As far as deadline days go, this one passed with the kind of smooth sailing Saints were hoping for.

Ronald Koeman had already admitted he would be relieved at 6pm last night when the window finally slammed shut.

He wanted to secure the services of long-term target Virgil van Dijk, and hold on to the rest of his key men. He did exactly that.

After all the panic and worry of the last couple of weeks, from shaky results to rumoured interest to Victor Wanyama wanting to leave, things can settle down a bit now.

The window is closed and that is the end of the matter.

Koeman has a squad to work with that cannot change until January and, as he himself said, the one very minor consolation of going out of the Europa League so early is that he will have extra time on the training ground to work with them.

Saints had to bring in another centre half, and Van Dijk coming in for around £11m, the club’s most expensive ever defender, is certainly a statement.

They now look to have a couple of options in every position, which certainly means their squad is deeper than it was last season, even if the starting side have to get the results to prove they can match that quality.

Wanyama will also now have to wind his neck in and get back to playing for Saints, with Tottenham having failed to put in a deadline day bid for him in the face of a hardline stance from Koeman and Les Reed.

It will be interesting to see the reaction of the supporters towards him.

Morgan Schneiderlin had a similar situation, but that was in pre-season.

For Wanyama to decide he wasn’t in the right mindset to play a league game – and at a vital time too as Saints really needed to beat Norwich – is a different situation.

Fans can be fickle, and might be willing to forget if not entirely forgive if results go well.

What will be harder for Wanyama is walking back in the dressing room again.

Footballers understand that players come and go, and that where there is big money on offer people sometimes try and force their way out, as Wanyama attempted with Saints.

However, there are ways of doing it, and to seemingly abandon your teammates when they need you is pretty poor form.

Taking the window as a whole you come back to the theory that Saints have a much stronger squad. There is far greater depth, and should Saints suffer injuries they have front line and experienced heads to call upon this season.

The biggest question is whether they have got the quality to replace the likes of Schneiderlin, Nathaniel Clyne and Toby Alderweireld.

We will only get the answer to that from performances and results on the pitch over the next few months.