Southampton boss Ronald Koeman has expressed his belief that the players who left his side in the summer may have made a mistake in departing the club.
Adam Lallana, Rickie Lambert and Dejan Lovren all joined Sunday's opponents Liverpool, while Luke Shaw moved to Old Trafford and Calum Chambers joined the exodus when he completed a transfer to Arsenal.
Despite the losses of five key players, the Saints have had an impressive season and are in the reckoning for a Champions League place, while the majority of the departures have struggled to find their feet away from St Mary's Stadium.
"A reason to move is not always for the player to do about football," Koeman told reporters. "Maybe it's about money. We can't pay salaries like the big teams in the Premier League pay. It's always less here.
"If you stay, you stay for different reasons. You stay for the fact you are more sure that you play every weekend and it's not too early - it's about the age of the player and about the experience of the player.
"But I think it's normal that you will lose players if you don't play every season in the Champions League because it's the intention for every player to be part of that."
Southampton play top-four rivals Liverpool in the Premier League later today.
Simon Sinclair
