Belgian international, Toby Alderweireld came to Southampton on loan from Atletico Madrid as a replacement for Liverpool-bound Dejan Lovren, with Saints inserting a clause in the transfer arrangement which gave them an assumed automatic right to make the move permanent at a fixed price of around £7m. That clause quickly looked a sound piece of business as he settled extremely well in the heart of the defence partnering José Fonte while the team finished 7th in Ronald Koeman’s first season and qualified for Europe. Initially at Ajax he had won three consecutive Eredivisie honours and his attention-catching form with Saints soon attracted interest from clubs higher up the food chain, Mauricio Pochettino being one in particular who had kept his eye on his previous club.

Buried amid the small print in the contract Madrid had initiated a further caveat which enabled them – at a cost of £1.5m – to buy their way out of their obligation to sell exclusively to Saints and so in the July of 2015 they instead sold him to Spurs, pocketing an extra £4m.

The Board had been caught with their guard down and the fans were unimpressed with their apparent oversight.

In hindsight Saints didn’t financially fare too badly as his departure necessitated the signing of Virgil van Dijk who, a couple of seasons later, would leave St Mary’s in a world record fee for a defender but even so someone at St Mary’s had dropped a clanger.

Meanwhile reunited with former Ajax teammates, Christian Eriksen and Jan Vertonghen, Toby was a huge success at White Hart Lane although he had to suffer his second loss in a Champions League final when Liverpool beat Spurs in 2019. His first had been when Atletico Madrid had lost to Real Madrid.