Southampton chief executive Gareth Rogers insists any money raised from player sales was reinvested in the squad.
The latest figures, which cover the year ending June 30, 2015, show that the St Mary's Football Group made a profit for the second year in succession, coming in at £12m – the previous year's total of £33.4m after tax was the first time since coming out of administration that the club had not declared a loss.
The results for 2014/15 incorporate the money received from the sales of Adam Lallana, Dejan Lovren and Calum Chambers, but do not include Nathaniel Clyne and Morgan Schneiderlin, who left after the reporting date.
"We have categorically reinvested everything we have received in sales of players in the past two years," said Rogers.
"We believe we have a much stronger squad, but naturally that cost for that reinvestment is there, and that's shown within the wages that have grown this year. Whilst there are some one-off costs in the wages this year, the underlying wages have grown £6m, and the majority of that is within the players."
