Six players Liverpool have bought from Southampton and their career since
Every club in the world has a certain trait that becomes synonymous with it. For example, clubs like Real Madrid, PSG, and Manchester City carry the trait of spending limitless money to get the player they want. Chelsea have a habit of discarding players that more often than not go on to become stars; case in point, Kevin de Bruyne, Mohamed Salah, and Romelu Lukaku.
Liverpool has a trait that is more well known to Premier League fans i.e. buying good players from Southampton. Although the act of purchasing players from Southampton started in 1903 with Liverpool purchasing Joseph Hoare, Liverpool became kind of a "parent club" for Southampton in 2014 when three players were brought in. Then one player transferred to Liverpool from St. Mary's in 2015, another one in 2016 and then one more in 2018.
Some have been big hits, some have performed decently and some have failed. However, each one has had an interesting story after donning the Red jersey. Let us take a look at the last six players to swap the Hampshire for Merseyside and how their career has been since.
Although the last player to move between the clubs was Danny Ings, this list will only take a look at those players that moved from Southampton to Liverpool.
#1 Rickie Lambert - 4.5 million pounds - 2 June 2014
The first player that Liverpool bought from Southampton was the England striker Rickie Lambert. This was the only transfer between the clubs that absolutely failed.
To be fair, Lambert was more than a decent player in the lower leagues of England. He scored 101 and assisted 20 in 304 appearances for Stockport County, Rochdale, and Bristol Rovers in the English Second Division, League two and League one. His performances at Bristol prompted Southampton to shell out 1.2 million pounds for the then 27-year-old.
He played for Southampton in League One, Championship and then in the Premier League. He scored 115 goals and assisted another 64 in 230 appearances for the Hampshire based club. It was his prolific season for Southampton in 2013 scoring 13 and assisting 11 in 37 appearances which brought him into the limelight and Liverpool, Lambert's boyhood club, snapped him up for 4.5 million pounds.
Although he was originally brought in as a backup striker, Suarez's eventual transfer to Barcelona, Sturridge's injury problems, and the general lack of interest and form of Mario Balotelli, he was subsequently forced into Liverpool's first XI. However, he struggled to get to grips with the top level of English football. He made 36 appearances scoring just 3 goals. He did not fit into the system and never really made an impact at Liverpool.
He then transferred to West Brom in 2015, then to Cardiff in 2016 when he scored 4 goals in 19 appearances before hanging up his boots 2017 after being released by the club.