Last season Southampton were the Premier League's surprise package. In just their second year back in the top flight, and having fought against relegation the previous year, Saints impressed fans and rival managers with both their results and their enterprising, technically skilled football. It came as no surprise after all that to see a number of Southampton players featuring at this summer's World Cup, including three in the England squad. Since then, though, all three of those players have followed manager Mauricio Pochettino in leaving the South coast behind and that is just the beginning. The Saints exodus has continued this week with troubled forward Dani Osvaldo sent on loan to Inter Milan, with Saphir Taider going in the other direction. At this rate it is likely that there will be more familiar names in the Liverpool line-up than Southamptons own when the two clubs meet at Anfield in the opening game of the season on Sunday and by the time the transfer window closes there may be an entire first 11 of Southampton players from last season playing at other clubs. Let's look at five players whose departure may be imminent before checking out five more who could yet replace them.
5. Artur Boruc
An excellent shot stopper, but prone to making silly errors, Boruc has never looked the safest pair of hands in the Saints goal, so it always seemed likely that the ambitious club would want to recruit a more reliable 'keeper in the summer. This is a player likely to leave more because the club can do better than because he is being poached. Nevertheless, as implausible as it may sound, the "Holy Goalie" appears on a shortlist of possible 'keepers targeted by Bavarian giants Bayern Munich as back-up for the world class Manuel Neuer. The German champions have since bought former Liverpool man Pepe Reina to fill the gap, but the story suggests that the 34 year old Polish international still has admirers overseas. Whether or not Boruc stays at Southampton this season, the club have already replaced him as their first choice between the sticks with the arrival of Fraser Forster this week. Saints have been chasing the highly rated Forster for the whole summer after his series of impressive performances for Celtic in the Champions League and have finally managed to land the England reserve this week for a hefty £10 million fee, meaning Boruc is likely to be looking for a new club elsewhere.
