Saints are again going to find out the hard way that most players will care more about money & status than in potential.
Whilst no Saints supporter can begrudge Morgan Schneiderlin a move to a club like Manchester United with the prospect of Champions league football, indeed the Frenchman has served Saints well, if and when Nathaniel Clyne moves to Anfield that move will stick in the throat a little because on the face of it Liverpool can offer no more than Southampton apart from more money and the past glories of what was once a great and honourable football club.
Put when both move it will once again show that football in many ways mirrors life itself in that there is a class order with the likes of Manchester United, Liverpool & Arsenal seen as the titled aristocracy, Chelsea & Manchester City seen as the noveau rich lacking a little in breeding and class, Tottenham Hotspur are similar to the errand trust fund brats and the likes of Saints as young middle class upstarts who need to be put in their place.
Clyne going to Liverpool is probably a big indication of this, despite the spending of millions in the past few years, with most of last years £140 million spend being wasted, they are again about to splash the cash buoyed by Raheem Sterling departing to Manchester City, ironically themselves finding that money talks.
But for all their bluster Liverpool are in one of their worst spells in the past 50 years in terms of trophies won, the League cup won under Kenny Dalglish in 2012 is the only trophy won since the Champions league in 2005, when you add to the fact that Liverpool have gone 25 seasons since winning the top flight title the longest spell in their history by a country mile, they are a club in turmoil.
Yet still they are a draw for some reason, logically Nathaniel Clyne should have given them a wide berth, they are in a do or die season for Brendan Rodgers who has adopted a "throw enough mud and it will stick" process to his transfer strategy. But he is keen to join them and it is the money and perceived status that is persuading him to leave rather than continue on with Saints.
So this is what Saints are up against as they try to establish themselves at the top end of the league, a class system the equal to the country itself.
But it is a challenge for Saints to take on that system and the good news is that we have nothing to lose, every step we take forward is a victory no matter how small, whereas for the likes of Liverpool, United & Arsenal the spectre of failure is forever on their shoulder.
Perhaps at the moment it is impossible for a club like Saints to break into those titled echelons, however it will be fun trying and I see the day soon when a European Super League comes into being, then perhaps the Premier will be downgraded in terms of financial reward, but it could perhaps be the savior of English football in that it would make the Premier League competitive again rather than 5-6 clubs at the top and the rest just making up the numbers fearful that a bad season could see them relegated and in financial meltdown.