The end of the transfer window in September may show a completely different Southampton squad to the one that will assemble in the next week, as the club prepares for life in the Championship in just 6 weeks time.
We know that Theo Walcott & Moi Elyounoussi will be missing from the squad after Saints issued the list of those who are out of contract and will not be retained, however it will still be a large bloated squad that returns and there could be as many as a dozen who will return to Staplewood, who will not still be there by the start of September.
A massive 35 players made appearances in the Premier League for Saints last season and when we add the likes of Willy Caballero and youngsters such as Lewis Payne who made appearances in the cup and those out on loan such as Nathan Tella & Will Smallbone, their will be approaching 40 players in the first team squad group once those on International duties return.
There will be those players who have no intention of playing Championship football and we should not be afraid of that, the income from transfers from our so called big name players leaving could be £150 million and even as much as £200 million.
I would imagine that the following will be in demand and will leave for a transfer fee . Kyle Walker Peters (£20m) Salisu (£20m) Bella Kotchap (£20m) Jan Bednarek (£15 m) Romeo Lavia (£40m) James Ward Prowse (£40m), this would bring in at a conservative estimate £155 million.
These are just those that are already being linked with other Premier League clubs, they could also be joined by the likes of Che Adams (£20m) Charley Alcatraz (£25m) Nathan Tella (£15m) Stuart Armstrong £5m) Lyanco (£5m) Mislav Orsic (£4m) as well as several others whose intentions are unclear such as Kamaldeen Sulemana, Duje Caleta-Car or Tall Paul Onauchu.
This sounds like a lot of players leaving and it probably will be, I would guess at least 10 of those mentioned above will be moving on a permanent deal.
But that will still leave us with a big squad and one that could compete in the Championship without too much investment. This could be a starting line up for the coming season assuming all of the above have left.
Goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu (Alex McCarthy
Right back Tino Livramento ( James Bree, Lewis Payne)
Central defence, Jack Stephens Dynel Simeu
Left Back Romain Perraud (Juan Larios)
Central Midfield Ibrahima Diallo, Will Smallbone, Kamari Doyle , Sam Amo-Ameyaw. Joe Aribo.
Wide Midfield, Moussa Djenepo, Sam Edozie, Diamond Edwards
Forwards, Adam Armstrong, Sekou Mara, Dominic Ballard
Of course there is improvements that would need to be made to that team, like last season we would need bring in experience in the spine of the team, a couple of proven central defenders, a leader in the centre of midfield and a proven centre forward.
But that is 4 -5 players at £10-15 million apiece, so we would have brought in £150-200 million in transfer fees and we only need to spend around £50 million.
Some will sneer at some of the names in this side, but there is a big difference in class from the Premier League to the Championship, Adam Armstrong for instance got 28 goals two years ago when he played for Blackburn, Will Smallbone has proved himself at this level with Stoke City and Gavin Bazunu was superb at League One level a year ago.
Even after losing our superstars we can still compete, spend the money wisely and we can be a force in this division.
I have assumed the worst case scenario and all of the named players leaving, but some might stay, Burnley want Nathan Tella but do not seem to want to pay the money for him, so he could well find himself in a Saints shirt next season, likewise Sulemana & Alcaraz.
So there is no doubt that a bloated first team squad will start to re assemble this week, there is no doubt that come July 1st there will be big offers coming in for some of them and a lot will leave, but we need to have a clear out and we need to rebuild.
Some of those that will leave for high fee's will not be missed, Salisu & Bella-Kotchap for instance were big talents, but they seemed to play when they wanted to, they did not give us a consistent season and I am told that the atmosphere in the dressing room was awful with certain players forming cliques.
We need a fresh start and this gives us the chance to achieve it.