If there's one standout reason why Saints are performing so well now and will be a team to watch in the future it's this: the club is committed to investing in youth and looking to the future. The best example of the aforementioned ambitious yet realistic future planning is Southampton's continuing commitment to getting the most out of their youngsters. Anyone familiar with the club's hugely successful youth academy shouldn't really be surprised that the world's most expensive player is one of its products. Famous exports like Bale, Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain may be better known in the general public, but Saints have kept a high standard of academy graduates for themselves as well. Highly rated teenagers Luke Shaw and James Ward-Prowse are already getting regular games in the first team, but current captain Lallana has been the star academy product recently. Lallana featured in the same 2005 F.A. Youth Cup Final team as Walcott, Bale and Swansea winger Nathan Dyer. While those other players left for bigger things, Lallana remained and has helped guide his team back to the top. Playing for Southampton since the age of 12 Lallana has been a first team regular for over five years and has become the key player behind most of the team's attacking play, scoring an individual goal of considerably brilliance against Hull. His call up for England this week is well deserved, long overdue and a fine example of Southampton's ability to develop young talent. It's an element that does not just apply to their own academy graduates. Southampton's transfer policy in recent years has been to buy players young and help them grow into key members of the team. Big signings like Nathaniel Clyne, Rodriguez, Lovren or Wanyama have all been bought when they were the young side of 25. The long term success of this policy is most apparent in last year's club Player of the Season, Morgan Schneiderlin. Schneiderlin arrived in Southampton as a highly regarded 18 year old bought from Strasbourg for £1.2 million in 2008 as the club struggled to maintain their status both financially and in the Championship. Given an opportunity, alongside Lallana, to establish himself in the heart of the midfield at such a young age has seen Schniederlin grow with the team into a player now rated at over £10 million and still only 24. Over the coming weeks, Southampton must travel to both Arsenal and Chelsea as well as hosting Man City at the St. Mary's Stadium. It is only after this trio of tough games that we will be able to see if their win at Anfield was a flash in the pan or whether they really can continue to challenge at the top. One thing is certain, though, and that is that the rapid ascent Saints have seen in the last 5 years looks set to continue.
