Adam Blackmore column: Southampton determined to get fair return for top players
- Published
New Southampton boss Russell Martin has said his Saints are trending in the right direction
New Southampton manager Russell Martin has described all the transfer rumours swirling around St Mary's as "noise".
But there is no doubt the signing period for a club like Saints is something that can't end quick enough.
It's bad enough for the clubs who aren't in the top five or six in the country that the window closes four weeks after the season starts.
But it is especially bad when you are a relegated Premier League team and the vultures are circling to pick the best meat from your carcass.
We all know that Southampton's top players may well be back in the top flight of English football at least a year before the club and there's been a calm level of acceptance of that from the manager and the hierarchy, which has made it easier for fans to stomach.
No fan in their right mind would begrudge James Ward-Prowse a shot at European football and a return to the bright lights of the Premier League. Touch wood (knocks on the table), unlike some summers when the club has had stand-offs with players - think Virgil Van Dijk - that have unsettled the dressing room and made the manager's job harder. This summer has for the most part seen the players go about pre-season without any drama.
That is despite the club taking a tough stance on player valuations, a strategy in itself that fans love, but one that could also end up with disgruntled players still at St Mary's in September. It's a tightrope Saints are walking and one that I admire.
This strategy of not letting players just leave for little return shows strength from the board, new chief executive Phil Parsons and director of football Jason Wilcox. Most importantly it is a strategy and not a desperate fire sale.
'Players will leave'
How much longer will Southampton's captain James Ward-Prowse be in the red-and-white of Saints?
Saints are showing strength in the face of relegation and that is something fans can get behind.
There are few things more depressing for supporters than seeing their best players sold off quickly and cheap. So far, Tino Livramento, Ward-Prowse and Romeo Lavia know the club have turned down poor offers for them and so far they've got on with quietly playing.
Players will leave but Saints are determined they will do so on their terms.
If some who expect to go don't get their moves because prospective clubs aren't willing to pay what Saints want in line with their valuation, then let's hope they knuckle down and don't rock the boat. There is an element of risk but Southampton will be stronger for this approach in the long term.
As long as they trade realistically and play ball when they need to they will continue to be a club that good young players see as the biggest stepping stone to the biggest stage and there's nothing wrong with that - especially if come next summer they are a Premier League club again.
