One of the clubs in the Premier League that plays free-flowing attacking football is Southampton Football Club. The English football cub is a professional association football club based in Southampton, Hampshire.
The club is a mid-table side which has remained in the English top-flight for 7 years due to the effort of its players and staff. Southampton, also known as The Saints were established in 1885. The club derived its nickname from history as a church football team, founded as St. Mary’s Church of England Young Men’s Association.
Southampton’s traditional colors are red and white, with the players wearing red and white shirts. The Saints began playing their home games at The Dell before moving to their home ground called St Mary’s Stadium. The club’s long-standing rival is Portsmouth football club. Their rivalry is due to its close proximity and both cities’ respective maritime history. The South Coast derby is the match between the two clubs called.
The club has won the FA Cup once, in 1976, and their highest-ever league finish was second in the First Division in 1983–84. Southampton were relegated from the Premier League on 15 May 2005, ending 27 successive seasons of top-division football for the club. They returned after a seven-year absence, and have played there ever since.
Southampton gained promotion to the Premier League in 2012 under Nigel Adkins and it has been a rollercoaster ride for the club to stay remain in the first tier of the league. The club is currently spending a sum of around £65 million on salaries. Thus, this is mostly made up of Southampton FC players Salaries among other expenses.
The Saints are known for producing elite level academy talent. Thus, they have also brought a lot of quality players from other European leagues to the Premier League like Sadio Mane, van Dijk, and Cedric Soares.
The Saints found a great deal of success under former manager, Ronald Koeman. Further, the Dutchman led them to a 7th place finish in his first season and then in the 6th spot in his second. Southampton enjoyed European football for two seasons before Koeman left for Everton and Claude Puel was signed as his replacement.
Under the Frenchman, Virgil van Dijk was sold to Liverpool for a record fee of £75m and that slowly began the downfall of Southampton’s recent form. Neither Mauricio Pellegrino nor Mark Hughes could return Southampton to the status of being a mid-table club and were subsequently sacked. Moreover, Ralph Hassenhutl was appointed last season and successfully saved them from relegation.
Southampton have been exciting under the new manager and have also seen some young players graduate into the first team. After their 9-0 thrashing by Leicester City towards the end of last year, the club has been rejuvenated and made an extraordinary comeback. Since the mauling, they have won 5 matches in the last 7 games and placed 13th on the league table.
The club’s players’ salaries vary with some key players on quite high wages and others on low wages. Former Liverpool striker Danny Ings is Southampton’s highest-paid player, earning an annual salary of £3,900,000 per year and a weekly wage of £75,000-per-week.
The second-highest player at the St Mary’s is Ryan Bertrand. He earns a weekly wage of £70,000 and a yearly salary of £3,640,000 per year. He joined the Saints from Chelsea in 2014 and remains the only Southampton player with a Champions League medal in his locker.
Southampton F.C. 2019-20 Payroll
| Players | Gross Weekly Wages |
| Danny Ings | £75,000 |
| Ryan Bertrand | £70,000 |
| Sofiane Boufal | £65,000 |
| Oriol Romeu | £65,000 |
| Cedric Soares | £65,000 |
| Mohamed Elyounoussi | £60,000 |
| Shane Long | £60,000 |
| Nathan Redmond | £60,000 |
| Jannik Vestergaard | £60,000 |
| Stuart Armstrong | £50,000 |
| Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg | £50,000 |
| Alex McCarthy | £50,000 |
| Maya Yoshida | £50,000 |
| Jack Stephens | £48,000 |
| James Ward-Prowse | £45,000 |
| Angus Gunn | £40,000 |
| Jan Bednarek | £20,000 |
