When the Premier League clubs voted to shut the transfer window on the eve of the Premier League season rather than at the end of August in line with the other European club 's it turned out to be a decision that is causing complications.
This website has said earlier in the summer that the decision to have a different transfer window closing date than other leagues would cause more problems than it solves and that is now proving the case for Saints and indeed other clubs looking to sell.
Initially the only clubs to vote to maintain the status quo where the Big Six who saw the early closure as disadvantaging them in the transfer market with their rivals on the continent able to continue buying and selling to the end of the month almost three weeks after the window shuts in England on 8th August.
Serie A shuts on August 23rd whilst La Liga, Bundesliga & Ligue 1 like most other Leagues shut on September 2nd and amazingly the Portugese Premeira Division despite starting the season in August do not shut till 22nd September.
But the closure of a transfer window in a country only stops clubs playing there from buying players and not selling them and this is where the problem now lies for Saints and indeed several other clubs including Manchester United with their situation with Paul Pogba.
It is Ok if you are selling domestically but where the market for your players is abroad it brings up complications in that the feeling is that rather than pay the going rate, clubs on the continent are sitting tight, waiting for our transfer window to close and then try and get players at a cut price.
For Saints more than most clubs this is a problem, they have a plethora of players they want off the books who seem to have more interest from abroad than from English clubs, these include, Cedric, Carrillo, Boufal, Hoedt, Lemina, & Elyounoussi.
Potentially even at a conservative going rate for these 6, there is around £70 million of potential incoming transfer fees and about £400 k a week in wages.
The feeling around St Mary's is that the potential buying clubs know this and are holding back on reasonable offers, knowing that once our window is shut we will perhaps be open to a panic sale of several of these just to get them off the books.
Of course thr transfer window has always created this line in the sand with most deals done in the final week or so as selling clubs have to hang on, but now with a different deadline English clubs are having a real problem in that they can't wheel and they can't deal after August the 8th, all they can do is either keep the player or except a low offer.
It is a sort of Trexit for English clubs, in Brexit the main card the UK has in negotiation is being willing to leave with no deal, remove that threat and there is little to bargain with.
For Saints the real downside is that it is common knowledge that they like to balance the books in transfers and with two major signings made besides making Danny Ings a permanent member of the squad, they are have spent far more than the fees received for Matt Targett & Sam Gallagher.
But it is the wage bill that is crippling Saints and other clubs know that so there strategy will be to try and force Saints into a corner once the window shuts.
There is some good news in that there is rumour that Everton are interested in Mario Lemina and Charlie Austin still attracts interest, if we could get these two off our books then it would bring in enough money as well as save enough in wages to enable us to bring in at least one signing before the deadline, but it seems we really do need to sell before we buy or face leaking money in wages.
But the situation is manageable in that if we did sell after the deadline we could reinvest the money in January and it would not be too much of a problem.
There is a feeling around the club and it has some substance that given the points per game ratio that Ralph Hasenhuttl obtained last season, if we do not bring in any more players we still have a squad more than capable of not only staying clear of relegation, but of a mid table finish and that with the addition of Che Adams and Moussa Djenepo tat the squad is much stronger and it seems that the manager is preparing to re integrate Wesley Hoedt back into the squad should he be unable to sell any of the other players, although many do not like Hoedt he was strong in the run in of 2017/18 season and he is better than Jack Stephens (Yoshida too in my opinion), if Hasenhuttl can improve him as he has done several others in the squad there is no need for the doom and gloom that some are already predicting.
It would of course have been nice to have sold all the deadwood and reinvested the proceeds. but sometimes things can't be done overnight, we have to move forward at the pace we can and not at one we can't.