£3m Southampton transfer agreement will go down as one of the club's finest: View | OneFootball

Southampton's signing of Japanese international Maya Yoshida in 2012 from Dutch club VVV-Venlo will always be remembered as one of the finest bits of business ever done by the Saints.

Following the club's promotion to the Premier League in 2012, Nigel Adkins' side moved quickly to bolster their squad and brought in Yoshida for a fee of just £3million, and despite being an unknown quantity, he went onto become a modern-day legend at St Mary's.

The defender would enjoy an eight-year stay on the South Coast before departing in the summer of 2020.

He will always be fondly remembered by Saints' supporters for the role he played in what was one of the club's most successful periods as they became an established Premier League club and qualified for the Europa League.

Maya Yoshida's time at Southampton

Then 24-year-old Yoshida made a promising start to life on the South Coast and started 31 of the club's games in the Premier League as they defied expectations under Adkins and then Mauricio Pochettino to stay in the division and finish 14th.

However, he endured a very difficult 2013/14 campaign, playing just eight league games and finding himself in and out of the club's matchday squad.

However, with Pochettino and star defender Dejan Lovren departing in the summer of 2014, Yoshida regained his place in the club's starting XI for the 2014/15 season and featured regularly as the club finished 7th, qualifying for the Europa League qualifying rounds.

Yoshida started just 10 Premier League games during the 2015/16 season, but it was a very successful season for the club as they finished 6th in the league, qualifying for the Europa League group stage.

The following season saw the Japanese defender play every minute of every game in the club's run to the League Cup final, where they were defeated 3-2 in the final against Manchester United.

It was a disappointing 2017/18 season for the Saints as they narrowly avoided relegation, but Yoshida started 23 league games, the most since his debut season in English football.

17 league starts would follow during the 2018/19 season for the fan favourite, before finding himself out of favour at St Mary's during the 2019/20 season.

Leicester City in October 2019, before playing just five more minutes of league football before the January transfer window.

Yoshida saw his contract at St Mary's expire the following summer and his January loan move to Sampdoria signaled the end of his near eight-year stay at the Saints.

Given his last start came in a 9-0 defeat, it's fair to say that Yoshida didn't have a fairytale ending to his Southampton career, but he'll always be fondly remembered thanks to his longevity, as he played 194 games for the club, and for being part of a very successful Saints side.

Now 35, Yoshida is still going strong in professional football and has enjoyed spells in a number of different countries.

He made 14 appearances in Serie A for Sampdoria during the second-half of the 2019/20 season prior to the pandemic curtailing the season, before joining the club on a permanent basis that summer.

He made 74 appearances in total for the Italian outfit during his two-and-a-half seasons there, before moving to German side Schalke in the summer of 2022.

However, his time in Germany didn't go as planned and, despite making 31 appearances for the club, they were relegated. He left Germany when his contract expired last summer and joined LA Galaxy in the MLS.

During the recent MLS off-season, Yoshida returned to Saints where he trained with Russell Martin's side to remain fit, with the club welcoming him back with open arms.

This shows just how popular a figure the defender was at St Mary's, and he's clearly still very well thought of to this day.

Given Yoshida didn't get the perfect send off at St Mary's, returning to the club to train would have been a nice way to reminisce about his successful eight-year spell at the club.