With the Premier League season now only a little over three weeks away, where do Saints need to beef up their options ?
So far this summer has seen three major departures in Victor Wanyama, Graziano Pelle & Sadio Mane, four if you include Juanmi, but only two major incoming signings in Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Nathan Redmond, from a purely numbers point of view that would suggest the squad is weaker than last season, but that would not be the full picture.
So far Saints have brought in somewhere in between £60-70 Million in transfer fees this summer if you include the compensation we received for Ronald Koeman and of that sum we have spent around £23 million on Redmond and Hojbjerg, suggesting that the club has around another £35 million minimum to spend before the season begins.
It is obviously not as simple as that though and it should also be remembered that the club has spent a lot of money in tieing up its top stars to long term deals and that has not come cheap.
Some fans forget that there is more to the financial side of the squad to just transfer fees and to keep the likes of Bertrand and Forster etc we have had to pay top dollar, that means that the money to pay their wages has to come from somewhere and the income from the Premier League alone will not cover everything.
That is why the club have been cautious over the past two years and although they have re invested all transfer income received in buying replacements, in the main they have not spent the Premier League income on anything that the average fan would be able to pinpoint, the reality is that most of that sum is needed for not only running the club but paying bonus's, signing on fees for new contracts, not to mention wages.
So Saints fans should not expect to see much over money generated from player sales spent on new signings, this is reality, Katharina Liebherr wants the club to be self sufficient, as he Father also did.
That is the right way to do things !
Having said all this, the squad does need some improvement, the question is just where should Saints spend the £35 million or so that they still have in the bank.
In the goalkeeping department we need to consider an experienced back up to Fraser Forster, I would like to see Paulo Gazzaniga go on loan to a Championship club to get experience and confidence, that means getting in a back up, before Ronald Koeman left that was going to be Stekelenburg, now he has joined Koeman at Everton we will have to look again.
I would hope to see a good experienced keeper come in on either a free transfer or cheaply, I think this will happen.
In defence we need a new central defender and perhaps one with the ability to play as a full back, to be blunt Martina and Yoshida are not up to the job and I am still not sure about Florin Gardos, I would like to see a major signing come in here, perhaps £10 million or so spent on a good quality addition who can put pressure on Fonte and VVD as well as cover them in the event of injury and suspension, we got lucky with both of them in this department last season, we might not be so fortunate this coming one. Also Jose Fonte cannot go on for ever and we need to start to look at options for the future.
The midfield seems to have plenty of options at present, in the centre it has Hojbjerg, Clasie & Romeu all able to play a central holding roll, that is three players for two, possibly one position judging by the fist friendly, we are strong here even after Wanyama's departure, the only question is that we haven't got anyone with the power of the Kenyan and we could perhaps bring in a similar sort of player, if we did I would expect Clasie to leave.
In the other midfield positions we are well served, Davis, Ward Prowse, Tadic, Rodriguez and Redmond will all be competing for a variety of roles, so I am not sure why we are being linked with more midfielders of a wide nature. Indeed we also have the option to move Bertrand forward with Targett in the left back spot, this worked well last season, but then Koeman stopped using this tactic.
Up front we could probably do with a major signing, Austin is a direct replacement for Pelle and it could be said that he was signed in advance of the Italian leaving, but Austin's injury record is poor and he cannot be relied on for a full season, obviously we have still got Shane Long and Jay Rodriguez is able to play as an out and out striker, but we could still do with more options.
Firstly we need a bit of pace up front, I would like to see a striker come in who contrasts with a traditional number nine as Pelle was, a nippy inside forward as we used to call them, Juanmi was this type of player but was not strong enough, perhaps Redmond will be used in this role, but I do think we need someone experienced in the job. Sadio Berahino has been linked.
Likewise with Austin's injury record we do need to consider a direct replacement for Pelle, several names have been linked including Das Bost and latest rumour Sebastien Haller.
So I think that we need to consider four distinct signings, a central defender, a physical midfielder a pacy striker and a target man.
Not all of them need to be major signings with big fees, I think we could perhaps look at three of the four being of that ilk and then a fourth a younger player with potential rather than experience.
If we make these four signings then I think we will have again improved the squad, although I would say that if we do bring in another central midfielder then I fully expect Jordy Clasie to leave, probably joining his mentor at Everton.
Modern football is all about evolution and that is what Saints have done over the past two summers, it is about continually improving, sadly we do not have the money of the top six clubs, we cannot fund that each summer from the coffers and hope that it works, we have to employ a strategy and that does mean generating income from other sources.
Going forward more of that income is being generated from commercial areas, the deal with Virgin Media and Under Armour should not be under estimated and it will continue to increase, but the reality is that it will still be dwarfed by the commercial income that at least six other clubs can generate.
We are taking on the top six on our own terms, terms that we can win on.