London: Southampton manager Ronald Koeman returned to his former club Feyenoord to sign Italian striker Graziano Pelle on Saturday.
Koeman took charge of the Premier League side in June after leaving the Dutch club and he has been quick to raid his old squad for Pelle, who has agreed a three-year contract with the Saints.
The 28-year-old scored 27 goals for the Rotterdam outfit last season and will be viewed as a replacement for Rickie Lambert, who moved to Liverpool earlier in the close-season.
Koeman has been tasked with rebuilding the Southampton team since taking over from Mauricio Pochettino, with England internationals Adam Lallana and Luke Shaw having joined Lambert in leaving St Mary’s.
The former Barcelona and Netherlands star signed Serbian midfielder Dusan Tadic on Tuesday and the capture of Pelle is another step towards putting his own stamp on the squad.
Pelle began his career with Lecce and had a number of loan spells before moving to AZ Alkmaar, where he first made contact with Koeman.
A return to Italy and Parma followed, before taking in Sampdoria and then Feyenoord and Koeman again.
His goalscoring feats of last season mean he is the second highest-scoring Italian to have played outside of Serie A.
“I had some teams interested in me, but this is going to be the best choice for me because the club wants to keep improving every year,” Pelle told Southampton’s website.
“The talks between us were only short in terms of how long it took to convince each other. I was pretty sure that, for me, this would be a great step.
“Koeman and I worked together for two amazing years at Feyenoord, and I hope that it will be the same here.
“There are many good things about this club other than the trainer. The Premier League is amazing, and Southampton is showing year by year that it wants to improve.”
