Southampton FC - Koeman get it.

Former Netherlands international Ronald Koeman has put pen to paper to sign a one year deal at St. Mary's. He replaces the now Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino and vows to bring success to the club.

Koeman, 51, resigned from his Feyenoord job in May after leading them to a 2nd place finish under champions Ajax.

Original talks between Koeman and Southampton had broken down due to the confirmed departures of Shaw, Lallana, Lambert and Lovren that had been made by Pochettino before his departure.

However terms have finally been reached after Saints owner Katharina Liebherr had promised that part of the £78 million would be made available to him.

When asked by Voetball, Koeman showed his disappointment in the Southampton board, and Pochettino for allowing the departures of what he thought were Southampton's four best players.

"Nou het is natuurlijk een grote schande in het zien Southamptoons belangrijke spelers gaan, en het zal schudden Southampton een hoop, maar hopelijk met het beschikbare geld, kan ik de planken visie mijn eigen fufill, en ook door het ontwikkelen van de nieuwe sterren door de Southampton rangen, als dat is wat Southampton het beste in zijn."


Rumors suggest that Southampton were close to announcing Fulham boss Felix Magarth as their new manager, but Koeman was always the favored choice due to his desire to play attractive football and to develop players through their ranks, which fitted the Southampton criteria.


His honors as a player include winning the 1988 European Championship with the Dutch national team, the European Cup, and now the Champions League with PSV Eindhoven in 1988 and Barcelona in 1992 as well as domestic league titles in the Netherlands and Spain.

He played 763 games for club and country, scoring 253 goals, including the winner for Barcelona against Sampdoria in the 1992 European Cup final at Wembley.

His managerial career has taken in spells at Vitesse, Ajax, Benfica, PSV, Valencia and AZ Alkmaar, before he joined Feyenoord in July 2011.

really nice start mate.. I'll follow you for sure.. Keep it up!!

Zogra: Thanks bud

Tremendous start! I will be following!

Griffo: Cheers mate

Southampton have made their first move to fill the void left by their summer departures by signing striker Graziano Pelle, and left winger, Dusan Tadic.

Pelle has followed former boss Ronald Koeman and signed a deal that is worth just over £3,000,000 and will keep him at the club to the summer of 2017.

The 28 year old put away 27 goals last season for Feyenoord, and looks to do the same again as he replaces the former target man, Rickie Lambert, who was sold to Liverpool for a price believed to be around the £4,000,000 mark.

Southampton only paid a fee of £2,500,000 for the Italian, and being 4 years younger than the 31 year old Rickie Lambert, the Saints have produced a nice piece of business.

His Eredivisie partner from FC Twente, Dusan Tadic, will also be joining Southampton on a slightly more lucrative deal. Tadic will be earning £36,500 p/w and staying for one more year than Pelle until 2018 if he so wishes.


Tadic moved to Southampton from FC Twente for an undisclosed fee, but reports say it was over the £8,000,000 mark.

The Serbian playmaker had impressed Ronald Koeman last season whilst they were both at their clubs in the Dutch league. FC Twente had finished one place below Koemans' Feyenoord side, so Tadic was a player closely looked at by him.

Tadic said: “It is a really nice feeling. This is a really nice club of which I have heard a lot of good things. I have already seen the beautiful training centre and there are lots of nice people that work here including the coaches, so I am really happy to be here.”

He then added: “The manager obviously knows me from the Dutch league so, when he called me and told me his plan, it was an easy decision to make. I know the manager well because he is one of the biggest Dutch legends in football. Everyone knows him.

Koeman is expected to make more moves within the Eredivisie, Feyenoord midfielder Jordy Clasie is a player Koeman has his eyes on, as well as Daley Blind of Ajax to fill in for the Liverpool bound Dejan Lovren.

great signings mate! hopefully they'll replace the big names that left

Very realistic signings! I am interested to see where you go with this!

Great start mate. Quality writing and a big cash pot to play with! Interested to see where you take this. Good luck!

Graziano Pelle isn't Dutch.. Anyway great story so far, definitely going to be following!

This is a great start, I do like Southampton as I live right by them so I'll be following!

2014-08-02 19:04#187846 AaronHJFT96 : This is a great start, I do like Southampton as I live right by them so I'll be following!

Well you should buy all their players on your (Incredible) LFC story, Rodgers is doing it in real life so you should in FM

TodayAtTomorrow: Cheers mate, using the update so they were already there as they are IRL

Griffo: Already in the update that's why they're realistic, & so am I, could turn out really good, or awful :S

MCox93: Thanks bud Yeah should be good having a bit to play with.

Captain Kokiri: Changed it & Thanks mate

AaronHJFT96: Cheers bud

Great start, surely will be following this.

Ronald Koeman, Southamptons' new boss is having no problems deciding the fate of the money he has at his feet. He told BBC Sport that he would be willing to spend high transfer fees for players he felt were worth it.

He then added that under no circumstances would he be forced into any panic buys, and reassured the Saints fans that every transfer would move the club further and further to European football.

The Dutchman has already spent £10,000,000 of what is believed to be a £60,000,000 budget on Italian target man Pelle, and the Serbian Dusan Tadic.

Ajax have also confirmed the enquiry from Southampton for Daley Blind, who is expected to be a replacement for Dejan Lovren. Koeman is likely to put in a bid for the versatile Dutchman, and is determined to get his man.


Inside sources within Southampton have also leaked that a bid close to £16,000,000 has come in for Calum Chambers from Arsenal. Koeman has said he is unlikely to go ahead with the deal, but adding another 16 million to his already large budget might be too tempting.

He stated: "Whether interest has been confirmed, or whether it has not, Calum is a young man with a future at Southampton, and a bright one at that, and to move to a club like Arsenal at this stage in his career would be a bad choice. My preference would be to keep him, but we'll see."

Chambers was rotated with other right back Nathaniel Clyne last season, but has gone onto what might be a more promising future at Arsenal now that their first choice right back; Bacary Sagna has made a move the Manchester City.