Jose Fonte
It was somewhat surprising that Fonte chose to drop down to League One to join Saints from Championship side Crystal Palace in 2010.
However, it proved to be a superb move for both the club and the player and his leadership was crucial to two back-to-back promotions.
After joining for a fee of around £1.2m, he went on to make 286 appearances at St Mary’s and stayed as a regular until a dispute saw him move to West Ham.
He has since played for Dalian Yifang in the Chinese Super League and now turns out for Lille in Ligue 1.