Southampton like any club relegated from the Premier League will have to cut their cloth, but the hope is that with the sale of several key players, the foundations of the squad will stay in place, however it is not just the star names that Saints will see go.

One of the issues this season has been the size of the squad and perhaps more importantly the fact although there was lots of quantity it was a lack of experienced quality, meaning that the squad at times was bloated and both Nathan Jones and Ruben Selles fell into the trap of using one of the fringe players instead of persevering with those that could win games of football.

In the summer there will be a rush to buy our star players, James Ward Prowse, Mohammed Salisu, Armando Bella Kotchap, Kyle Walker Peters, Romeo Lavia & Che Adams will all attract interest from Premier League clubs, that's the bad news, the good news is that the sale of just those 6 players will bring in somewhere between £150-200 million.

You could add Tino Livramento to that list, but I suspect that after being out for the season through injury, the big guns will want to wait until they see he makes a full recovery before committing big money in transfer fees and wages.

But there are a lot of other fringe players who will go, Moi Elyounoussi is out of contract and so is unlikely to be here, there will be no money coming in but it will get a hefty wage off the books.

You would think a lot of the younger players such as Sekou Mara, Juan Larios & Samuel Edozie will be staying put, likewise Joe Aribo, they are on good wages and are unlikely to find a Premier League suitor who will match them.

The grey area is Charly Alcatraz, Sulemana & Tall Paul Onauchu, they are on big wages but have not proved themselves in the Premier League, so to move they would potentially have to take a drop in income, they may prefer to stay another season even in the Championship, to maintain their income and get first team football.

One player who seems to be in demand though is Mislav Orsic, he was thought to be a prize catch back in January and it is hard to point the finger at where exactly things went wrong, almost immediately he seemed to fall out of favour with Nathan Jones and even when Ruben Selles took over his first team opportunities didn't improve.

But is seems he has admirers elsewhere and according to Gunebakis a Turkish media outlet based in the city of Trabzon , Trabzonspor have "made an official offer" for the Croatian.

Orsic joined Saints in January for a fee said to be around £6 million and is under contract at St Mary's until July 2025.

The issue won't be the transfer fee though, but the players wages, Saints got him cheaply due to his age, he turned 30 just before joining the club, but his wages could well be, at Southampton he will be on Premier League level wages, but he is unlikely to get that anywhere else whether in England, Europe or for that matter Asia as the City of Trabzon lies in the Asian side of Turkey.

Gunebakis claim that Trabzonspor would like to sign the Croatian on loan with an option to buy and have made their offer to both Southampton and the player.

They also claim that although Saints have yet to respond, that Orsic is "Warmly Interested" although he also has other interest from Turkey namely Galatasaray.

This seems to be heading for the same sort of situation that we encountered with Mario Lemina, we are unlikely to be able to get him off the books due to the high wages, therefore a permanent deal is not on the cards, however given his relatively low transfer fee, a loan deal might be feasible and would at least enable us to cover his wages.

Photo: Action Images

WestSussexSaint added 12:41 - May 4 There are a coupling points in this article which assume a position that may not be accurate. 1) that the sale value of those players mentioned who are likely to be attractive to PL clubs won’t drop off with Saints being relegated. It will be clear that to the buying clubs that the players will want to leave which doesn’t give Saints much power to play hard ball on the price. 2) that the players who stay will do so to protect their income. I believe most if not all Saints players have a relegation clause in them which will see reduced wages in the Championship. That in turn may mean some players are attracted by offers which will enable them to earn more elsewhere. The big issue is whether we get offers for the players in the first place. After this seasons performances I expect not unless they think they can drive a cut price bargain.

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SaintPaulVW added 13:12 - May 4 Also depends if anyone has any 'relegation clauses' written in to their contracts. Agree that players won't automatically move unless wages are matched. So unless PL clubs are interested, players may 'decide' to prove themselves against slightly lower ability but generally higher motivated opposition. Either that noble aim, or just keep taking the money.
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Ifonly added 13:59 - May 4 All talk of transfer decisions should be off the table until the new manager is decided. If SR reach new lows in decision making and retain Selles, then all hope is lost and I would imagine many would want the first bus out. But if (a big if) Rodgers, Potter or another manager with a decent reputation could be tempted, then players decisions will be affected by that. If the board show leadership then although we're bound to lose some big names, others will want to stay and some good players will join. If the board continue their incompetence then the whole thing could fall apart rapidly. They need to get a grip early to set the direction.

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YosemiteSaint added 15:03 - May 4 The question, of course, is whether the proceeds are plowed back into the club. Apparently by the end of 2024 Solak has to repay a £150 million loan he used to buy Saints. I'm sure that player sales will be applied to that debt.
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EvertonSaint added 15:07 - May 4 Walcott, Mo, Adam Armstrong, Che Adams, Mc Carthy, Diallo and Djnepo all need to leave, with Maitland- Miles back to Arsenal. We haven’t had a good striker since Ricky Lambert, Pelle and Ings left so that must be our priority.
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underweststand added 15:32 - May 4 Relegation / sell-on / reduced salary clauses will all play a part, but clearly there is great strength in having international players up for sale, and a.t.m. we have quite a few. Just how many of this season's new signings will stay is open to interpretation, but for the likes of Orsic, a player who was in the World Cup six months ago and had little game time since, won't want to wait and play in the Championship at this stage of his career. ...and that goes for half-a-dozen more as well. We need players who can negotiate the Championship and we don't need top grade international to achieve that. As Nick mentioned we might be looking at 100 million or more from summer sales, and the remaining squad members will - for the most part - be on a lower rate of salaries, which will cover a lot of lost revenue. The real keys are: 1) Finding a manager capable of galvanising young players into a promotion-challenging squad capable of holding out for 46 games, and not falling away in the last 6 weeks. 2) Buying in two or three "old heads " in key positions to help the youngsters find their way in a rugged, and not always fair second tier, where muscle is often preferable to skill, and playing a basic, attacking formation that EVERYONE can understand. 3) spending a goodly chunk of the transfer fees on a couple of established strikers who can find the net on a regular basis. Had we been a Championship side 3 years ago, the likes of Ché Adams and Adam Armstrong would have been seen as gold dust, but both would admit that their time with Saints has been very disappointing - to say the least. Such is the vast difference between the top two leagues. I would hold no grudge against any player who wants to leave, we promised them Prem. football and as a club we failed. Let's see some eager, hungry youngsters coming in who will play for the badge, and give us the seed of the next generation Premier League stars.

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DellBoyWally added 15:42 - May 4 Selles has stated his wish to stay!! Well, I don't think he can be the manager. The Championship is unique in terms of quality, intensity and competition among European leagues which is why it is ranked so highly. Too much for Selles me thinks. Whether he would take a job demotion, or whether we'd even want him there, is a separate question. Most of the "big" names will be off we can assume but some quality will remain:- Charly Alcaraz could be one to stay and he could really make a name for himself. At the back, Badnarek and Lyanco might be our CB pairing and either could make a good team captain. Either side we'd have Livramento, who'll need a good chunck of work to prove recovery and retained quality, and Peraud. AdamA is a proven Championship scorer so could pin down a striker roll, Stuey won't be going anywhere unless a Scottish club comes in for him. Will Smallbone will return from a successful spell at Stoke. Can't see Telles wanting to come back. There's 8 of the starting 11 for no new outlay plus a GK. Then we need the right manager to oversee our return, someone with experience, knowhow, tactical nous and a nice smile. OK, we can probably do without the last one!!

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JoeEgg added 17:02 - May 4 "Then we need the right manager to oversee our return, someone with experience, knowhow, tactical nous and a nice smile. OK, we can probably do without the last one!!" DBW Well DBW if Sports Republic are true to form wz shall probably get the nice smile, but lose out on the experience, knowhow and tactical nous!
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saint901 added 14:39 - May 5 We need somebody like Graham Potter in first and then he can run his eye over the squad. If he thinks the present squad is not good enough to be back next season (i think it is not but somebody like Potter would be in a better position to judge) then building for a 4 or 5 season long campaign is the aim and JWP/KWP/ABK/Salisu Bednarek and a couple of others should be allowed to go to generate funds. If he thinks we are good enough then it's cheaper to ignore the relegation clause in contracts and continue to pay PL salaries to the above to keep them.

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