11 amazing players Southampton sold that would give them a top team

Center-backs: Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool) and Dejan Lovren (Liverpool)

Lovren (L) and Van Dijk (R) playing for Liverpool

Virgil van Dijk and Dejan Lovren are without question Liverpool’s current preferred first-choice centre-back pairing. In fact, they played together in most of Liverpool Champions League knockout stage fixtures in the 2017/18 season, including the final.

Lovren joined Liverpool in 2014 after only one season with Southampton. The Saints signed him for £8.5 million and sold him for £20 million to Liverpool. Interestingly, during his only season with the Saints, he scored the only goal in an away fixture against Liverpool.

At Liverpool, Lovren is still a subject of a lot of debate owing to his often error-prone performances. However, on his day, he has shown that he is capable of stopping any player he is up against. A testament to this is the fact that he played a key role in Croatia’s run to the FIFA World Cup final in 2018.

Virgil van Dijk spent two and a half seasons at Southampton and was even named the club captain in 2016/17. Like Lovren, he too fell out of the good book of Southampton fans for pushing a move to Liverpool.

Van Dijk’s transfer to Liverpool was a subject of intense discussion for several months and he eventually signed for the Reds in January 2018. His transfer to Liverpool made him the world’s most expensive defender and that’s a record he still holds.

He was signed by Southampton for £13 million and sold to Liverpool for £75 million. However, 10% of that fee goes to his former club Celtic.

Honourable mentions: Jose Fonte (Lille) and Calum Chambers (Arsenal)

Note: Toby Alderweireld has not been included in this list because he only played for Southampton on loan.