After the conclusion of the 2017–18 season,
Southampton underwent a significant personnel shift, releasing several players,
including first-team defenders Florin Gardoș and Jérémy Pied. Serbian
midfielder Dušan Tadić was also transferred to Dutch club Ajax for £10 million.
The summer saw the arrival of new players, including Scottish midfielder Stuart
Armstrong from Premiership champions Celtic for £7 million, Norwegian winger
Mohamed Elyounoussi from Swiss side Basel for £16 million, goalkeeper Angus
Gunn from Premier League champions Manchester City for £13.5 million, and
Danish centre-back Jannik Vestergaard from German club Borussia Mönchengladbach.
In August, Liverpool striker Danny Ings joined on an initial loan, with a
permanent move planned for the following summer. Additionally, several players
were loaned out, including striker Guido Carrillo, playmaker Sofiane Boufal,
and midfielder Jordy Clasie.
During the January transfer window, the club offloaded the out-of-favour striker Manolo Gabbiadini to Italian side Sampdoria for an undisclosed fee. Midfielder Steven Davis also returned to his former club Rangers on loan until the end of the season, while Wesley Hoedt and Cédric Soares moved to Celta Vigo and Inter Milan on loan until the end of the season, respectively.
Southampton Football Club is an English professional football club
based in Southampton, Hampshire, that competes in the EFL Championship, the
second tier of English football. Its home ground since 2001 has been St Mary's
Stadium, before which it was based at The Dell. The team play in red and white
shirts. They have been nicknamed "The Saints" because of the club's
beginnings as a church football team at St Mary's Church. Southampton shares a
long-standing South Coast derby rivalry with Portsmouth, in part due to
geographic proximity and both cities' respective maritime histories.
Founded in 1885, the club joined the Southern
League as Southampton St. Mary's in 1894, dropping the St. Mary's from their
name three years later. Southampton won the Southern League on six occasions
and were beaten FA Cup finalists in 1900 and 1902, before being invited to
become founder members of the Football League Third Division in 1920. They won
promotion as Third Division South champions in 1921–22, remaining in the Second
Division for 31 years until they were relegated in 1953. Crowned Third Division
champions under the stewardship of Ted Bates in 1959–60, they were promoted
into the First Division at the end of the 1965–66 campaign. They played
top-flight football for eight seasons, but won the FA Cup as a Second Division
team in 1976 with a 1–0 victory over Manchester United. Manager Lawrie McMenemy
then took the club back into the top-flight with promotion in 1977–78.
Southampton were beaten finalists in the League Cup in 1979 and finished as runners-up in the First Division in 1983–84, three points behind Liverpool. The club were founder members of the Premier League in 1992 and reached another FA Cup final in 2003. Relegation ended their 27 year stay in the top-flight in 2005, and they were relegated down to the third tier in 2009. Southampton won the Football League Trophy in 2010 and won successive promotion from League One and the Championship in 2010–11 and 2011–12. After an 11-year stint in the top flight, during which they were EFL Cup runners-up in 2017, they were relegated in 2023.