There is likely to be a shared sense of sympathy when Southampton and Manchester United convene on Sunday. It's safe to assume that both teams' thoughts will turn to a mutual, but absent, friend, the cruelly injured Luke Shaw.
Sometimes reunions are rancorous affairs. When they are not, it can be because alumni are celebrated when they are unable to damage their old employers.
Southampton's supporters chanted Rickie Lambert's name on Saturday, but only after the West Bromwich Albion striker, whose 117 goals make him the 10th highest scorer in Saints' history, had been substituted. The reception might have been different had Lambert opened his Albion account, rather than labouring ineffectually.
It would be no surprise if Shaw -- whose double leg break means that he, for a second consecutive season, is denied a first return to St Mary's in United colours -- is the subject of appreciative chants from both sets of fans. The greater dilemma for the Saints faithful is how to treat another of their old boys, Morgan Schneiderlin.
United possess two players who, in their different ways, symbolise Southampton's capacity to produce players and sell them on for big returns. Shaw emerged from the academy that also yielded Theo Walcott, Gareth Bale, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Adam Lallana and Calum Chambers. Schneiderlin was a stalwart of their League One days. The left-back and the midfielder joined United in successive summers, with Southampton banking £52 million.
These players may be trailblazers. They have become the common denominators between clubs who were polar opposites in 2014, when United were English football's biggest spenders and Southampton brought in the most money. Transfers between the teams could become annual occurrences.
United's August bid for Sadio Mane was odd, not least because Southampton denied an offer was submitted, but it indicated an interest in the Senegalese player. Sunday's meeting offers a chance to compare wildly different players: the man who, although he played as a No. 10 in Eindhoven on Tuesday, normally occupies the right-wing spot in Louis van Gaal's side, and the one who could have done so.
Juan Mata is the anti-Mane, far slower, more measured, a left-footer who will wander infield. Mane can accelerate outside a full-back. When Van Gaal talked of the qualities he admired in Pedro, the target who instead joined Chelsea, he mentioned speed and creativity. He could have been talking about Mane.
The Southampton man, like Eden Hazard and David Silva, was a rare attacking midfielder or winger to record at least 10 Premier League goals last season. Yet his potency is allied with inconsistency. He can play off the cuff, in a way that Van Gaal's overly rigid United rarely do and that, seemingly, the Dutchman tries to coach out of his players.
Unlike Victor Wanyama, who was omitted from August's win over Norwich because of concerns about his state of mind, Mane has showed few signs that he is unsettled. Yet the fact that both were targeted, the midfielder by Tottenham and the winger by United, shows Southampton's status. Their business model has drawn admiration, but the top six seem to see them as a feeder club.
Over the past 16 months, they have banked £130m for Dejan Lovren, Lambert, Lallana, Nathaniel Clyne, Chambers, Shaw and Schneiderlin, all from Liverpool, Arsenal and United. To put that into context, it is more than many clubs have received in transfer fees in histories dating back to the 19th century.
That total could swell beyond £200m next summer. Besides Mane and Wanyama, Jay Rodriguez attracted admiration from Tottenham, Liverpool and Manchester City in his 17-goal breakthrough season of 2013-14. If, after a 17-month injury layoff, he can display the same form, that interest may be renewed. And if it is, Southampton could be in a position to have sold an entire outfield team -- and in their preferred 4-2-3-1 formation, (Clyne, Chambers, Lovren, Shaw; Schneiderlin, Wanyama; Mane, Lallana, Rodriguez; Lambert) -- to a handful of elite clubs over just three seasons.
Yet with each departure, the question grows more pressing: is it possible to carry on selling and prospering? Southampton did last season, confounding predictions -- including some magnificently misguided prophecies of relegation -- to record their highest Premier League finish of seventh, and a team record points total of 60. Graziano Pelle replaced Lambert seamlessly, Mane and Dusan Tadic stepped in for Lallana, Toby Alderweireld looked an upgrade on Lovren, Ryan Bertrand brought a verve similar to Shaw's and, in Clyne, Southampton already possessed a better right-back than Chambers.
But if anyone represents a sale too far, albeit one Southampton could not prevent, it may be Schneiderlin. Statistics from WhoScored.com indicate his importance last season: he averaged the second-highest number of tackles per game in the Premier League, he was the midfielder with the second-highest average of interceptions per match, he ranked ninth in the division for passes per appearance, and he was the 11th most accurate distributor. On top of all that, factor in his energy. Try replacing that.
In many ways, it is unfair to assess Southampton's attempts to fill his shoes. Jordy Clasie, his designated successor, made one Europa League appearance and has since been injured. The next holding midfielder recruited, Oriol Romeu, looked rusty as he was booked in each of his first three games.
While they have since recorded three consecutive clean sheets in the league, it was understandable that Southampton began the campaign by leaking goals with uncharacteristic regularity. Only Chelsea recorded a better defensive record last season. Then Alderweireld, whose exit was overlooked because he was only borrowed, excelled and Jose Fonte's terrific form was an outlier in what has otherwise been a respectable but unremarkable career. Yet in the twin physical forces of Schneiderlin and Wanyama, they had perhaps the best shield afforded to any centre-backs in the division.
Even when fit, the smaller Clasie will not offer the same power. The possibility that Wanyama will follow Schneiderlin's lead by hoping for a move one summer and getting it the next suggests Southampton's defensive record could deteriorate in successive seasons. Their recent shutouts -- against 10-man Norwich and rather impotent Watford and West Brom teams -- may not prove that a superb structure is still in place.
United can testify to the excellence of the policemen who used to be stationed in front of the back four. Schneiderlin and Wanyama snuffed them out when Ronald Koeman's side won 1-0 at Old Trafford in January. If the lesson learned was to sign Schneiderlin, it weakened Southampton. They emerged enhanced from last year's exodus. It will be still more impressive if the same can be said of them again this season.
Richard Jolly is a football writer for ESPN, The Guardian, The National, The Observer, the Straits Times and the Sunday Express.
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