Southampton FC hit the jackpot at Portsmouth’s expense with £25m midfield signing

When Southampton snatched a player from under the noses of local rivals Portsmouth in 2008, they found themselves with someone who would become a bit of a club legend and make them a lot of money at the same time.

By the summer of 2008, Portsmouth and Southampton were in very different situations. Portsmouth had just finished in eighth place in the Premier League and had won the FA Cup, while Southampton had just finished 20th in the Championship, hamstrung by a financial crisis and boardroom discontent, and having only avoided relegation to League One on the last day of the season.

Southampton pip their local rivals in the chase for signature

But that summer a player became available who was of interest to both clubs. Morgan Schneiderlin came through the academy at Strasbourg, breaking into their first team in 2006 while also being capped by France at under-16, under-17, under-18 and under-19 level.

At the end of the 2007/08 season, though, Strasbourg were relegated from Ligue Un and this attracted the interest of a number of clubs. In the first place, Portsmouth were interested, but Schneiderlin was concerned that he wouldn’t get first-team football at Fratton Park, and when Southampton matched their £1.2 million bid for the player, he moved to St Mary’s instead.

The Saints got both seven years’ service and a fat profit out of Morgan Schneiderlin

Schneiderlin wasn’t arriving at a happy club, and at the end of his first season with Southampton relegated into League One by a ten-point deduction. Regardless, he signed a contract extension with the Saints in 2011.

But the fortunes of Portsmouth and Southampton were about to dramatically change. Portsmouth had been living beyond their means, and in 2010 were placed into administration as they tumbled out of the top flight.

By 2013, Portsmouth were preparing for League Two while Southampton were back in the Premier League following two successive promotions, and by the end of the 2012/13 season Schneiderlin’s work-rate and accomplished play were starting to attract attention. At the end of his first season of Premier League football, he was chosen by 442 magazines’ Statszone as their Central Midfielder of the Year.

Southampton couldn’t resist the interest in him indefinitely, even though by 2013 he was their captain. He signed another contract extension in February of that year, but in 2015 Manchester United came calling. In July 2015, Schneiderlin left for Old Trafford for a fee of £25 million, a pretty good return on a player who’d only cost them £1.2 million and who’d made over 250 appearances for them over the intervening seven years.

And Southampton wouldn’t only be left with a £23.8 million profit and seven years of service with distinction from an outstanding player who was in the heart of their midfield through two straight promotions from League One back to the Premier League. They also got to put one over their local rivals, all the way back in 2008. And both fans and the club itself, things don’t get much better than that.