An article listing the top 7 earners at St Mary's has made surprising reading, not just for the amount they were paid, but for the number of games that they actually played for the club in the Championship last season.

footballleagueworld.co.uk have published a story listing who they believe are the top 7 earners at Southampton Football Club.

But the astounding part of the article is not how much these players were paid, but how few games that they played.

At number 7 is Ben Brereton Diaz, signed from Villareal in the summer of 2024, he barely played for the club in his first season and spent the second half of the season at Sheffield United.

However if anyone thought that this would lead to a revival at St Mary's in 2026/27 they would be wrong, although he would make 2 appearances in the Carabao Cup, he failed to appear in the Championship before joining Derby County on loan for the season.

Allegedly he was being paid £35k per week, hopefully most of this was not paid by Saints.

Number 6 is summer signing Mads Roerslev who joined from Brentford, the Danish International looked tidy when he played and he managed 5 starts in the Championship plus another 4 off the bench, plus 1 game in the Carabao cup.

But his season was over by early November with a knee injury, he came off the bench in the first two games of Tonda Eckert's reign, so could well have played a decent part in the season.

But at £40k a week he was an expensive stat on the balance sheet for just 561 minutes of football in all competitions.

Next up at number 5 is Jack Stephens, Captain Jack started 30 of the 46 Championship games, plus 2 off the bench and would perhaps have played a few more but for injury.

But if he is picking up £40k a week as footballleagueworld.co.uk claim, then there are some who would say we were not getting value for money.

4th highest earner in the squad is Yukinari Sugawara, the Japanese right back was signed for £6 million in the summer of 2024 and last season he played just twice in the Championship for Saints, 1 start and another off the bench for 67 minutes on the pitch in the Championship.

He soon went off on loan for Werder Bremen who again we would hope would have covered most of his wages again said to be £40k per week.

At number 3 is Cameron Archer, he made a reasonable contribution to the Championship season, the striker started 11 Championship games plus 19 off the bench and scored 4 goals and also 3 assists.

But again £40k per week is a lot to pay for just 996 minutes on the pitch in the Championship.

In at number 2 is a man who did give us value for money, Finn Azaz started slowly but by perhaps was the player who most made Saints tick, everything seemed to go through him in midfield.

He started 37 of the 46 regular season games, plus 6 off the bench, of the 44 games he could have played, his 11 goals and 8 assists made him the most valuable player in the team in goal participations, so the £50k a week claimed is high, but he gave value for money, especially when you add on his cup appearances, including that goal against Manchester City that for a few brief moment made us all dream.

The top earner at the club though won't be a surprise, it was a man who did not play a single competitive game for Saints in 2025/26, it is goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale.

He is said to be on £120k per week and again you would think that Newcastle United would have covered that plus perhaps a loan fee.

No one blamed Ramsdale for wanting to stay in the Premier League with a World Cup looming at the end of the season, but the move didn't work out for him.

He could not dislodge Nick Pope, he would start just 11 games in the Premier League plus another off the bench when Pope had to go off injured, he did play a few in the cup competitions, but he needed to be playing week in week out as first choice if he was to stand any chance of making the England World Cup squad and that was certainly not the case.

In hindsight Ramsdale made a mistake in joining Newcastle, in some respects he might have been better staying at Saints and starring in the Championship than sitting on a Premier League bench, but we would not have been able to afford that £120k a week.

So in summary, if these figures are correct and they are open to interpretation as football clubs do not publish the wage bill for individual players, they only put out the cost for the squad, then we paid out a total of £365 per week for our top 7 earners and this does not include national insurance contributions or pension contributions.

To put that in perspective that is £19 million per annum, just for those 7 players.

For that in terms of regular season Championship games , between them they started just 84 games, plus another 32 off the bench, so 116 games between them in total out of 322 they could have played if they had all been at the club for the entire season.

The bulk of these games were played by just 3 players Azaz, Stephens & Archer.

To be fair if you accept that this trio gave us value for money, then the only player who was really a burden on the club was Mads Roerslev and that was not his fault that his season was ended by injury, indications are that he might well have played more games as a traditional right back, if he had, perhaps James Bree would not have been recalled by Charlton.

The good news though is that the bulk of these wages would have been covered by the clubs who took Brereton Diaz, Sugawara & Ramsdale on loan, if you take out their total wages, then that if £195 k a week, spread that over 9 months of the season and you are shaving around £8 million off that £19 million, perhaps a little bit more if we take into account loan fee's, in Aaron Ramsdale's case that has been reported to be £4 million.

As we speak they are all back at the club and training, but how many will still be here come the end of the transfer window, Finn Azaz hopefully and Jack Stephens who in fairness had perhaps his best season at the club and at 32 and with two seasons left on his contract isn't going to get that elsewhere.

It will also be interesting to see if Mads Roerslev can return from injury and push his claim to be number one right back, certainly he has the pedigree to be able to do that.

So that leaves Ben Brereton Diaz, Cameron Archer & Aaron Ramsdale.

Saints would hope to shift Brereton Diaz, but at £40 k a week might find that hard on anything else other than a loan, likewise Yuri Sugawara.

Aaron Ramsdale might well find a suitor, he will certainly not want to play in the Championship next season and to be honest we can't afford for him to stay, so again although someone paying his £25 million release clause would be nice, I would expect that the club might well be prepared to listen to lower offers on him to get some money in the transfer kitty and to get that £120k a week off the books.

All Photos Via Reuters