Ask Liverpool what is the quickest way to take a team from 2nd to 8th in the Premier League and they will tell you ! Now it seems their near neighbours are following their lead.
In season 2013/14 Liverpool finished second in the Premier League and Southampton 8th, two seasons later and after signing over a quarter of that Saints starting line up and the Reds find themselves in 8th place with Southampton two places higher, it did not take Einstein to work out the theory on that one.
Now it seems former Saints manager Ronald Koeman is set to try and emulate his rivals across the park by signing Saints players.
Koeman already has Maarten Stekelenburg in his Everton squad and as any Saints player will tell you, although the Dutch keeper was not the worst keeper in the Premier, he was far from the best and Saints season changed drastically once Stekelenburg was replaced by Fraser Forster on his return from injury.
It wasn't that Stekelenburg was bad, he just did not seem to make a save, he did not make many gaffes, but he just did not make those crucial saves either.
If Koeman is going to use Stekelenburg as his first choice then there is something amiss.
Next up on the Everton radar is Graziano Pelle, now Pelle was a big part of our success last season, but the issue is age, if Koeman is going to prise him from Chelsea's grasp or even China where it is rumoured he will earn a last massive pay day, then Everton are going to have to fork out somewhere approaching £20 million if press reports are to be believed, now even if that fee was as low as £10 million that is a big amount for a player about to turn 31.
If I was an Everton fan I would be asking why with £150 million to spend, Koeman is shopping at ASDA rather than Harrods.
From a Saints perspective, the interest in Pelle is going to mean a far bigger pay day than we could have expected, it will solve the question whether we should keep him or not, the reality is that £10 millions for a 31 year old is very good business, if that becomes £15 million its dream time and if we did get £20 million then that would mean someone gets their hand bitten off.
For Saints its about buying and selling, that is the way forward now, its worked so far and it will continue to be.