Andrei Kanchelskis’s life – and his football career, especially – have been pretty much a microcosm of the dominance and demise of the Soviet Union. Of Lithuanian origin, Andrei was born in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, where he played his early club football and won his first cap for the USSR. Following 12 years in Europe, mainly the UK, and a brief spell in the desert, he has played for and/or managed six Russian clubs.

In his 23rd international, he scored the last-ever goal for the Soviet Union and then, after three games for the Commonwealth of Independent States, he chose to play 36 times for Russia, rather than the now-independent Ukraine.

If his 162 games for Manchester United were the main achievement of Andrei’s British adventure, his few months at Southampton were a hardly-worth-mentioning anti-climax. His ’phone-call, out of the blue, to Gordon Strachan resulted in a contract for the 2002-03 season. But with Fabrice Fernandes firmly in possession on the Saints’ right-flank, Andrei managed only four starts for the Reserves and two appearances as a first-team sub before he headed to Russia, via Qatar and a non-productive trial at Brighton.

Interviewed by The Athletic News in 2021 he revealed that he believed he was a Rupert Lowe signing who wasn’t particularly fancied by the manager, Gordon Strachan. “The problem I had when I came to Southampton was that the manager didn’t want me in the team, but the chairman did. Gordon Strachan didn’t give me the chance and didn’t ever tell me why. He just said I could leave”.