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

Forwards: Gareth Bale (Real Madrid), Sadio Mane (Liverpool) and Graziano Pelle (Shandong Luneng)

Bale became the world's most expensive player in 2013

Gareth Bale is arguably the best player to have come through the Southampton academy. However, when Bale left Southampton to join Spurs in 2007, he was still a left-back.

The Welshman made his successful transition from a left-back to a winger a few years later at Spurs and hasn’t looked back since. He scored 55 goals in 203 games for the North London club of which he scored 26 in his last season in 44 games.

He won the PFA Players’ Player of the Year award in 2010/11 and 2012/13 before making a then world record transfer to Real Madrid in 2013.

At Real Madrid, Bale has scored 88 goals in 189 games. In addition, he has won 11 trophies including four Champions League titles. Bale scored the winning goal in the 2014 and 2018 Champions League finals.

Despite his injury problems, he’s still considered one of the best players in the game.

Pelle and Mane formed a formidable partnership at Southampton

Graziano Pelle and Sadio Mane joined Southampton in the summer of 2014 as a replacement for the likes of Rickie Lambert and Adam Lallana.

Both players were at Southampton for only two seasons but in that short time, they formed a brilliant partnership which helped them finish strongly in the league. Pelle scored 30 goals in 81 games while Mane racked up 25 goals in 75 games in those two seasons.

Mane left Southampton to join Liverpool in a then record fee for an African player. He hit the ground running at Liverpool and after two seasons, he has scored 33 goals in 73 games.

As for Pelle, he became an Italian international while at Southampton and scored 9 times in 20 games for the Azzurri. However, he left European soil to continue his career in China with Shandong Luneng.

Honourable mentions: Theo Walcott (Everton) and Jay Rodriguez (West Brom)