After it was brought up jokingly in the match thread about Liverpool buying your players I thought it might be interesting to get Southampton fans views on some of the players who have left your club over the years for the top handful of English teams. The list of players includes the likes of CL regulars Bale and Walcott, one who has won the CL with Real Madrid scoring in the final, the other having played alongside some brilliant players, scored against the likes of Barca and scored a goal in a winning FA Cup final. And also players like Shaw, Lallana or Lovren who have had more difficulty getting to the point they are playing regularly or performing to a standard where the new teams fans are happy. And more recently players such as Mane who have made an immediate impact upon leaving. Southampton have consistently done well to deal with losing key players, with a top quality youth setup, good coaches and scouting network helping to see them through losing players when other teams have suffered badly in similar circumstances. Behind the scenes the club is obviously being run well and although players have often departed in hope of stepping up to the next level Southampton have made good money from the transfers and managed to maintain a team capable of giving any team in the league a good game on there day. But what do the fans think of the players who have left? Do you think they have reached there potential? Did the moves end up being justified by either winning trophies, developing as a player or becoming part of a top team? Or did they make mistakes in leaving? Which players do you wish well and which leave a bitter taste in the mouth?
This is going to sound biased, and maybe it is, but there's an honestly held belief around these parts that some players move on much too soon for their own good. All the Academy kids who have left for the Promised Land within a season of breaking through have trod a lot of water since, by and large. Gareth Bale has been the real exception, so let's leave him out of this. Let's see, Lallana doesn't count here either because he gave several seasons to SFC, and improved each season, but the rest.? I can think of Walcott, OXO, and especially Chambers, who should have stayed a couple of seasons, at least. Another generally held belief here is that young players who leave Southampton for Arsenal [especially, but other clubs are guilty too] don't really improve hugely, or even at all. Walcott's football brain has improved with experience, but it was pretty poor anyway to start with. I have never been convinced by Theo. A far better player potentially, OXO I see struggling week-in, week-out to be the speedy, audacious, slick-skilled, arrogant little player that he was, and is no longer, and it is quite saddening. I'm quite sure that if he'd have stayed with Saints he'd be really excellent now, possibly/probably at another club, but he'd be a regular, not some bit-part player. Chambers has got what he deserved - a loan at Middlesboro. That's not to denigrate Boro, because frankly, I think Chambers is lucky Boro took him. He's actually gone backwards. Luke Shaw isn't much better than he was either - and he should be hugely better, such was the steepness of his learning curve. Yes, his injury hasn't helped, but he was so good, and all that was needed was a little fine tuning on his end product. Morgan Schneiderlin just qualifies as a Saints Academy player, and look at him. A player capable of playing in any team's holding midfield area and bossing the opposition. Gone backwards totally. I saw him play 45 minutes for Utd last month [just out of curiosity to see him] and he was pretty bloody awful. His confidence and swagger is completely shot. He needs to come home. Obviously, there are loads of Saints Academy kids who leave the club and don't reach the bright lights, though they were very good in their time. Most of them have gone on to solid careers in the Championship, Europe or lower leagues. Other standouts could include Steve Williams, who also went to Arsenal in a different era and never quite lived upto his huge promise and form at SFC. Is it something in the London water.? Oh yes, and Alan Shearer went to punditry via Blackburn Rovers and Newcastle. He did OK-ish, I guess.
With Oxocube I really think he would have benefited from staying with you guys or being loaned out for regular football. The problem with football these days is the really top prospects if they aren't signed soon end up going for ridiculous money. Being English meant he was even more likely to be poached. But oxo has definitely struggled at Arsenal. He seems to be the kind of player that really needs confidence and without regular football he is finding it hard to get it. He has so much potential and could really become something special but it's a tough time in his career and he really needs to add more consistency to his game. Walcott though since leaving has earned a lot more money than he would have, has won more trophies, played regular CL football, shared a team with some really good players and other than his injuries would likely have fulfilled his potential. If he avoids injury this season I'd tip him to have the season everyone has been waiting for. Sneiderlin is a good example of a player who went for the big move and most probably regrets it. I would have really liked to see him at Arsenal, he was brilliant for you guys, yet somehow he finds himself on the bench at Utd with Fellaini getting game time. You couldn't make it up. He must be gutted. P.s. I suppose Shearer did ok
Most of the departures haven't done that badly. Walcott was really quite effective before injuries derailed him; he had a three-season span where he started 75 league games, scored 31 goals and chipped in with 25 assists, which is good production no matter how you slice it. Chambers and Schneiderlin are the only ones who I'd suggest might regret the move, and in Morgan's case it's probably more that he'd regret his choice of destination more than the move itself...he remains just about perfect for Arsenal or, ugh, Liverpool. Assuming Liverpool ever decides to go with a formation that doesn't include six attacking mids, I mean.
Don't forget, Nathan Dyer won the Premier League last season with Leicester, and also Andrew Surman is ever-present in midfield for Bournemouth, and this season with the burden of carrying Jack Wilshere!
It's somehow ironic that most Saints fans, and I would guess most Arsenal fans, always thought that Morgan Schneiderlin would be a perfect fit at the Emirates. The only people who didn't see it were Wenger and the Arsenal board, unfortunately. I would go as far as saying that Arsenal would probably have won the title last season if Morgan had gone there instead of to Man U. Other than that I would say TSS has summed it all up pretty well, except that Gareth Bale trod water for a while at Tottenham until Redknapp was forced to play him because of injuries, and then the light dawned what a gem he had on his hands.
Bale is the only player to have developed beyond what we believed his potential to be. Wayne Bridge left and won the League, FA & League cups and a reasonable number of international caps. Shearer won the league with Blackburn and had an excellent international & domestic goal-scoring record. Other than them, it is a struggle to think of players developed at Southampton that have really pushed on.
You know me well enough that I would be one of the few Saints supporters who wouldn't see Morgan as being a perfect fit at Arsenal. The only place he's a perfect fit at is... Well, as I say, you know me well enough.
True, but I never saw him play, didn't attend my first match until I was 11, it was 1986 & MLT's first season.
That`s right - pisses me off when Redknapp gets credited with developing him. I can`t remember the last youngster that idiot brought through.
