Southampton’s youth academy is renowned as one of the world’s best, more evident now than ever after last year’s exodus of so many home-grown talents.
Midfielder Adam Lallana was sold to Liverpool for an estimated £25 million. Defender Calum Chambers went to Arsenal for a deal rumoured to end up at around £16 million, including all possible add-ons. Most significantly was, of course, then-18-year-old left-back Luke Shaw departing Southampton for Manchester United for an undisclosed fee put at £30 million, making him the world’s most expensive teenage player, a record previously held by Wayne Rooney.
Many wondered how incoming Ronald Koeman would be able to fill the gaps left by the academy graduates, but after the club’s most successful Premier League campaign it seems that the Dutchman found the mix.
The academy is of course still pumping out players – academy debutants this season include defenders Jason McCarthy and Matt Targett, midfielders Dominic Gape, Jake Hesketh and Lloyd Isgrove, as well as centre-forward Ryan Seager.
Harrison Reed made his Premier League debut in August 2013 at 18-years-old and has gone on to make a further 10 club appearances, including his first start in the league against Everton on the 20th of December last year, where he played the full 90 minutes.
Having a more influential role this season was exciting 20-year-old James Ward-Prowse, who has made 27 appearances in all competitions for the Saints despite a injury lay-off with a fractured foot. Ward-Prowse also scored his first ever Premier League goal with one from the spot against Hull City earlier this month. The youngster seems to have a bright future for club and also for country, with national team boss Roy Hodgson labelling the midfielder a “big prospect” and hinting that a senior debut could be coming sooner rather than later.
It is clear that there is a consistent recipe for success amongst the youth development team at Southampton, with quality graduates not a recent revelation. Count the likes of Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain among the mix, both English internationals who made their way through the ranks at St. Mary’s.
One of the biggest names in world football, Gareth Bale, entered Southampton’s youth setup in 1999, remaining at the club until 2007 and in September 2013 made a move to Real Madrid for a figure reported as being somewhere between £77 million and a record breaking £85.3 million.
Looking a little further back, Wayne Bridge and Chris Baird were both graduates and, before the establishment of the academy, the Southampton youth system produced legendary players Matthew Le Tissier and the Premier League’s record scorer with 260 goals, Alan Shearer.
Since 2012, Southampton’s youth academy products have earned the club approximately £65 million in transfer fees. This number is the highest in the world, outranking the likes of both FC Barcelona and Real Madrid in the same period. These transfers make up almost 40% of the total income of Premier League clubs for fees from the sales of home-grown players.
Ultimately, Southampton do not aim to produce players to sell them on, though it is clear they see futures for these players at the club. In a league filled with imports, “eventually, we would like 50% home-grown in the first team. Ronald [Koeman] is ultra-supportive, he believes in talented youth,” said Saints technical director Martin Hunter.
Loyalties in football seem outdated, but with so many talented players returning to their academy clubs in recent times, like the names of Gerard Piqué and Cesc Fàbregas to Barcelona, despite establishing their reputations abroad, it appears to go towards the old saying “get them while they are young”.
We are yet to see players of recent crops return to the Saints’ system that made them stars, but perhaps with the better club performances of late that will change, and possibly persuade young products not to leave St. Mary’s in search of pastures new.
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