Our landlord here at the Transfer Tavern has been very impressed with just how many talented players Southampton have produced over the past five years, and more are likely to follow in the future.

The Saints’ academy has a reputation for bringing through good footballers, with Gareth Bale, Theo Walcott and Adam Lallana three that stand out, all of whom have been sold on for decent fees. However, surely the time will come where they start to keep the players at the club with one eye on the future on the pitch and not just their bank account.

There are a number of first-team players who will still be fully involved in the team five years from now, of course, subject to them remaining with the Saints, so we are going to take a look in our crystal ball to try and predict how Southampton may well line up in the year 2022.

By this time a lot will have changed, however, based on the current crop of players at the club, here is how we feel their potential starting XI could look…

GK: HARRY LEWIS

By the year 2022 it could still be possible that a 33-year-old experienced Fraser Forster could be the number one at St Mary’s.

However, we are going to give the young 19-year-old Harry Lewis the position in this article as he clearly has talent and by then will still only be 24-years-old and will be looking to be a first team regular, whilst Forster will likely be his experienced under study.

RB: CEDRIC SOARES

We will again presume this man, by this point an experienced defender, will still be a Saints player and featuring regularly in a strong and Premier League experienced defence.

The Portuguese international spent a long time with former club Sporting Lisbon, which bodes well for him to commit his future to this club. Whether his pace is still as good remains to be seen.

CB: VIRGIL VAN DIJK

This may well be a push for him to be a Saints player, five years from now, but for our Saints punters here at the bar, we are going to give you the benefit of the doubt and say if he’s a Saint by then he’ll be an experienced 30-year-old center-back in his very prime, and likely to be the leader and captain of the side.

Although some would suggest he could be elsewhere, in this scenario he remains a Southampton player.

CB: JACK STEPHENS

With injuries this season, it has seen Stephens featured more regularly for the south-coasters and in five years from now he could well be a 28-year-old England international playing alongside the experienced Van Dijk in a solid back-line pairing.

From what we’ve seen so far he looks like a very good prospect and our Southampton punters can but dream until it comes to fruition.

LB: SAM MCQUEEN

Having broken into the side this season under Puel, the 21-year-old could and should well be their 26-year-old established left-back come the year 2022.

Indeed, he’ll be taking over from the likely to be retiring or playing in a lower league Ryan Bertrand. The Champions League winner by this point may well have a few more accolades to write home about and tell the grandchildren in years to come, buts it’s unlikely he’ll be their starting left-back in 2022.

CDM: JAMES WARD-PROWSE

The current Southampton midfielder, who is still only 22-years-old has been superb and looks like he’s going to grow into a bigger and better player!

Come five years from now, he’ll be 27-years-old and in the prime of his career in the heart of the Saints midfield. Running the show from the middle of the park and probably by this point an established England international.

CDM: PIERRE-EMILE HOJBJERG

The former Bayern Munich man could, by this point, also be a more established midfielder at 27-years-old and alongside Ward-Prowse be running the games from the middle of the park.

It’ll surely be hard for Southampton to keep a hold of his services, with the amount of talent that the lad has, but it’ll be in their best interests to keep and develop him at the club.

RAM: NATHAN REDMOND

This lad has been doing well in the Premier League for nearly four years already, and over the next five will only get better and better with age, one hopes!

The England international will be hoping by the time the year 2022 comes around that he’ll have racked up some serious international apperances and if his current form is anything to go by, he’ll certainly do that.

CAM: SOFIANE BOUFAL

Another player who will for sure be hard to keep a hold on as he will attract interest as he grows into a Premier League star over the next few seasons, as he so quickly did with Lille in France.

The Moroccan midfielder by the year 2022 should be an established player who is beloved by many at the club if he can get past his small injury issues.

LAM: JOSH SIMS

The 19-year-old has made a handful of appearances this season and has looked very useful in every one of them. The Southampton faithful here at the Tavern, will be praying he’s not like the long line of English wingers at the club before him.

Meaning they leave the club for a side like Arsenal – Sims has a huge amount of talent and by 2022 will still only be 24-years-old and improving more and more as a player and winger.

ST: SAM GALLAGHER

This could be a surprise to some here at the Transfer Tavern with Gallagher currently on-loan at Blackburn Rovers who are struggling this season. But, if Gallagher can show the class he has on-loan at a struggling side during the next pre-season or two at Southampton he may have a chance to resurrect his career with the club.

It’s really hard to predict the future as 5-years ago most people didn’t know much about a young Harry Kane not getting his chance at Spurs and performing at a lower level. Now, look at the England and Spurs star, who could be the next story like Kane…Could it be Gallagher? Who knows? Only time will tell and unfortunately, we don’t have something that can predict the future for us!