Southampton made a whopping 14 first-team signings this summer as Russell Martin oversaw the process of building a squad ready for the Premier League.
Three of those signings were at the club on loan last season in the shape of Taylor Harwood-Bellis, Flynn Downes and Ryan Fraser.
Russell Martin looks to have resolved his goalkeeper woes with Southampton paying Arsenal up to £25 million for Aaron Ramsdale in what was the club’s most expensive piece of summer business.
Cameron Archer, Charlie Taylor and Adam Lallana all joined, whilst the lesser known Yukinari Sugawara and Mateus Fernandes also signed in a busy summer.
Martin will likely be happy with the club’s business given he has been backed by owners Sport Republic and appears to have addressed the positions in which Southampton looked a little light.
Southampton signings Flynn Downes and Ben Brereton Diaz ranked
Martin made no secret of the fact that securing the permanent signing of Downes was the number one priority this summer.
Downes was a standout performer as he helped Southampton to promotion last season on loan from West Ham and the Saints paid the Hammers £18 million to ensure a St Mary’s return in July.
Now that the transfer window has closed, The Athletic have used their own scoring system to rank a number of the deals made by Premier League clubs by scoring the moves out of 500.
The Athletic explain this system, stating that five categories are scored out of 100 to reach a total out of 500, with the categories being: financial value, season rating, gaming rating (based on Football Manager), tactical fit and risk/reward factor.
This scoring system was applied to the 69 Premier League transfers this summer that The Athletic deemed there to be enough information available to make a judgement on.
Of the 69 players, only three are at Southampton, with the signings of Ramsdale, Downes and Ben Brereton Diaz both ranked.
Ramsdale’s move was ranked as high as 12th, with Downes 36th and Brereton Diaz’s £7 million move from Villarreal was ranked a lowly 63rd.
Southampton deal for Downes ranks as average score amid Premier League transfers
The highest score for any deal was for Ilkay Gundogan’s return to Manchester City, with the transfer scored 400 out of 500.
By contrast, the worst deal according to The Athletic was William Osula’s £10 million move to Newcastle United from Sheffield United with a score of just 289.
Ramsdale’s move to Southampton was ranked a place above Joachim Andersen’s Fulham move and one below Matthijs de Liga to Manchester United.
Brereton Diaz’s transfer is sandwiched between that of Tim Iroegbunam from Aston Villa to Everton and Crystal Palace signing Ismaila Sarr from Marseille.
Downes’ summer move was the perfect middle, with The Athletic explaining: “Of the 69 ratings published, the average score was 340.
“The three players who score exactly that rating are Ross Barkley (Aston Villa), Daichi Kamada (Crystal Palace), and Flynn Downes (Southampton).”
Luckily, Southampton fans are far more optimistic about the signing of Downes, whilst the jury is still out on Brereton Diaz who is yet to score for his new side.