Having been a member of the Croatia squad which ended up as runners-up to France in the 2018 FIFA World Cup, Duje Ćaleta-Car,a central defender, arrived on the South Coast in the summer of 2022 with pedigree a-plenty. Following that tournament he had joined Marseille for £17 million and had been the subject of a £23 million bid from Liverpool in January 2021. But right from the beginning the move did not work out owing to Saints having a fraught season with two change of managers followed by a relegation that had looked certain even before winter set in. The following summer, with the club trying to salvage some sort of financial equilibrium, he was allowed to go on loan to Lyon and that deal was made permanent 12 months later.