5 teams that sell their star players and still do well

#4 Southampton

Lallana and Schneiderlin made moves to Liverpool and Manchester United, respectively

Southampton were promoted to the Premier League in 2012, and barring their first season after promotion, they have finished in the top half. This feat becomes more commendable when the steady flow of players out of St Mary's is considered.

The Saints sold £135.5 million worth of talent over 12 months. Adam Lallana and Rickie Lambert, two standout performers of the 2012/13 season, joined Liverpool in the summer of 2014. The Merseysiders would come back to raid the Saints and signed Nathaniel Clyne, Dejan Lovren and the latest recruit from Southampton, Sadio Mane.

Morgan Schneiderlin and Luke Shaw were snapped up by Manchester United, while Victor Wanyama joined another big club in Tottenham. Graziano Pelle was one of the many European stars to be wooed by Chinese money and moved to Shandong Luneng in July 2016.

Despite these losses, they qualified for the Europa League in 2016. Youngsters like James Ward-Prowse and shrewd signings like Pierre-Emile Højbjerg have stepped up.