New Southampton boss Ronald Koeman is confident of securing the signing of Graziano Pelle in the near future.
New Southampton manager Ronald Koeman has revealed that he expects to be able to confirm the signing of Graziano Pelle in the coming days, report the Metro, with the Italian set to follow Dusan Tadic as a pair of Eredivisie captures for the Saints.
The Feyenoord striker enjoyed a successful season in the Eredivisie last season, retaining an incredible goalscoring ratio of almost one goal every game – but he will have a big job replacing Rickie Lambert, who has joined Liverpool, and the injured Jay Rodriguez.
Pelle has enjoyed a long and varied career, starting his career at Lecce but not really making the breakthrough until his first spell in the Eredivisie with AZ Alkmaar.
His form there earned him a move back to Serie A and Parma, but once again it didn’t happen for the 28 year-old in his homeland and he returned to Holland on loan with Feyenoord, eventually joining the Rotterdam giants on a permanent basis last year.
Eredivise strikers have a chequered record in the Premier League, with plenty of notable flops, such as Afonso Alves and Mateja Kezman, to go alongside the successes such as Luis Suarez.
Tadic and Pelle represent the start of Dutchman Koeman’s rebuilding job at St. Mary’s, with the former Barcelona boss likely to have to replace Morgan Schneiderlin and Dejan Lovren on top of the already departed Lallana and Lambert.