Taylor Harwood-Bellis and Flynn Downes were integral to the club's promotion back to the Premier League but were only temporarily theirs.
Winning the Championship play-offs triggered a £20m deal to sign Harwood-Bellis, while Saints fought Ipswich Town interest to land £18m Downes.
Spend another £30m on direct replacements for Che Adams and Stuart Armstrong with mixed success, and the squad has still not improved.
It feels like a different story for Saints this summer. Of course, the cream of the crop will be picked off, and Will Still will lose some of his best men.
But Saints are set to gain two of the Championship's best performing players from last season for nothing, when they return to Staplewood.
Northern Ireland international Shea Charles, 21, was Sheffield Wednesday's Player of the Season, and nominated for the EFL Young Player award.
#SaintsFC midfielder Shea Charles, has won Sheffield Wednesdays Player of the Year. 👏✨ pic.twitter.com/KZhwx52Iak
— Just Saints (@JustSaints_) April 26, 2025
He was signed from Man City in 2023 with the view to becoming a future Premier League player, and now has two years of second tier experience.
Meanwhile, centre-back Ronnie Edwards, 22, was QPR's Young Player of the Season, despite spending only half a season at Loftus Road.
While Charles was a bigger outlay at £12m, England under-21 international Edwards cost Saints just £3m to snip from League One Peterborough.
Technical director Johannes Spors has set out a deliberate vision to build a young squad capable of winning promotion immediately this season.
The German believes young players can "regenerate" more quickly, to cope with the intense schedule that the Championship throws up.
Charles did not miss a game last season, playing 3,639 minutes across 43 Championship appearances, having joined the Owls late in August.
No player born in 2003 or later played more minutes than Charles, who ranked fourth for most tackles and interceptions made last season.
Charles was already a competent disruptor at Saints, and he played as a centre-half on occasion for Wednesday, but he has reached another level.
He set up a handful of goals, two from taking corners, and has the technical ability and aggressiveness to fulfil what Still asks of his midfielders.
Neil El Aynaoui scored seven goals in his last 11 appearances from here for RC Lens, demonstrating Still's demands are more than just sitting.
Edwards, meanwhile, also played practically every minute of the second half of the Championship season after signing for QPR.
Ronnie Edwards will fight for a starting place at SaintsRonnie Edwards will fight for a starting place at Saints (Image: PA)
After making his debut as a substitute, he only failed to complete 90 minutes once in the remaining 21 matches in all competitions.
Edwards has always been a ball-playing defender first, and would probably best suit the central defence role if Still deploys a back-three.
Though Edwards could inject more venom into the kicks, he has the long-passing range to quickly turn defence into a counter attack.
He also scored two headers, and is joining up with a manager whose team scored 20 of their 45 goals last season from set-pieces and crosses.
Both youngsters, Edwards and Charles, will join up with Still's squad this summer - Edwards after the Under-21 EURO Championships.
Southampton's recruitment has been hit and miss of late, and was nowhere near good enough to keep them in the Premier League last season.
But they look set to gain some return on investment with two of the Championship's brightest prospects surely in line for starting Saints roles.