m)
Ill do the maths for you, those 13 players total £268 million, this perhaps highlights the fact that we had a decent squad, but it was poorly managed, I also haven't included Stuart Armstrong (£5m) & Jan Bednarek (£10m) to the equation, but I would also expect them to go.
Most would question how the hell we are going to compete in the Championship after losing essentially our best 15 players, those left did not perform last season in the Premier League will be the first thought, but we don't need them to perform there, we need them to do that in the Championship and that is a lower standard.
So who will we have left for these foundations of a squad that will need to be beefed up, but we will have plenty of money to do that.
Goalkeepers -
Gavin Bazunu is much maligned but he was thrown in at the deep end with a poor defence in front of him, he is proven at League One level I think he will excel in the Championship with the right central defensive signings, with Alex McCarthy as back up.
Right Back.
We have James Bree, proven at Championship level and the highly rated Lewis Payne as back.
Central Defence .
This will be an area we need strengthening in, as it stands we will only have Jack Stephens , who might be sold to Bournemouth and Dynel Simeu who played the first half of the season at Tranmere and the second half in League One at Morecambe, both could do a job at Championship level, but we do need to bring in an experienced leader and at least one more.
Left Back
We have Romain Perraud, but I think it will be Juan Larios who will impress, he looked a good player at Premier League level and can step up to the plate, also Thierry Small.
Central Midfield.
Obviously a big gap here, but Will Smallbone is returning from Stoke having done well there in the Championship, he is ready for to be a first team regular now at St Mary's at this level. Ibrahima Diallo is one of those players that is not appreciated, but he too can do a job at this level, I expect Russell martin to strengthen in this area.
Wide players.
A little more difficult here, we will still have Moussa Djenepo & Sam Edozie who are natural wingers, but also the likes of Adam Armstrong and Joe Aribo who can do a job. Another area we need to bring in someone.
Up front.
I think that we can prosper, Adam Armstrong is a proven goalscorer at this level and there is no reason he should not take off where he left off, Sekou Mara might have struggled at Premier league level, but then again so did everybody, but he showed some nice pieces of class, both in scoring goals and creating them, he will be a good player at this level.
Then we have the youngsters, Tyler Dibling, Dominic Ballard, Diamond Edwards, Kamari Doyle, Kazeem Olaigbe & Sam Amo Ame-Yaw, that is 6 youngsters who have been either on the fringe of the first team or as in Olaigbe getting experience on loan.
Not all of them will be regulars in the starting line up, but they are all capable of doing a job at this level and they will be a big asset.
So even after 15 players leaving, we will still have around 15 senior players left and they are augmented by 6 youngsters.
But we are still around 5 players short, I would suggest that we need at least 2 centre backs, I central midfielder, 2 wingers and a forward, Ok perhaps 6 players light.
But we will have a lot of money to spend on plugging that gap, I would suggest that we could spent around £50 million and still have the best part of £150 million left from incoming transfers, if all those listed depart.
We would need to spend around £10- 15 million each player to sign the quality we need so that £50-60 million mark is not too far off.
So even with all the star names gone we have a squad that can compete, we bring in the right players and we can truly be a force in this division, we keep a couple of those listed and suddenly we are a major force.
Like 14 years ago when we went into Administration we needed a reboot, we had grown accustomed to sitting in the middle of the table, things had become stale both on the pitch and in the stands, it needed something to act as a catalyst and this could be it.
Some would say we would be better to have stayed up, I can understand that, but to be blunt what would have changed, we would just have been another club trying to get into the top 10, but ultimately finding that there was little point.
I think that perhaps we have direction now, the club needed a wake up call and an overhaul and we have had that, we now need to make things happen.
The last word is on the manager, I like many was not exactly enamoured with his appointment, but he has the experience in the Championship, he will have a better squad than Swansea last season and back then he got them to within 3 points of the play off.
We have to remember we are bringing him in to do a job, we should give him a chance to do it before we condemn him, likewise many of the players that will remain with us, yes they didn't exactly excel last season, but then again nor did many of those now leaving for what they see as bigger and better things, the likes of Adam Armstrong, Ibrahima Diallo and Sekou Mara have to be judged going forward, not on their past,
Indeed as i always say, we can't change the past, but the future is unwritten, that can be changed,