SAINTS’ success in the final seven games of the season could be the difference between collecting an extra £16m in prize money or not – as the club close in on a half a billion cash haul.

Claude Puel’s men are currently in ninth place in the Premier League and, if they stay there, are set to fill the St Mary’s coffers with £22m for their final placing.

But Saints have ideas above that and are aiming to leapfrog West Bromwich Albion in eighth and collect more top-flight cash.

If they succeed in their mission to usurp the Baggies, Puel’s boys, who are four points off Tony Pulis’s side with two games in hand, will bring home £24m for their finish.

However, in the event they suffer a torrid end to the campaign, they could see themselves slip back into the bottom half of the table.

The lowest they could realistically finish is 16th, with AFC Bournemouth the current incumbent in that position on 35 points – five behind Saints.

If Saints do slip up, they could find themselves £16m out of pocket, with that 16th spot landing the club a paltry £10m in comparison for their placing.

That money gap is the same amount Saints spent on their record signing Sofiane Boufal, pictured below, last summer.

And to finish so low would not only hit the bank account, it would also be a pretty disastrous drop after three successive top eight finishes.

Puel’s men will be hoping to avoid such a capitulation and push on for more cash, and a fourth successive top half position in the Premier League.

So far Saints have raked in an astonishing £413,090,876 during their 17 seasons among the elite.

And this term they will break the half a billion mark, no matter where they end up.

On top of the merit-based finish, which is the prize money dished out for their final place, they will also receive a mind-boggling amount of television dosh.

Saints will be handed a cut of the new £5.136bn Premier League TV deal, with each top-flight guaranteed £85m each of that.

There’s further money distributed depending on how many of their matches have been broadcast on the small screen.

That ultimately means Saints will definitely land more than £100m, pushing them over the half a billion mark.