Portsmouth are only rivals to Southampton in name this season. Pompey face the indignity of a battle to survive in the Championship while Southampton are making their promotion ambitions very clear, in the transfer market at least.
Today, David Ornstein revealed in the Athletic that West Ham have agreed a deal to sign Mateus Fernandes for a reported £38m with £4m in add-ons. While this might appear like the opposite of what Saints fans will want to be hearing, the upside is something that the likes of Pompey can only dream about.
Already, Southampton have spent big on Mads Roerslev, youngster Damion Downs from Cologne for a reported £7m, and 20-year-old German defender Joshua Quarshie from TSG Hoffenheim.
In keeping with relegation from the Premier League, sporting director Johannes Spors has cut his cloth accordingly. Out has gone over £100m worth of talent with Tyler Dibling (£42m) and Mateus Fernandes (£38m + £4m add-ons) making up the bulk of that money.
For the third time this summer, Spors has looked to Germany for new signings. Caspar Jandar has been identified and is reported to be a £10.3m done deal. The right sided midfielder will add depth to a midfield that has been reduced by the sales of Fernandes and Tyler Dibling.
Tom Fellows is, according to the Daily Echo's Alfie House, another deal that Southampton are working hard on getting over the line ahead of Monday's transfer deadline. Within the last hour, The Athletic have confirmed that the deal has been struck. The joint additions of Jander and Fellows is impressive enough but when you add the likely signing of Middlesbrough's Finn Azaz for another £14m, there are few teams in the Championship who can compete.
According to reports, Southampton are keen to hold on to key players Cameron Archer and Ronnie Edwards this summer. Queens Park Rangers, where Edwards had a stellar loan spell, have been rebuffed in their attempts to sign the England under-21 European Champion. Edwards will have been identified by the manager as a player who can develop at the club all the way back to the Premier League.
Archer, on the other hand, showed a little of what he can do at Norwich on Tuesday night. His potential is being fulfilled but he has a long way to go. Southampton manager, Will Still, has shown great faith in the former Aston Villa man and Saints fans will hope that the manager's faith is being well-placed.
The early Championship pace setters, Stoke City, may find it hard to keep up with Southampton over the course of a 42-match Championship campaign. The Potters' monthly salary expenditure is a shade under a quarter of the wages that the Saints are shelling out on their squad.
The difference in squad depth was labelled “a joke“ by Stoke's manager, Mark Robins after the team from the Potteries beat their south-coast promotion rivals last weekend.
As far as the accountants are concerned, only Leicester City have a more costly squad than Southampton in the Championship this season. The Foxes have registered two wins from their three games so far this season and could turn out to be the Saints strongest competition in the race for an automatic play-off spot.
Moussa Sylla is apparently on Leicester's shortlist but the Schalke striker is allegedly being tracked by another Championship side. Southampton, who have been doing most of their summer business in Germany may well be the club keeping tabs.
The remaining four days of the window will be vital for the Championship teams dreaming about promotion and Southampton, probably more than any club in the league, have the financial clout to go into the season with an unbelievable squad at this level. As Mark Robins has already identified, Southampton's squad depth is something to be envied – “a joke!“