2009/10 to 2017/18

Southampton spent six of the nine seasons from 2009/10 to 2017/18 in the Premier League and one in the Championship, with two lower down. Their best finish was 6th, in 2015/16. They didn’t win a major trophy. Over those nine summers they paid £219.1m in transfer fees and took in £210.9m, a net spend of £8.2m.

Southampton spent 2009/10 in League One. By 2015/16 they were sixth in the Premier League. In between came back-to-back promotions, the second as Championship runners-up in 2011/12, and a steady climb: 14th, eighth, seventh, sixth. In 2016/17 they also reached the League Cup final, losing to Manchester United.

Their method was to develop players and sell them at the top of the market, and the buyers lined up. In 2014 alone Luke Shaw, Adam Lallana and Dejan Lovren went for a combined £75m. Morgan Schneiderlin and Nathaniel Clyne followed in 2015, and Sadio Mané joined Liverpool for £34m in 2016. By 2017/18 the well had run dry and the team finished 17th.

Southampton are the clearest case on 115.football for simply not selling. Put Shaw, Lallana, Lovren, Schneiderlin, Clyne and Mané in one squad, add City's money, and a club that reached sixth on a budget could go a great deal higher.