Southampton will want a repeat of Rangers transfer if they go up: View | OneFootball

The last time Southampton were promoted to the Premier League, they made one of the shrewdest acquisitions in the club's history, signing midfielder Steven Davis from Rangers.

Davis would go on to make 226 appearances for the Saints after arriving in 2012 as they cemented their place in the top flight.

During a decade in the Premier League, Southampton routinely set about upsetting the natural order, securing four successive top-half finishes between 2013/14 and 2016/17, including a sixth-placed finish in 2015/16 under Ronald Koeman.

Davis would play an integral role for Southampton during this time and was trusted by a host of managers.

The Saints were relegated to the Championship last season but, under the guidance of Russell Martin, look more than capable of bouncing back to the Premier League at the first time of asking.

So, with the Premier League in their sights, Southampton could do a lot worse than looking to Davis as inspiration when delving into the transfer market this summer.

Davis makes an instant impact at Southampton

Davis arrived at Southampton from Rangers for a fee of around £800,000 and took no time to settle in on the South Coast.

Under the tutelage of Nigel Adkins and later Mauricio Pochettino, Davis made 32 Premier League appearances in his debut season and came off the bench to score in Southampton's first topflight game, a 3-2 defeat away to Manchester City.

Southampton would, however, win just one of their opening 11 games, with Pochettino taking over from Adkins in January 2013.

It was under the Argentine that Southampton would cement their reputation as a forward-thinking team of young, hungry players.

At 29 years old, Davis, though, was one of the more senior players, and his experience offered a measured contrast to Pochettino's all-action brand of football.

This dependable reputation would serve the Northern Irishman well after Pochettino's departure, and only once did Davis make less than 32 Premier League appearances across a single season for Southampton - 23 appearances in 2017/18, the season before he re-signed for Rangers.

Davis returns to Rangers

Davis, the record appearance holder for Northern Ireland, returned to Rangers in 2019, initially on loan, before making the deal permanent that summer.

He would help the Gers to their first Scottish Premiership title in 10 years in 2021 and also played a part as they reached the Europa League final the following year, losing on penalties to Eintracht Frankfurt.

Southampton currently sit fourth in the Championship, six points off the automatic promotion places, albeit with a game in hand.

They've recovered well from a summer of upheaval, in which they lost key players such as James Ward-Prowse, Roméo Lavia and Nathan Tella, and they will fancy their chances of securing promotion back to the Premier League, whether that be automatically or through the play-offs.

Southampton, though, have the fifth-youngest average age of any squad in the Championship and would do well to add experience to their ranks if promoted this season, just as they did with Davis over a decade ago.

The six-figure fee they paid turned out to be an absolute bargain and they'll no doubt be sniffing around for more of those this summer.