For a number of years, Dean Hammond worked to bring Premier League football back to St Mary’s.

Today, the former Saints captain might finally get to experience it.

Hammond will this afternoon return to his former club with his latest team, Leicester City.

It will be the first time he has faced Saints since parting ways with them in the summer of 2013. Should he make it onto the pitch, it is likely he will be afforded a warm reception from the home supporters.

After all, Hammond was an integral part of the side that dragged Saints from the depths of League One to the top flight.

One of the first signings of the Markus Liebherr era, following the club’s exit from administration in 2009, Hammond, who was bought from Colchester for about £300,000, would go on to make 124 league appearances for Saints.

The last of those was the 4-0 victory over Coventry that sealed promotion from the Championship on the final day of the 2011/12 campaign.

Hammond would not make it onto the pitch in the Premier League the following season, being loaned out to Brighton, before joining Leicester at the end of the term.

He helped them win promotion last season and, at the age of 31, on August 16 this year, he finally made his Premier League debut, in the Foxes’ 2-2 home draw against Everton.

Hammond has appeared in eight of Leicester’s ten Premier League games so far and will no doubt be as desperate as anyone to get on the St Mary’s pitch this afternoon.