New years day see's the return of ex Saints Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade Chamberlain to St Mary's Stadium, but what sort or reception will they get.
It will be fair to say that although Saints fans will have mixed views about both Walcott and Chamberlain for the way they left Saints, there will be those who will feel that Saints had no option but to cash in and others who feel that it was the players themselves that forced the moves, the truth is probably somewhere in the middle.
The first thing to realise is that both were offered financial security for the rest of their lives when they joined Arsenal, they would be well aware that an injury could have finished their career before it had began, at Saints all either had was a short term contract on low wages, take Oxo for example, he would probably have had 2 years left on a deal worth around £2k a week, his only security was around £200k to see out the contract if his career was finished, not to mention if he didnt progress as was hoped, although in fairness that was unlikely.
However the mover to Arsenal brought a 5 year deal worth a basic of around £18k a week, simple maths reveals that would gross him a shade under £5 million in that time without bonus's etc, in one swoop of the pen he is guaranteeing himself financial security for the rest of his life whatever happens, be it a career finishing injury or the fact he didnt progress as hoped., who can blame a youngster for wanting to do that, there are plenty of "next big thing's" on the scrapheap and in the bookies and broke.
Of course it could be said both would have been better staying a little longer at Saints footballing wise and that is certainly correct, Theo took a long time to move forward at Arsenal despite being in the England squad before he had even played for Arsenal, he played 13(8) league games for Saints and even now seven years after his move he has only started 103 Premier games for Arsenal plus 61 off the bench, assuming that he could have played around 265 games he has only started around 39% of those he could have and in total has featured in only around 60%.
Likewise Oxo, in his short first team career at Saints which in effect was basically one season he played 27(9) scoring 9 times, at Arsenal he could have played 45 league games for the Gunners, he has started 13 with a further 16 off the bench scoring only 3 times, its fair to say that he would probably have played over double that if he had stayed at St Mary's.
So those that feel that both of their developement would have been better served by staying at Saints are probably right, in their first season at the Emirates, neither featured heavily in terms of minutes on the pitch and especially in the case of Theo, for a player who is turning 24 in the New Year, for his talent he really should be further forward in where he is now, if Oxo is in the same position in 4 years time there is something wrong, there are plenty of players in the Premier who have earned a lot of money young but never really fulfilled their potential, think Sean Wright Phillips, not so long ago an England regular, now struggling at QPR on massive money it has to be said.
So Saints fans should welcome back both players although in truth what they mainly contributed was money into the coffers, Theo's money helped fund the ill fated promotion challenge of 2006/07 and Oxo's helped our promotion strengthening last term, how well the money was spent in either case is a topic for debate, but that isnt the players fault.