Southampton transfer decision played straight into Bolton Wanderers' hands | OneFootball

Southampton at least made some profit from the striker - but they must have been shocked by his Bolton Wanderers exploits

The nature of football transfers creates winners and losers all over the country, with clubs and players alike always keeping a close eye on the market.

Fans like to keep tabs on departing players, and Southampton fans must have thought they had benefited the most from Kevin Davies’ £7.5million move to Blackburn Rovers in 1998.

However, when they brought the striker back to the south coast the following season, they encountered the same issue with Davies as Blackburn did.

In the end, Bolton Wanderers ended up as the big winners, with Davies enjoying the best years of his career with the Trotters.

Kevin Davies’ second Southampton spell a flop in comparison to promising debut season

Many fans will associate Kevin Davies strongly with Bolton Wanderers, the club where the striker received his first England call-up as a 33-year-old.

But Davies had two separate stints with south coast side Southampton either side of the millennium, with extremely contrasting fortunes.

Davies impressed as a teenager coming through the ranks at Chesterfield, attracting the attention of clubs in the Premier League and the old First Division, now the Championship, after 29 goals in 143 appearances.

Southampton were one of the interested clubs, paying third-tier Chesterfield £750,000 to secure his services in May 1997.

Davies made the step-up to Premier League football with aplomb, scoring nine times in 24 appearances for Saints.

That was enough to capture the attention of Blackburn Rovers, who were set for a campaign in the UEFA Cup.

Rovers reportedly paid £7,250,000 for Davies, whilst also sending James Beattie the other way – a striker who would go on to have a legendary impact on the south coast.

If that’s where Southampton’s dealings with Davies would have ended, they would have certainly profited from the forward, selling Davies for 10 times the amount they had shelled out to bring him to St. Mary’s.

But Davies became available just a year after he joined Rovers; the striker scoring just one league goal as Blackburn were relegated.

Despite a lack of goal, Southampton offered to take Davies back, Egil Østenstad going in the opposite direction.

Whilst Davies had been impressive in his first season as a Saint, his second stint failed to hit the same heights.

After three quiet campaigns, scoring a total of nine goals in 73 Premier League appearances, Davies was loaned to second tier Millwall for the 2002/03 campaign.

Upon his return, he was released – allowing Bolton Wanderers to swoop in and sign the Yorkshireman on a free transfer.

Bolton Wanderers move reignites Kevin Davies’ career

Arriving at what was then the Reebok Stadium at 25 years of age, Kevin Davies was looking for a spark to change his fortunes when he joined Bolton on an initial trial.

He certainly found it at Bolton, shrugging off previous injury problems to start all 38 of Wanderers’ Premier League games in the 2003/04 season, whilst also managing nine goals and nine assists.

That, combined with a consolation goal in the 2004 League Cup final defeat to Middlesbrough, was enough for Davies to win the club’s player of the year.

Under Sam Allardyce, Bolton and Davies would reach new heights. A personal highlight for Davies would have been his header away at Bayern Munich, securing a 2-2 draw to earn Bolton a vital point in their UEFA Cup campaign.

Even after the heady days of Allardyce’s reign, Davies was a committed battler for Bolton, getting stuck into relegation battles as he entered his 30s.

Named captain after the departure of Kevin Nolan in January 2009, Davies would remain with Wanderers even after their relegation to the Championship in 2012.

In total, of a decade of service, Davies would score 84 times, provide 49 assists in 407 games for the Trotters, the ultimate transfer winners from the striker's initial Southampton departure.