Saints Marching
Fansided

Southampton: Five of Saints’ best ever January signings

By Marc Walker

SOUTHAMPTON, ENGLAND - APRIL 07: Billy Sharp of Southampton celebrates scoring the opening goal during the npower Championship match between Southampton and Portsmouth at St Mary's Stadium on April 7, 2012 in Southampton, England. (Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images)
SOUTHAMPTON, ENGLAND - APRIL 07: Billy Sharp of Southampton celebrates scoring the opening goal during the npower Championship match between Southampton and Portsmouth at St Mary's Stadium on April 7, 2012 in Southampton, England. (Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
3 of 6
Next
SOUTHAMPTON, ENGLAND – MARCH 24: Billy Sharp of Southampton is tackled by Habib Beye of Doncaster during the npower Championship match between Southampton and Doncaster Rovers at St. Mary’s Stadium on March 24, 2012 in Southampton, England. (Photo by Ben Hoskins/Getty Images)
SOUTHAMPTON, ENGLAND – MARCH 24: Billy Sharp of Southampton is tackled by Habib Beye of Doncaster during the npower Championship match between Southampton and Doncaster Rovers at St. Mary’s Stadium on March 24, 2012 in Southampton, England. (Photo by Ben Hoskins/Getty Images) /

Billy Sharp

During the 2011/12 season, Saints found themselves in a fantastic position in January to push onto promotion to the Premier League.

More support upfront from Rickie Lambert would help with this, so the club decided to splash out a fairly hefty £1.9m to take Sharp from Doncaster Rovers.

The move paid off big time though and as the striker netted 10 crucial goals in the second half of the campaign and became a fans favourite for his contribution (two strikes and celebration against Portsmouth included).

He was forced to go out on loan the following season and eventually left the club for Leeds.

Sharp has scored goals wherever he has played and recently overtook fellow former Saint Lambert as top scorer in English football this century with 220 goals.