The rumours, the speculation, the talking, the deals – all done for another few months. It’s now over to Claude Puel.

Assessing the quality of a club’s transfer window is a tricky business at this stage. In truth, we cannot draw definite conclusions until we see the results roll in.

What we can be sure of is that this window, like so many before, very much falls into the category of ‘the Southampton Way’ as far as Saints concerned.

Where there was pragmatic business to be done it was, where there was a chance to wring every last penny out of a big club it was taken, where head had to rule heart it did, and when it came to splashing out it was done in a sensible and orderly fashion, with young players targeted whose values would likely only rise.

Of all the departures, there were essentially three front line losses, all due respect to Juanmi.

Victor Wanyama was to a certain extent out of the club’s control. With just a year left on his contract and a clear desire from the player to leave they could only battle for the best fee.

Sadio Mane was a different situation, Liverpool again coming in for a player, who, in turn, fancied the move. A fee of £34m was a good price for Saints.

Graziano Pelle was a transfer that fell into the sensible category rather than popular. Given his age and desire for one last big contract it ended up making sense for all parties, with a £12m fee representing a tidy profit too.

Once more, on a case-by-case basis at least, all seemed sensible enough sales.

Of the headline signings we have Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, who looks a gem of a young midfielder, bought to progress into his prime years.

The same can be said of Nathan Redmond, who is even moving position under Claude Puel.

Sofiane Boufal will eventually enter the fray in a few weeks with a huge amount of expectation on his young shoulders.

We must hope that by then Saints have picked up a few wins and got something rolling, if not the club record £16m man is going to find himself in a tough situation, seen as some sort of saviour when he hasn’t played since April and has little experience, let alone of English football.

In truth, it is hard to predict whether we can fairly expect to see the best of Boufal this season, or whether this might be more of a settling in period.

The difficulty is that Saints might need him to hit the ground running, because he is signed to replace players who were seasoned.

Of the other signings of significance Jeremy Pied and Alex McCarthy are solid back-up options, albeit the former now looks like being on the sidelines for the first half of his two-year contract.

A few other side notes of interest are the retention of Cuco Martina, who seemed frozen out as a player Puel didn’t believe would suit his new style. Pied’s injury means he misses out on a move to Everton, and Saints a nice profit, but to see if he fits in will be interesting, and also whether there is enough genuine competition for Cedric Soares now.

After much mulling over Jay Rodriguez also stays at Saints.

We have to hope this does not prove a decision which limits the player’s chances.

As popular as Rodriguez is, you could see the sense in a loan move, if he is going to be behind Redmond, Shane Long, Sofiane Boufal and Charlie Austin in the pecking order.

Rodriguez has to play, and not just every now and then but every week, if, after two years virtually written off, he is to stand a chance of recapturing his best form.

It seemed like he would go on loan to try and do just that before his goal against Sunderland.

While a move to a top Championship club made more sense than a top flight rival, we have to hope that Rodriguez isn’t kept partly for fear of how bad it would be if he was scoring regularly for West Brom or Hull while Saints still struggled for goals, if he isn’t going to play much. That helps nobody.

Add to that the asset protection of signing star players to extended deals and you have Saints’ summer business largely wrapped up.

There is always a debate over whether a club has done enough, and has enough quality, and no doubt Saints will face that.

There are two players for the majority of positions, which is what you would want, although centre back has a question mark over its depth of experienced players if you lost Jose Fonte or Virgil van Dijk, or even both of them, for any period of time.

But overall you have to conclude from everything he has said that Puel is happy with what he’s got.

It is, therefore, an over to you message from the club’s board.

It doesn’t seem like he is going to change the system so he must ensure that it works, which means trying to find a way to fit players into it and get the best from them.

Saints cannot hang around too long to get their season going.

Just two points from Watford and Sunderland at home is not great, and while Puel does need time, with Arsenal up next it doesn’t get any easier.

After that you could face a huge home game with Swansea – but you have the first Europa League match just a few days before, and that has to be taken very seriously as well.

For all that though, make no mistake, there are a lot of very high quality on the Saints books.

Puel now needs to get the best from them.