Take note, Edwards: The team Liverpool should turn into their next feeder club - opinion

Southampton established themselves as something of an unofficial feeder club for Liverpool shortly after they returned to the top flight in 2012.

Adam Lallana, Dejan Lovren, Rickie Lambert, Nathaniel Clyne, Sadio Mane and, of course, Virgil van Dijk all swapped the south coast for Merseyside between 2014 and 2018.

The Saints naturally profited from this relationship but their struggle in recent seasons, spending more time looking down towards the relegation zone than up at the top half, hints they are finally feeling the effects of having their best players pinched.

The days of being Liverpool’s feeder club, however, should be laid to rest by virtue of two major factors: Southampton’s lack of quality individual players and the rise of RB Salzburg.

Takumi Minamino completed his switch from the Austrian Bundesliga league leaders to the Premier League leaders on January 1st in a deal worth just £7.25m. However, both Naby Keita and Sadio Mane passed through RB Salzburg on their way to Anfield before joining in extortionate transfer deals.

The former signed for a whopping £48m while the latter moved for £34m. Perhaps the Reds should have been looking at a different club the whole time when they were investing so much interest in the talent produced by the Saints.

Erling Haaland’s incredible rise to prominence and his subsequent move to Borussia Dortmund also attests to the calibre of players RB Salzburg are managing to bring through.

This season alone they have managed to pocket £92.93m in player sales – the highest of any year in their history – as clubs across Europe begin to take note of the emerging breeding ground.

At a time when bargain buys are so hard to come by, Liverpool should be taking an acute interest in this trend and closely monitoring the top players plying their trade in Austria’s capital.

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After all, there is certainly an argument to be made that it’s a perfect environment for future Anfield stars to develop.

The players are accustomed to the pressure of challenging for titles as they are serial winners of the Austrian Bundesliga, while qualification for the Champions League is becoming an expectation rather than an ambition having reached the group stages in two of the past three seasons.

Michael Edwards and Liverpool’s decision-makers should take note.

In other news, Liverpool fans love what Jurgen Klopp has had to say about Minamino…