Given all of the speculation surrounding Southampton this summer, the transfer window has taken a backseat to other matters, but as the deadline approaches, the Saints are beginning to pick up the pace.

The main story at St Mary’s over the summer was the fallout from Spygate. In some ways, it is still ongoing. Despite owner Dragan Solak’s support for Tonda Eckert, the outcome of the FA allegations against the German manager remains unknown one month later.

With so much uncertainty, there were significant questions about Southampton’s players’ futures.

Whether they’d look to move on after the horrible end to last season, what the impressive loanees, Cyle Larin and Daniel Peretz, would do during the summer, and whether the Saints’ roster would need to be rebuilt entirely.

Southampton’s summer transfer business is poised to run until the deadline.

The majority of the squad, however, has remained relatively unchanged. No one ripped up their contracts, as was widely assumed after their elimination from the play-off final, and both Peretz and Larin signed permanently following their loans.

Aside from that, one or two worthwhile additions have been made. Lewis Dobbin was brought in to strengthen the attacking midfield, Kevin Schlotterbeck was added to the defensive core, and Divin Mubama was loaned in to replace the leaving Ross Stewart, but there is still more work to be done before the window closes on September 1.

Southampton’s squad is still somewhat large in terms of players deemed surplus to needs, with the most of them missing out on the excellent unbeaten run in 2026 owing to being on loan elsewhere.

Indeed, Aaron Ramsdale, Damion Downs, Gavin Bazunu, Ben Brereton Diaz, Yuki Sugawara, and Juan Larios were all inactive under Eckert in the second part of last season and are all expected to go before next Tuesday, which is a lot of business to accomplish in such a short period of time.

Southampton is starting to clear off their unwanted players.

As the transfer window nears its end, Southampton has initiated a mini-fire sale of players who aren’t even on the margins of the first team; they’re perhaps even further away.

Bazunu, who has had a difficult few years owing to injuries, is preparing to start over at fellow Championship club Bolton Wanderers.

The Irishman joined the Saints for £12 million from Manchester City four summers ago, and he was regarded as one of the future generation of goalkeepers. He preserved 11 clean sheets in 41 Championship games under Russell Martin before an Achilles injury ended his season.

Poor loan periods at Standard Liege and Stoke City, sandwiched between a failed revival back in the Saints squad under Will Still, have caused his career to stop, and there’s optimism he can revive it at the Toughsheet Stadium.

Meanwhile, Brereton Diaz has been loaned to Sheffield United for the third time in his career, after beating Derby County and Stoke to his signature.

Vital incomings are also being made, notwithstanding the necessary departures.

But that doesn’t mean that all Southampton had to do in the last days of the window was find new homes for their unwanted employees. There were also necessary additions.

While Tonda Eckert was able to maintain the most of that squad together since the end of last season, they were unable to prevent Shea Charles from joining Fulham for £30 million.

It was clear how beneficial it was for Southampton to have four great options in the midfield to rotate game by game towards the end of last season, as the Saints juggled a deep FA Cup run with an unbeaten league record.

Tonda Eckert has had to cobble together some makeshift midfield pairings alongside Flynn Downes and Cameron Bragg, since Casper Jander has also missed time to start the season.

So, three years after leaving the south coast for West Ham United, James Ward-Prowse returns, bringing an end to a 20-year affiliation with the club where he came through the academy.

James Ward-Prowse, Southampton

Appearances

410

Goals

55

Assists

52

The 31-year-old has 410 Southampton games to his name and will be trying to make up for lost time after spending the previous two seasons hopping around different loan spells and being unpopular at the London Stadium.

Southampton fans might be heartened by the business ahead of the end of the summer transfer window.

With all of the loose ends at the club, Southampton’s decision to trim the fat of their roster will provide a clear indicator of who will stick around and contribute to Tonda Eckert’s side as the season progresses.

Furthermore, with talk swirling around the likely departure of star defender Taylor Harwood-Bellis, for whom Schlotterbeck is NOT a straight replacement, it will be nice to have that transfer chatter quiet down for a few months once the window closes.

But if the former England international does go, Saints fans can be confident that an appropriate replacement will be found, as it was with Charles.

With Ward-Prowse’s arrival and the disposing of some surplus players, the final few days of the summer transfer market have started off well.