Almost a quarter of the way into the English Premier League season, the perennial middle-of-the-table Southampton is third in the standings, behind only deep-pocketed Manchester City and Chelsea. Its astounding performance, with 13 points and a positive six-goal differential over seven games is impressive, especially given how it lost many of its top players to Champions League contenders in this summer’s transfer market.

With defender Luke Shaw at Manchester United and midfielder Adam Lallana and forward Rickie Lambert bolting to last season’s league runner-up Liverpool, and promising young defender Calum Chambers leaving for Arsenal, Southampton seemed unlikely to finish better than its eighth-place run last season. In fact, predictions of relegation flew heading into the start of play.

Although seven games out of a 38-match season do not perfectly reflect how the rest of the campaign will unfold, the Saints’ play has followed the textbook formula for non-elite teams to thrive in the world’s most competitive league.

Southampton quickly brought on new talent over the summer with money acquired from the Lallana and Shaw transfers. Italian forward Graziano Pelle, acquired from Dutch Eredivisie club Feyenoord Rotterdam, has already scored five goals, while Serbian midfielder Dusan Tadic, formerly of Eredivisie side Twente, has contributed four key assists. Young Senegalese forward Sadio Mane, formerly a leader for Salzburg in the Austria Bundesliga, has rounded out a productive group of newcomers. With an improving team and an impressive homegrown defensive player in Nathaniel Clyne, Southampton looks to improve even further.

While not one of the top EPL teams in terms of wealth, Southampton has perhaps the most prestigious youth development system in the entirety of English soccer. For those not familiar with a youth system, a club essentially runs an academy and teams for younger players so that they may develop their skills against other highly touted youth players.

In the case of Southampton, Shaw and Lallana are just the two most recent stars. Southampton has also produced and trained current Arsenal stars Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. All four players are members of the current English national team. Additionally, the Saints Academy has produced veteran defender Chris Baird and a certain Welshman named Gareth Bale, who would go on to star for Tottenham before moving to Real Madrid in 2013 for a reported $136 million in transfer fees alone.

In almost any case, we would consider a team losing so many top players in one offseason to be doomed for the next season, but the opposite has been true for the Saints. With a youth system that consistently produces top-quality players and has for many years, it only makes sense that they can rebound after such great losses.

More than that, its investments and transfer acquisitions were top notch. After receiving $142.4 million in transfer money for its want-away stars, the St. Mary’s club brought on replacements for nearly $51.8 million less, leaving them with excellent leftover spending money for the January transfer window. Surprisingly, that money may now be spent on a run for a top-four spot — and consequently a Champions League berth — rather than a battle against relegation.

Not only is Southampton’s model for success efficient and effective, their team play is a joy to watch. With so many youth players and manager Ronald Koeman, who gets the most out of his players, Southampton exemplifies synergy. With eight players on the first team squad averaging more than 40 passes a game, it is safe to say that ball movement and a fluid offense is key to the Saints’ success.

Before a hard-fought 1-0 loss to Tottenham on Oct. 5, Southampton had won five games in a row, including a 4-0 stomping of Newcastle United and an impressive 2-1 win against perennial title challengers Arsenal in a Capital One Cup tie. In the game against Newcastle, Southampton completed 10 more long passes against its opponents, creating many more scoring opportunities. More than that, the individual skill of their players helped create opportunities for more accurate passes and goal-scoring opportunities, as seven of their 10 shots were on target, as opposed to four out of nine for Newcastle.

It is debatable if Southampton will finish in the top four in May. However, one thing is for certain; the Saints have already impressed with their offseason transfer strategy and willingness to play an open, fast-paced style of soccer. With intelligent investing and an elite youth system, Southampton can manage to reload year in and year out. Their team play, combined with the individual skill of the newcomers, as well as Clyne and French international midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin, far outshines many EPL teams that are too reliant on one part of the team to carry them.

In a world where spending exorbitant amounts of money increasingly seems to determine the success of a club, Southampton remains a model of investing time and money into a cause that eventually pays off.

While the rest of the Saints’ season is shrouded in uncertainty, one thing is for sure: they are what is right with soccer.

Paolo Santamaria is a freshman in the College. Saxa Synergy appears every other Friday.