Some Saints fans have been quite critical of the relationship between Southampton and one of Sport Republic's other club's Goztepe, not that Saints supporters have anything against the Turkish club, but they are not considering the bigger picture.

Over the past couple of years or so a section of the fanbase seem to resent the fact that Sport Republic have more than one club on their roster, they look at the fact that Saints have signed players such as Mateusz Liz on free transfers and then loan them to Goztepe.

They see it as financially supporting the Turkish club using money that could be used to buy players for Southampton.

The truth is that in the grand scheme of things very little cash is being spent, it is about finding potential players and testing them at Goztepe in the Turkish top flight and then seeing if they are good enough to progress to England.

As in the case of the aforementioned Liz who joined Southampton on a free transfer and was immediately loaned to Goztepe, who would then pay his wages, after a season in Turkey he was transferred permanently to Goztepe and a small profit was made by Southampton.

With Will Still being a manager who looks at all aspects of the game and looks outside the box with his decisions, it is probably something that he will be keen to develop and utilise.

A similar thing happened over the course of the last season with two players going to Goztepe on loan, Kuryu Matsuki was signed from FC Tokyo for a nominal fee of around £1 million and the then 21 year old was sent on loan to the Izmir based sister club.

He has had a mixed season in Turkey having featured in 28 league games for Goztepe, but only 10 of them in the starting line up, but the attacking midfielder has scored 2 goals and 4 assists.

The stats suggesting that he is not quite ready for a place in the Southampton squad, he like Liz might see Saints sell him on a permanent basis for another small profit or alternatively another loan either again with Goztepe or elsewhere.

But as footballleagueworld.co.uk are suggesting, the second returning loanee, Brazilian striker Juan, might well be pushing for a place in the Saints squad.

The 23 year old who was signed on a free transfer from San Paulo in Brazil, was in good form for Goztepe before a hamstring injury ended his season, he was a regular started 21 games plus another 5 off the bench saw him score 7 goals and 5 assists.

He is essentially a centre forward, but as footballleagueworld.co.uk report, he is a little more versatile than just an out and out striker.

He can play down the centre, he can play out wide in a front 3 or he can play a little deeper as a second striker behind a centre forward, almost as a replacement for Matteus Fernandes should he leave the club.

They also report that:

"Compared with forwards in similar leagues, Juan ranks higher than 96% of forwards for chances created per 90 minutes.

"Compared with players in the Süper Lig alone, he ranks 91.8%.

"Defensively, he is no slouch either. Ranked 79.6% for balls won in the final third, Juan is well suited to a pressing game should Still decide to play that way. Juan ranks highly among similar players for interceptions (83.7%) and tackles won (85.7%).

"Knowing that Still prefers his team to play aggressively and work very hard, it's easy to see why Juan should join the first-team for pre-season."

So with Juan returning to pre season training at Staplewood in about 3 weeks Will Still might be ready to take a look at the Brazilian and consider whether he should be part of his squad.

The Turkish Super Lig is a top flight division, although not of the standard of the Premier League or other truly top European leagues, it is still competitive and perhaps on a par with the Championship, so this coming season Juan could be a contender.

If that is the case then after several key players of the Southampton squad depart as suspected, then Juan could save the club a fair few million in transfer fees.

If that is the case then it will highlight what Sport Republic are trying to achieve in the long term at Southampton Football Club.

So far it has not born much fruition, but as I have said it is about looking to find one or two gems out of a number of options tried and so far at a cost of around a million in transfer fees it is not exactly putting a big hole in the transfer budget.

In the past for every Mick Channon, Steve Williams, Danny Wallace, Matt Le Tissier, Alan Shearer or Gareth Bale, there are literally dozens of their team mates at youth level who fail to make it at the top level, some play at lower league clubs and we turn a small profit, others leave the professional game altogether.

For every Kevin Keegan signed there was a Mike McCartney, a player signed form a lower league club and who didn't really make it at the club and moved on at a loss.

Traditionally English football clubs look to build youth teams and bring players through that way, but the likes of Manchester City and Chelsea have ripped that model apart by signing large numbers of youngsters who will never make their first team and then sell them on to help them with their Financial Fair Play rules stats.

With Chelsea able to recruit in the Southampton area, that has seen many youngsters who would normally sign for Saints and then move up the youth ranks poached by Chelsea either at a young age as with Levi Colwill, born in Southampton & now an England International or as with Tyler Dibling who went and returned at 17 or Jay Morgane who went and didn't and spent last season at Gillingham.

Southampton have always led the way in producing youth players and now they have to look to adapt and change and they have now done this.

With players being snapped up by Chelsea now, we have to look to other areas and that is finding the gems not at a young age, but those that are a few years older and have potential, bringing that potential on via developing them at our sister clubs.

It won't take over the Academy system completely, but it is an important addition to the recruitment options going forward.

So far it hasn't produced a star, but its in it's initial stages and we have only signed a small number of players for a small outlay so far, it has broke even, but if Juan does join the Saints squad for the coming season, then we might well see some benefit from the system.

In the other direction we have had 18 year old Izzet Furkan Malek on loan from Goztepe who has played in our academy teams this season and also Joachim Saya Sandi who was signed for around £3.5 million from Sports Republic's other club Valenciennes and featured in the last two games in the Premier League last month.

Football has changed at a rapid rate over the last decade or so and continues to do so, Southampton FC also have to change and after a period of floundering, they seem to be getting back on track again.

All Photos Via Reuters

Block8 added 09:48 - Jun 6 If we use it wisely it can benefit both clubs. As regards Juan I've been keeping an eye on his progress and he might just be someone who will shine over here!
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davenbennett added 10:40 - Jun 6 I've been one of those critical of Saints buying players for Goztepe. However, I do recognise that the theory behind it is sound. All it needs is one decent player to make it to be profitable. Maybe im just impatient! On PL Academy's, they do actually see quite a few get into the 1st team. Liverpool, Man U,Man City, Chelsea and Arsenal top 5 for Academy minutes in PL. Saints were 8th. I would really like Juan to be successful. Certainly needs to be given a chance in pre season up front, along with Ballard. Save us a lot of money if just one of them can secure a 1st team squad place.

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underweststand added 10:50 - Jun 6 Despite those who complain about SR's handling of things with Saints, the idea of being a partner in the group is positive when we buy in players on free, or for a small fee and then let them out on loan. Assuming we accept that Valenciennes and Gotzepe are more-or-less " feeder clubs " and playing at lower levels than the English game. It's players like Kayi-Sanda and Juan, who have shown up well with the other clubs who are perhaps worth a chance at the Championship level. We bought in Welington and kept him, whilst the club was going through the trauma of last season, and despite the challenges of the Prem. he didn't look like the worst full back we've ever signed. Players who come into SR system, may eventually find a club that suits them - regardless of which country they end up playing in - and hopefully we will get the best of the bunch without paying out huge fees. Win-Win.

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Bowlercow added 10:52 - Jun 6 I'm told that Matsuki is going to be a big asset but has suffered with the manager preferring his favourites. Let. WS have a look anb maybe arrange a loan in the EFL As for a striker you can never have too many good ones but I want to see our own,like Robinson and Ballard,shown that there is a route through to the first team
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City_boy added 12:28 - Jun 6 If is that good and is touted as our saviour next season, how come he only got 10 starts at Goztepe ?
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City_boy added 12:28 - Jun 6 If is that good and is touted as our saviour next season, how come he only got 10 starts at Goztepe ?
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mushinexile added 12:34 - Jun 6 I stopped believing at "hamstring injury".
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Flamingbankers added 11:02 - Jun 7 it is about finding potential players and testing them at Goztepe in the Turkish top flight and then seeing if they are good enough to progress to England. Nice idea, I look forward to there being any proof in this comment. Presently, it seems as if there's no credible evidence to this idea. As for developing players at sister clubs, there's also no evidence that this could be any better than our previous system. Don't forget we're poached youngsters from around the country as well, especially London. Talking about 'assists' I think you've given SR one here Nick. Southampton FC need to concentrate on Southampton FC as far as I'm concerned. Neverthetheless, well have to endure the nonsense for the next few years to see if it is actually worthwhile. Personally I think it's fundamentally a financial ruse for SR (and similar ownerships - some of whom have got lucky admittedly. We're a long way off from getting that lucky and is it luck or is it better organisation and management of those clubs?).

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