It would have been cheaper for Liverpool to buy and run Southampton than it has been to keep signing their players.

Liverpool are preparing to raid the Saints yet again, it’s been reported, this time for star midfielder Mario Lemina.

The Gabon international only joined the Saints last summer for a then club record fee of an initial £15.4m.

If he does make the move to Merseyside, Lemina will become the seventh player to swap St Mary’s for Anfield since the south coast club went into administration back in 2009.

(Image: Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

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The six players to have already moved between the clubs since then have cost Liverpool a massive £166.5m in transfer fees.

That’s almost five times more than the Saints paid for those same players.

In fact, it would have been cheaper for Liverpool to have cut out the middleman and bought Southampton outright back when they went into administration.

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(Image: AFP)

The then League One club cost Markus Liebherr a reported £15m. Since then the Saints have spent a reported £274.5m on new players.

They’ve also brought in £300m in player sales, though that includes the money paid by Liverpool.

If you remove those sales it works out at £129.7m from player sales with a £144.8m net spend.

(Image: Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

Add that to the initial £15m outlay and it comes to just £159.8m - £6.7m less than Liverpool have spent on Saints players.

Of course, that’s just looking at transfer fees.

Between 2009/10 and 2015/16 Southampton are reported to have made

profits totaling £10m.

(Image: Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

That includes Liverpool transfer money through. Removing that turns it into losses of £81.5m.

Added to the initial outlay of £15m that works out at £96.5m - £70m less than what Liverpool have paid for the club’s players.