On the final day of the January window, Southampton weren't very busy in terms of incomings.

However, they did let three players leave.

One of those was club legend Maya Yoshida, who departed after seven-and-a-half years at St Mary's to join Sampdoria on loan ahead of his contract expiring in the summer.

However, there were two under-the-radar pieces of business from the Saints which may well prove to be excellent work from those on the transfer committee at Southampton in the long term.

Academy duo Callum Slattery and Kayne Ramsay both departed the south coast on January 31st to join De Graafschap and Shrewsbury Town respectively, on loan deals until the end of the campaign.

Slattery is just 21 years of age, while Ramsay is only 19, and significantly, neither of them had ever left St Mary's on loan before they departed on the final day of last month.

Their development has potentially stalled under Ralph Hasenhuttl this season, as neither of them had made a first-team appearance under the Austrian this term having made a combined seven first-team outings last term - Slattery made five, while Ramsay made two.

Their exits went under the radar given their current lack of importance to the first-team at Southampton, although if you scratch beneath the surface just a little bit, the club's work in finding them a chance to get senior football under their belt may well turn out to be shrewd business.

Both Ramsay and Slattery will presumably come back to St Mary's in the summer as better players, with a lot more experience under their belts than they already have - the latter has already netted on his home debut for De Graafschap.

In truth, Hasenhuttl and those on the Southampton recruitment team could've just left the duo to play in the U23 side for the remainder of the season.

However, they decided to give them a chance to test themselves in the senior game.

Time will tell, although surely their respective experiences will stand them in good stead in the future and ensure that Southampton can pat themselves on the back for loaning them out on deadline day.

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