Football didn't come home from Russia but Danny Ings could be with the news that Saints are about to launch a bid to bring the Liverpool forward back to his home town.
Danny Ings was brought up in Southampton although he was on Saints books as a schoolboy he was released and subsequently played for Bournemouth and Burnley before joining Liverpool three years ago.
But injury soon curtailed his Anfield career and he has spent much of his three seasons at the club sidelined, managing only 25 appearances and 4 goals in all competitions.
Now with the arrival of several attacking players during the summer, it looks like Ings will be heading for the exit door and Saints are one of a number of English clubs interested.
But Liverpool are asking £20 million for a player that they only paid £6.5 million for in 2015 as the player was out of contract and the fee was decided by tribunal as he was under 24.
That is not the sort of price that Saints want to pay for a player who has barely played in 3 seasons, they are said to be looking at around half of that figure and when you take a direct comparison with Jay RodrÃguez, that seems a fair price with J Rod leaving Saints last summer for £12 million.
That being the case you can understand Saints reluctance to take a gamble on Ings at a price that would perhaps smash the club's transfer record.
Spurs are also said to be interested, but there he would be no more than a back up player and that could swing the deal in Saints favour with another bonus being Southampton is his home town.
