Russell Martin makes surprise Southampton FC revelation | OneFootball

Southampton manager Russell Martin has revealed a major detail about some of the goings-on from the 2023 summer transfer window.

Recruitment got underway for the 23/24 campaign, and the hopes of the Saints were that they would be able to get back to the Premier League at the first time of asking.

This aspiration was shared by fellow relegated teams, Leeds United and Leicester City, and, in this scenario, only two of the three could go up automatically, if they were to be at the top end of the league.

That's exactly how things would have played out if it weren't for those meddling kids known as Ipswich Town, who have come out of nowhere to surprise everyone.

Leicester are going up as champions, and Town can secure the second automatic promotion spot if they get at least a point at home to Huddersfield Town this weekend.

Although the hopes and expectations of Martin and his players were high, the Scotsman might not have had the same confidence that everything was going to plan, as one factor that he has revealed could have scuppered the whole operation.

Russell Martin reveals key Southampton summer transfer window detail

The residents of St Mary's had an active summer window, both with incoming and outgoings.

They brought in some young quality in the form of Taylor Harwood-Bellis and Shea Charles, some top Championship players, like Ryan Manning and Ross Stewart, and a couple of older heads to add some experience - Mason Holgate and Ryan Fraser.

But the squad did lose a lot of its quality players from the 22/23 season. James Ward-Prowse: gone. Roméo Lavia: gone. Tino Livramento: gone. Mohammed Salisu, Armel Bella-Kotchap, Carlos Alcaraz: gone, gone, gone.

This season's side was completely different to that of the last one, and the club's new Scottish boss has said that he had to deal with a lot of requests to leave pretty soon after he came in.

Speaking ahead of the final game of the regular season, against Leeds, Martin said, via Alfie House: "If you showed me where we are now, when two-thirds of the squad told me they wanted to leave on the first day, then I would probably be quite happy and a bit surprised."

Southampton started the 23/24 season at a slight disadvantage

Teams get relegated to the Championship and Premier League teams come and try and pick off their best players for a reduced price; that's the way things work. But this happened more to Southampton, who finished bottom of the league, than the other two relegated sides.

Leeds loaned out a lot of their players, but the key contributors, like Wilfried Gnonto, Crysencio Summerville, Dan James: they all stayed.

Leicester did get a bit more gutted, with James Maddison, Harvey Barnes and Youri Tielemans all moving on to pastures new.

As a collective, those three might equate to more value than the players Southampton lost, but the sheer volume of departures meant that they didn't play this season with half of the Premier League quality that the Foxes and the Whites had.