Southampton have seldom made huge transfer blunders in the last few years, so it makes their £15m outlay for Wesley Hoedt all the more baffling a decision.

The Dutch defender was coming off the back of a solid season at Lazio, having featured 23 times for the Italian outfit in Serie A. His impressive 6.99 average SofaScore rating suggested an impressive campaign, worthy of Premier League interest.

However, even the White and Sky Blues must have been shocked to see such a large sum touted.

He featured heavily throughout his first season for the Saints, in which his side narrowly avoided relegation. A 17th-place finish and three points from the drop, Hoedt featured 28 times and to be fair, did record a SofaScore rating of 6.96.

The season following saw his play time drop along with his quality, as just 13 league games and a 6.81 rating marked the downturn in his career.

Two unsuccessful loan spells saw the £60k-per-week earner finally freed up from the wage bill, when Lazio agreed to re-sign him with an option to buy. Even they did not want him permanently, and only last summer could they finally shift this deadweight onto Anderlecht with the player leaving on a free transfer.

A grand total of 45 appearances across four years upon St Mary’s marks a terrible investment, especially considering the initial outlay plus the wages.

For his 208 weeks at the club, in total, he has drained them of £27.5m discounting any loan fees.

He has certainly been a “useless” - as dubbed by one source - acquisition for Southampton, but they can afford these mistakes due to the huge profit they often make on other deals. It was a risk worth taking, that ultimately did not pay off.

Virgil van Dijk would sign for Liverpool just months after this deal was announced, bringing in a huge £75m to downplay the significance of Hoedt’s price tag.

However, he cannot be looked at as anything other than another huge flop on the south coast. He struggled defensively to cope with the league, with multiple managers opting to ship him off at every opportunity.