Either way, Southampton will have a busy summer ahead of them.
The Saints have one more league game to go before their destiny is determined by the play-offs.
In his debut season as manager, Russell Martin will be eager to get the team back into the Premier League right away.
Although Southampton’s hopes of automatic promotion have faded due to a string of three straight losses, they still need to go back up for the crucial play-off matches.
The club’s transfer policy will be greatly impacted by the division they play in.
Nevertheless, whether Southampton advances to the Premier League or stays in the Championship, a handful of players might still depart.
Players at Southampton without contracts this summer
Without a doubt, Alex McCarthy and Che Adams are the two players that are most likely to depart.
There is no word on whether the two will sign new terms when their contracts expire in the summer.
For the previous two seasons, Adams has been continuously linked to a move away, and the club has acknowledged that he will move on after the season ends.
McCarthy had been sidelined the entire season as Joe Lumley filled in as the backup goalie.
Interestingly enough, McCarthy replaced Lumley in the warm-up for the 3-0 victory over Preston when first-choice ‘keeper Gavin Bazunu sustained an achilles injury. This was the case even though the 34-year-old was not even included in the matchday squad.
McCarthy has continued to play and is expected to be a key member of the playoff team; but, after the season, he will be a free agent and leave the team.
Stuart Armstrong, 32, too has a summer contract expiration, but his circumstances are less clear.
Before sustaining a season-ending injury against Cardiff City, Armstrong had participated in all but one league game this season.
Although supporters were worried when they saw Armstrong being stretchered off, the injury was not as serious as they initially thought, but he will miss the playoffs.
The Scotland international may have played his final game for the team, but considering his impact on Martin’s team this year, it wouldn’t be shocking if Southampton extended his contract by one year to the former Celtic player.
Southampton players out on loan likely to move on
This season, Southampton has made extensive use of the loan market.
After being relegated last summer, the Saints decided to take as many players on loan as they could in order to balance the books.
David Brooks, Joe Rothwell, Flynn Downes, Ryan Fraser, and Taylor Harwood-Bellis are all momentarily present at the club.
But in addition to players joining on loan, players who are already playing for another team but are still club owners may leave.
Many of these players are unlikely to play for St. Mary’s, but last summer the club was unable to find a buyer ready to pay a reasonable price for them.
In order to at least remove the players’ large salaries from the books for a season and create room in the squad, Southampton was compelled to agree to loan agreements.
Seven senior players are currently on loan: Carlos Alcaraz agreed to a surprise loan transfer to Juventus in January, and Paul Onuachu, Duje Caleta-Car, Lyanco, Romain Perraud, Mateusz Lis, and Armel Bella-Kotchap all joined their respective loan teams in the summer.
All of these players—aside from Mateusz Lis—might not be allowed to stay at Southamtpon in the future.
Given that Bazunu is probably going to be sidelined for a significant amount of time, Southampton may want to look at Lis, who is now on loan at Goztepe, their sister club. Lis is 27 years old.
Although Onuachu has scored 12 league goals for loan team Trabzonspor, Southampton will likely want to reclaim the majority of the £18 million they invested for the striker, which could complicate a deal.
Bella-Kotchap is expected to have several admirers even after a season marred by injuries at PSV.
Caleta-Car may see Lyon extend his contract, and Perraud will probably secure permanent residence in France.
Lyanco is now playing in Qatar after an agonisingly late summer transfer to Besiktas fell through.
