Saints’ Europa League prospects have received an early boost after it was confirmed that Inter Milan have left £100m worth of talent out of their squad.

UEFA have released the official squad lists that every club must submit ahead of the start of the group stages - and they have revealed Inter will not play some of their biggest names, who are worth almost as much combined as the entire Saints squad.

Brazilian striker Gabriel Barbosa and midfield star Joao Mario, who joined Inter towards the end of the transfer window for a combined €70m, have both been left off the list and so will not feature in the group stages.

Inter’s two big summer signings from the previous season, €31m French midfielder Geoffrey Kondogbia and former Manchester City striker Stevan Jovetic, have also been left out.

Those four players alone cost more than £100m. The entire Saints squad cost around £116m in transfer fees to assemble.

Inter, who this evening start their Group K campaign at home to Hapoel Beer Sheva, are understood to have dropped their star names from the list in order to comply with the Financial Fair Play rules in European competitions imposed by UEFA.

If the four players were in their squad then they would run the risk of a substantial fine and potentially a transfer ban.

As such Inter have taken the decision to hold them back just for Italian competition.

That is a blow to Saints fans keen to see Inter’s best team play, but at the same time a significant boost to their chances of getting results against one of Italy’s biggest clubs.

Barbosa is considered a particularly exciting talent, having been tracked by the likes of Chelsea and Manchester United.

He was part of the Brazil squad which won the gold medal at the Rio Olympics.

Mario was part of the Portugal squad that won Euro 2016, and a former teammate of Saints star Cedric Soares when they were at Sporting Lisbon.

All Europa League sides have to submit a squad of a maximum of 25 players, with at least eight falling into the UEFA definition of being locally trained.

Youngsters who have been with the club for two years can be placed on a separate B list which can be submitted the day before a game.

That is the reason why the likes of Matt Targett and Harrison Reed do not appear on the initial Saints squad list.

Saints begin their Europa League campaign when they host last season’s Europa League quarter-finalists Sparta Prague at St Mary’s.

A fortnight later they face their first Group K game away from home with the long trip to Israel to take on Hapoel Beer Sheva.