Why Southampton can't sign stars like Christian Benteke, Robin van Persie and John Terry and instead must sell, sell, sell
UEFA's rules prevent clubs like Southampton from adding big names to squad of young stars
By MARTIN SAMUEL - SPORT
PUBLISHED: 23:10, 20 April 2014 | UPDATED: 01:41, 21 April 2014
Luke Shaw, it seems, will be the first. Adam Lallana may well follow, particularly if he thrives in Brazil.
And the arch-realists will say that is the way it has always been. Southampton are a selling club. They produce elite standard players and sell them on. Theo Walcott, Gareth Bale and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in the modern era; Alan Shearer, Steve Williams, Martin Chivers in times past. Nothing has changed, really.
But it has. Southampton always sold because they produced gems in single batches. In Shearer’s last game for Southampton, a 5-1 defeat at Arsenal, he was not part of a thriving young squad with potential. Shearer was two weeks older than full back Jeff Kenna and two years older than central defender Richard Hall, but neither of his contemporaries were destined for international stardom.
Selling their young striker to Blackburn Rovers made financial sense and wasn’t going to affect Southampton’s prospects greatly.
The circumstances are very different now, yet Southampton still have no choice but to cash their chips. Why? Financial Fair Play. The very idea that was supposed to liberate the small, well-run clubs is now chained to them like a lead weight. Even if Southampton wanted to make the most of their brilliant academy, they could not.
Michel Platini and his surrounding cabal of established, powerful clubs have seen to that.
Yet, sadly, teenage dreams are exactly where this fantasy ends.
Manchester United played up their fortune in producing David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Gary Neville, Phil Neville and Nicky Butt by recruiting some outstanding senior players to complement them.
During the 1995-96 season, when United won the league, Peter Schmeichel, Andy Cole, Steve Bruce, Gary Pallister, Denis Irwin, Roy Keane and Eric Cantona all made 38 appearances or more.
The myth is United won it with kids. Alan Hansen was right: nobody wins anything with kids.
Yet suppose Southampton wanted to take advantage of this ‘Class of 92’ windfall? Suppose owner Katharina Liebherr was minded, or persuaded, that her football club were on the cusp of something unique. That, by keeping the young players, keeping the good older players and adding a layer of expensively acquired talent on top, Southampton could have a proper tilt at muscling their way into the top four.
Then a man in a suit from UEFA would say no. Southampton would be spending beyond their given para-meters and that isn’t financially fair, apparently.
UEFA have no problem with Southampton being plundered by the elite. Yet if a very rich woman wanted to use her money to further her club, and make the most of their resources, that would not be allowed.
Shaw is likely to leave for Manchester United this summer. Yet imagine a role reversal. Instead of being the team that get raided, what if Southampton gathered their youthful nucleus and told them this would be the summer of change?
They had a list of targets, significant names who might be available, and were looking to add three or four and have a real go next season.
Who might be on such a list? Choose from Romelu Lukaku, Danny Welbeck, Loic Remy, Christian Benteke, John Terry, Micah Richards, Jack Rodwell, Andros Townsend, Adam Johnson, Thomas Vermaelen, Michu — maybe even Robin van Persie.
It would cost, but the time was right. This was their moment.
And that is what Financial Fair Play has killed. Moments. Jack Walker marching into Blackburn Rovers with the proceeds of his life’s work and a dream; Southampton using the fruits of their academy to do something more than pick Manchester United off the floor.
It is sad to hear a player such as Chambers talk so proudly of growing up with Shaw and then reaching the first team together, knowing that their partnership will barely blossom before the inevitable takes place.
There is too much inevitability in modern football as it is. Too many foregone conclusions. Not in individual matches, such as Sunderland’s win at Chelsea, but the general narrative of the season.
Liverpool’s emergence as potential champions is so captivating simply because we thought such a rise, from seventh to first, was no longer possible.
UEFA have a duty to keep the sport fluid and engaging, to maintain an element of surprise. Instead, they are cementing clubs in place, leaving Southampton without a business plan beyond upmarket feeder club.
According to Arsene Wenger, the only other club that could have gone the route of Manchester United in recent years were West Ham United. Wenger says the West Ham team that included Joe Cole, Frank Lampard, Michael Carrick, Glen Johnson and Jermain Defoe had ‘Class of 92’ potential, if handled correctly.
Had West Ham invested significantly and astutely in building the squad, as Manchester United did, Wenger believes West Ham could have broken into the elite group.
Yet Southampton now are considerably more efficient than West Ham then.
They are established financially, have a productive, successful infrastructure and a wealthier owner. They are exactly the sort of club that should benefit from well thought out Financial Fair Play rules, which these are not. They are a travesty, a bastardisation of the original principles, created by frightened men whose only consideration was self-interest.
In a true meritocracy, Southampton should be in a position to challenge Manchester United next season. Instead, all they will be able to do is restore the hierarchy, sell the family silver and bank the cheque.
