With the news that Theo Walcott will join Saints on a season long loan from Everton the question is whether this is a good or bad move for Southampton Football Club, here we look at the details.
The prelude to the official announcement that Theo Walcott was returning to the club was the announcement that both Sofiane Boufal and Guido Carrillo were now off the wage bill and would leave on free transfers whilst Wesley Hoedt would leave on loan again.
This was important in that this would trim somewhere in the region of £110,000 a week from the wage bill in the case of Boufal and Carrillo, saving somewhere in the region of £5 million over the rest of the season with all things considered, add another £2.5 million for Hoedt and that is taking a big chunk off the wage bill.
So why would Saints want to bring in Theo Walcott a man who left the club nearly 15 years ago ? To be blunt my first thought is why are we wasting our money on doing this, but on reflection I changed my mind.
The truth is that as a loan signing he is a calculated gamble, assuming that we are paying around half of his £100 k a week wages then over the next 8 months he will only cost us around £4 million and if he does not succeed then we are not saddled with him on high wages on a long contract.
This is the risk that Brighton have taken in signing Adam Lallana on a 3 year deal.
So from this perspective it seems a very good deal for Saints, it is a low outlay, no long term commitment and to be blunt it would not take much contribution from the player to repay the fee.
If for instance he scored 5 goals and those goals added 3 points that pushed us up 2 or 3 places, then he would have repaid the outlay, that is not a big ask, but Saints will be hoping that a player of his calibre will contribute more.
Some will point to his time at Everton and say he is finished,but perhaps he has a final flourish in him and £4 million isn't a lot to pay to find out.
Walcott did not leave with a bad taste in the mouth back in January 2006, he could simply have refused to sign a professional contract at St Mary's and joined Arsenal, meaning that Saints would have got a development fee at a tribunal.
But that would have been a fraction of what they eventually did receive.
This was down to Wacott and his family wanting to do the right thing by Saints and Arsenal played there part by agreeing to do this when they could have simply refused and paid a pittance.
So welcome back Theo Walcott, perhaps you can end your career where it started on a high note.
All in all a good days work for Saints, £150,000 a week off the wage bill for three players who have contributed little over the past 2 years and only £50,000 added, from this perspective little risk for Saints and the gamble might just pay off.