Southampton
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Southampton is another club known for producing top players from their academy and they’ve been stripped of their best talents over the years. In addition to losing valuable players from their academy, the Saints have also lost players like Schneiderlin, Lambert, Lovren and Clyne who rose to fame while playing for the club.
The Premier League club had an amazing season in 2013/14 under Mauricio Pochettino as they finished eighth and it was their best finish since 2002-03.
In the close season, Southampton lost many of their players who helped them finish the previous season strongly. This list included club captain Adam Lallana who moved to Liverpool along with Dejan Lovren and Rickie Lambert. Promising teenage players Luke Shaw and Calum Chambers also moved to Manchester United and Arsenal respectively.
In addition to this, Artur Boruc moved to Bournemouth on loan and later joined the cherries on a permanent deal when his contract expired and former club record signings Gaston Ramirez and Dani Osvaldo were also sent out on loan.
The departure of so many first team players and the manager in one go made Southampton favourites for relegation. However, the appointment of Ronald Koeman and the players he signed like Sadio Mane, Dusan Tadic, Ryan Bertrand, Fraser Forster and Graziano Pelle, helped the Saints finish one place better in seventh at the end of the 2014-15 season.
In the summer transfer window of 2015, Southampton lost more key players in Nathaniel Clyne and Morgan Schneiderlin. They also failed to beat Spurs to the signature of Toby Alderweireld. Despite all this, they are currently seventh in the league.
A starting XI of former Southampton players currently playing in the Premier League would look like this and let’s not forget that this list doesn’t include Gareth Bale – who is yet another gem to have emerged from Saints’ academy.
