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Despite being Premier League stalwarts for the best part of a decade now, Southampton still have a reputation as being a “selling club”, who develop players and then move them onto bigger sides further up on the football food chain, usually making a tidy profit in the process. Various former Saints stars have gone onto superstardom in the game - after making their name playing on the south coast.
Over the years, Liverpool have been regular shoppers at St. Mary’s, bringing a number of players to Anfield to various degrees of success. In the Premier League era, no fewer than 8 players have made the move, with somewhere around £180 million paid to the south coast club from the Merseyside giants.
Here is a ranking of all the players who have moved from Southampton to Liverpool in the Premier League era.
#8 Paul Jones
Even hardcore Liverpool fans could be forgiven for forgetting that Welsh goalkeeper Paul Jones signed with them on loan from Southampton during the 2003-04 season. Jones arrived during a period of crisis at Anfield in terms of goalkeepers, as both Jerzy Dudek and Chris Kirkland had picked up injuries, forcing Gerard Houllier to look to the Welshman instead.
Jones debuted for the Reds against Aston Villa in January 2004 – and at the age of 36 years, 8 months and 23 days, he became the club’s oldest post-war debutant. The Welsh keeper kept a clean sheet on his debut – a 1-0 victory – but conceded twice in a 2-1 defeat to Tottenham in his second game and then headed back to the south coast when Dudek returned from injury the following week.
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#7 Rickie Lambert
Striker Rickie Lambert was a pivotal member of Southampton’s squad for 5 seasons after joining them for just £1 million in the summer of 2009. A career journeyman to that point, Lambert proved his worth at St. Mary’s by scoring 78 goals across his first three seasons, helping to fire the Saints back into the Premier League.
Despite his advanced age – he was 30 by the time he made his Premier League debut – Lambert took to playing at the highest level with no issues, as he delivered a solid 15 goals in his first season before following that with 13. Those goals were rewarded with a spot in the England squad for the 2014 World Cup – but it still came as a bit of a surprise when Brendan Rodgers signed him for Liverpool in the same summer.
Lambert didn’t play badly for Liverpool in his lone season at Anfield but he wasn’t a big hit either; the Reds sold Luis Suarez during the same window and struggled for consistency without him and Lambert was never going to fill his boots. He made just 7 Premier League starts, scoring 2 goals along the way, and in the summer of 2015 he was sold to West Bromwich Albion, having essentially found his ceiling.
#6 Nathaniel Clyne
A tale of what might’ve been; right-back Nathaniel Clyne moved from Southampton to Liverpool in the summer of 2015 for a hefty fee of £12.5 million, and instantly slotted into life at Anfield, making a spot in the first XI his own. Clyne made 52 appearances in all competitions during his first season at the club, and even scored the winner in a 1-0 EFL Cup victory over Bournemouth – Jurgen Klopp’s first win as Liverpool boss.
The summer of 2016 saw Clyne chosen in England’s Euro 2016 squad and at 25, it was expected that he’d duel with Kyle Walker for a first-choice international berth in the years to come. 2016-17 saw him miss just one of Liverpool’s Premier League games, but then disaster struck.
A back injury sustained in the summer of 2017 sidelined him until February, during which time Trent Alexander-Arnold emerged from the shadows and made Liverpool’s right-back spot his own. By the time he finally returned, he was never realistically going to win his place back, and so he moved to Bournemouth on loan before returning to Anfield in the summer of 2019 – where he subsequently suffered a torn ACL.
As of the time of writing, Clyne remains on the shelf, and has largely become a forgotten man at Liverpool.
#5 Peter Crouch
Peter Crouch’s time at Anfield was relatively short in the grand scheme of things; he lasted 3 seasons at Liverpool before moving to former club Portsmouth in the summer of 2008, but it was also relatively eventful and also successful. The lanky striker moved to Anfield for a fee of £7 million in the summer of 2005, after his 16 goals in the previous season failed to prevent Southampton from relegation.
Crouch’s first season started slowly; he failed to find the net for the first four months of his Liverpool career and took some abuse from the fans, but eventually he found his form, and ended up scoring 13 goals in all competitions, including a winner against Manchester United in the 5th round of the FA Cup. Crouch ended the season by providing an assist for Steven Gerrard in the FA Cup final, eventually helping the Reds to lift the trophy.
In his following seasons, Crouch scored a total of 29 goals for Liverpool, including a winner in the 2006 Community Shield, a hat-trick against Arsenal and a total of 11 goals in the Champions League. The England international was sold when the arrival of Fernando Torres restricted his playing opportunities but after his tricky start, he definitely became a hit at Anfield.
#4 Dejan Lovren
Croatian international Dejan Lovren signed with Southampton in the summer of 2013, and after making 31 Premier League appearances in his debut season, became recognised as one of the strongest central defenders in the division. It came as no surprise then, when he became the third Saints player to move to Liverpool in the summer of 2014.
Signing for a reported fee of £20 million, Lovren started his career at Anfield well, helping his new side to overcome his old one Southampton on the opening day of the Premier League and scoring his first goal in an EFL Cup game with Swansea but his form then nosedived and he lost his place in the starting XI. By the end of 2014-15 he was widely recognised as one of the worst signings of the season.
Since the arrival of Jurgen Klopp during the 2015-16 season though, Lovren has regained his form and is now seen as a crucial member of the Liverpool squad. He’s definitely had some struggles – he was famously substituted in the first half during a disastrous 4-1 loss to Tottenham – but for the most part the Croatian has been a steady performer, and he’s now made a total of 182 appearances for the Reds, scoring 8 goals along the way.
#3 Adam Lallana
Creative midfielder Adam Lallana moved to Liverpool from the south coast in the summer of 2014, the same transfer window that saw his teammates Dejan Lovren and Rickie Lambert make the move. During his time at Southampton – who he’d played for since he was 12 years old – he’d established himself as one of the most creative midfielders around, and was named in the 2014 PFA Team of the Year.
He moved to Anfield for £25 million right before playing for England in the 2014 World Cup, and despite Liverpool’s generally disappointing 2014-15 season, Lallana was able to score 5 goals and make 3 assists in a decent showing for him. 2015-16 and 2016-17 saw him establish himself as one of Liverpool’s key men, scoring 15 goals and making 14 assists, and he appeared to be going from strength to strength under Jurgen Klopp before disaster struck.
The England international suffered a serious hamstring injury in the summer of 2017 that sidelined him for the best part of 4 months. Upon his return, Liverpool’s midfield appeared to have moved on without him, becoming a more physical unit with the Reds’ goals and creativity now coming largely from their front trio.
Lallana remains at Anfield and has made a couple of impactful appearances as a substitute in recent months – rescuing a point in Liverpool’s October draw with Manchester United – which means he still ranks highly on this list, but in all likelihood the best part of his career with the Reds has probably been and gone.
#2 Sadio Mane
It’s very hard to split the top two on this list, but Senegalese attacker Sadio Mane comes in at the #2 spot. Mane joined Southampton on transfer deadline day in September 2014 and enjoyed a fantastic debut season, even breaking the Premier League’s record for the fastest ever hat-trick – scoring 3 times in 2 minutes and 56 seconds in a game against Aston Villa. 2015-16 saw him perform excellently again, as he ended the season as the Saints’ top scorer with 15 goals.
The flying forward joined Liverpool in the summer of 2016 for a fee of £34 million – at that point, a record fee for an African player – and since then he’s basically never looked back. His debut season at Anfield saw him score 13 Premier League goals in 27 appearances, being named as Liverpool’s Player of the Season in the process.
2017-18 and 2018-19 saw him rise even further in importance, as Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp’s focus on his attacking trio of Mane, Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino was a massive success, sending the Reds to the Champions League final in 2018 before they were able to win the trophy the following season. Along the way, the Senegalese striker was able to score a total of 46 goals in just 94 appearances for the Reds.
Now firmly established as a genuine world-class performer, Mane has already scored 13 goals in 22 games in the current season – 9 of them in the Premier League – and was even named in 4th place in the recent 2019 Ballon d’Or voting. The £34 million the Reds paid for him now feels like an absolute bargain.
#1 Virgil van Dijk
It was tricky to make the call as to who is Liverpool’s best ever signing from Southampton, but the truth is that without Sadio Mane, the Reds would still be a dynamic attacking outfit capable of scoring plenty of goals. Without Virgil van Dijk, meanwhile, would they really be as tough to break down at the back? In all honesty – judging on their defensive form prior to his 2018 arrival – the answer is probably not.
The Dutch centre-back had proven himself as one of the Premier League’s best defenders in two seasons at St. Mary’s, and tried unsuccessfully to force a move to Liverpool in the summer of 2017. That didn’t happen, but in January 2018, a £75 million transfer was agreed, breaking the world record fee for a defender in the process.
Many fans scoffed at the amount of money the Reds spent on him, but Van Dijk has already repaid the fee and then some. The Dutchman scored the winner on his debut – a 2-1 victory over Mersey rivals Everton in the FA Cup – and had an instant impact. Liverpool’s once flimsy defence was transformed; following his arrival they conceded just 10 Premier League goals, having let in 28 previously, and made it to the Champions League final.
2018-19 saw him at his imperious best, as Liverpool conceded just 22 league goals – the least of any Premier League side – and won the Champions League, with Van Dijk being named Man of the Match in the final in the process. This month he was voted 2nd in the Ballon d’Or award behind Lionel Messi and at the time of writing he’s widely recognised as the best defender on the planet. Almost two years on from his transfer, £75 million now feels like a steal.
