Southampton have completed the signing of Roma striker Pablo Osvaldo for a club-record £15 million ($23.5 million), with the player agreeing to a four-year deal.
The club has confirmed the move on Twitter, and the BBC’s Ben Smith is reporting the transfer amount.
The Saints have been following the wantaway striker for a while now, and while Roma’s valuation of their player priced clubs like Fulham out of the move, Southampton were willing to pay up.
Apparently the Premier League club has had a deal in place with the player for a while, and the two teams spent the last week just trying to hash out a final transfer fee.
Osvaldo will now either compete with or play alongside Rickie Lambert up front, who has had a stellar last few weeks marking his England international debut with a winning goal and scoring a late winner for Southampton Saturday in their season opener.
The 27-year-old has bagged 27 goals in 55 appearances for Roma. A Serie A veteran with three different clubs, he’s also played in Spain’s Primera Division for two years with Espanyol.
It’s a fabulous signing for Southampton, but also an incredibly risky one for such a newly-promoted club to have spent so much money on a single player. In fact, they’ve bought just three players this transfer window in Osvaldo, Victor Wanyama, and Dejan Lovern - but each one has cost at least £10 million ($15.6 million).