SAINTS have this week confirmed to parents that their long-standing Bath academy centre is set to close.

Southampton FC's famed satellite site has had a proud history of elite player development.

Under the management of the likes of legendary Rod Ruddick, the centre allowed Saints to bring talents such as Gareth Bale to the club.

FA rules had dictated that young players must live within a 90-minute commute of their team.

Saints were given special dispensation by the Premier League to open a satellite site in Bath due to Southampton's geography.

Its coastal location means the sea swallows half of its catchment radius, for example when compared to a club in Birmingham.

The introduction of the Elite Player Performance Plan in 2012 relaxed movement rules after establishing a hierarchy of academies within England and fixed transfer fees for players moving between clubs.

National recruitment may only begin from under-12 and up - foundation phase registrations are still dictated to by time and distance rules.

And the club are "reluctantly" closing the Bath programme this year and not taking on any more young players.

Saints will continue to run the full-time programme up to under-16s out of Beechen Cliff School in Bath until all players enrolled finish their studies.

The Premier League and EFL have been putting pressure on the club to shut down the programme due to it sitting outside the registration catchment area.

This pressure intensified with last season’s relegation and the club has communicated their plan to close throughout the season.

The closure puts the jobs of academy staff at risk but the club insist no decisions have been made with various proposals being considered.

Meanwhile, young players are receiving support to transition to another academy - with some players successfully registered elsewhere.

The registrations of a number of players from under-9 to under-11 age groups who live within the Southampton catchment area have transferred to Staplewood.

With the changing academy landscape since the site was created, Saints have had to invest a significant amount extra to compete with established category one and two academies in the area.

Bath staff are credited as having done "an excellent job" in recruiting and developing talent with Tyler Dibling and Kami Doyle as the most notable recent examples.

Dibling, 18, made five appearances for Russell Martin's side this season, while Doyle, 18, joined Brighton on a transfer that could pocket Saints £2.5million.

The club say they are "exploring alternative options within Premier League guidelines to increase and diversify" their available talent pool.

The Daily Echo previously reported Southampton's desire to explore the foreign emerging talent markets to find value elsewhere.

This is part of a wider recruitment strategy review and the signing of Joe O'Brien-Whitmarsh from Cork City is an early sign - with more expected to follow.