Welcome…
Hello everyone out there and welcome to my first story on FM Scout, Southampton: The End of an Error. I am pleased that you have opened my story and are actually reading it. I am not really a huge fan of the club, but as I was browsing through the stories on the site, I found only a few stories about Southampton. So, I decided to make something different and challenging at the same time.
Most of you guys (and girls if there are any) already know about Southampton’s summer exodus, where not only the likes of Luke Shaw and Adam Lallana, but also manager Mauricio Pochettino departed. Anyway, I will quickly go through the transfers.
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Transfer Summary
With £47.9m spent and £88.6m received, there surely was a lot of transfer activity for the Saints. New manager Ronald Koeman’s chances of success had been written off largely before he had even started. Liverpool have paid Southampton a combined fee of around £61m for the services of Lovren, Lallana, and Lambert. The money, however, was reinvested in the transfers of Dusan Tadic, Graziano Pelle, Fraser Forster, Florin Gardos, Sadio Mane and the startling signing of Shane Long. The signings have cost the club in the range of £48m. The deadline loan signing of Toby Alderweireld has the potential to be a bit of a coup, while Sadio Mane also arrived before the window shut.
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Pochettino also left Southampton, signing for Tottenham on a five-year deal
Morgan Schneiderlin started to feel unsettled at Southampton, and even wanted a way out, but Koeman refused to sell him. Schneiderlin was upset about the situation in the beginning, but later carried on with professionalism. Koeman has goaded his predecessor Mauricio Pochettino by claiming midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin is glad he did not follow him to White Hart Lane, saying:
’It was very important Schneiderlin stayed. I think the player is very happy to stay.
Maybe he had some doubts about the club’s ambition but if you ask Morgan now about our ambition, it is what he would like to see. He is a key player. He scores, he defends, he attacks and with that kind of player you like to do everything to keep him in the team.’
The player himself confirmed that he’s delighted to stay. Speaking to BBC Sport, he said:
"I always say that I am happy at Southampton. I'm not going to hide the fact that it has been a long summer with a lot of speculation and a lot of thinking on my side to know if I have to make a big step. The club showed that they wanted to keep me. I always had respect for the fans and club. I always give my best and I was just thinking about my future. Today it is clear and I just have to concentrate on my football now.”
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I hope you will enjoy this story!
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Kindly note that this story is based on the 2014/2015 season
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